Stanford at California
Saturday, November 24, 1956. California took the Axe from Stanford Share
California beat Stanford 20–18. It was their 58th meeting; after it, California led the series 19–12–5 in the games on file.
FinalHigh 71°F, low 45°FAttendance 81,400
In the newspapers

Evening star, November 25, 1956, page 77
Read the text
Bears Deliver for Poppy, Beating Stanford, 20–18 BERKELEY, Calf, Nov. “a up, I-California’s Bears, dedicating the game to their retiring foot ball coach, Pappy Waldorf, scored the first three times they got the ball today and upset Stanford, 20–18. on Darrell Rob- Ierts’ conversion kicking. The victory gave the Bears a record of only three wins and seven defeats but kept Waldorf from bowling out with the worst season record in California annals. A capacity crowd of $1,000 watched Quarterback Joe Kapp direct ground marches Of 81 and SO yards in the first quarter and another for SO in the second Fullback Herb jackson rammed I3 yards for the first touchdown, Roberts scored the second from IA yard out and Jack Hart piled over from the same distance for the third. Trailing 14–0 near the end of the first period, Stanford staged Ia 69-yard scoring drive, with Halfback Jeri McMillin tallying on a 13-yard run. After the third California touchdown made it 20–6, the In ldians surged back 81 yards in five plays. Fullback Lou Valli, the running star of the after noon. made As yards in two plays
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.
Before kickoff
Our ratings going in
Our ratings (scores only)
Stanford 60% to win. California won as Elo’s underdog.
The series
Every Stanford–California gameOfficially, Stanford leads 65–51–11; as played, 54–45–6 in the 105 games on file; the official count covers all 127 meetings, counting the 69 since this game.
| 2025 | Stanford 31, California 10 | |
| 2024 | California 24, Stanford 21 | |
| 2023 | California 27, Stanford 15 | |
| 2022 | California 27, Stanford 20 | |
| 2021 | California 41, Stanford 11 | |
| 2020 | Stanford 24, California 23 |
Around this game
Stanford
- Next gamevs. San José StateSept. 21, 1957
- SeasonStanford in 1956
- ProgramStanford history and records
California
- Next gamevs. SMUSept. 21, 1957
- SeasonCalifornia in 1956
- ProgramCalifornia history and records

