Battle for the Victor's Bell

Summary

The Battle for the Victor's Bell is the name given to the now defunct Pacific–San José State football rivalry. It was a college football rivalry between the Pacific Tigers football team of the University of the Pacific and the San José State Spartans football team of San José State University.

Battle for the Victor's Bell
SportAmerican football
TypeCollegiate
First meeting1895
Tie, 0–0
Latest meetingOctober 28, 1995
Pacific, 32–30
StadiumsSpartan Stadium and Stagg Memorial Stadium
TrophyThe Victor's Bell
Statistics
Meetings total68
All-time seriesSan Jose State leads, 43–23–6
Trophy seriesSan Jose State leads, 29–17–2
Largest victoryPacific, 46–0 (1923)
Longest win streakSan Jose State, 9 wins (1984–1992)
Map
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75km
50miles
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San José State
University
.
University of the
Pacific
  
Locations of University of the Pacific and San José State University

University of the Pacific was founded in 1851 in Santa Clara, California but soon moved to San Jose, California, and claims to be the first institution of higher education in California.[1] San José State University was founded in San Jose, California in 1857 and is California's first public institution of higher education. Due to the "private vs. public" institutional competitiveness and the close geographical proximity of the two schools, a natural "cross-town" rivalry was born.

The series ended in 1995, when Pacific dissolved its football team citing cost issues.[2] At the conclusion of the rivalry, San Jose State led the series, 43–23–6 for a total of 72 matches. Beginning in 1949 the winner of the game received The Victor's Bell.

Historical overview edit

 
The Pacific-San Jose 'Victory Bell'

The 100-year series between San José State and Pacific began in 1895 with a game held at Pacific, which ended in a 0–0 tie. The first victor of the series came in 1898 when San Jose State won 18–0 at home. Pacific's first win of the series was a 34–0 in 1921 at home.

Ahead of the 1949 game, members of Pacific's Alpha Kappa Phi fraternity commissioned a bell to serve as the trophy for the series.[3] The bell is two feet tall and waist-high on a rolling cart, it features an orange "P" for Pacific on half, and blue with a gold "SJ" for San Jose on the other half.[4]

In 1969, San Jose State became a charter member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (which later became the Big West Conference),[5] Pacific joined for football only, becoming a full member two years later, allowing the series to be a conference match-up.[6]

In 1992, San Jose State had their ninth consecutive win, the longest win streak of the series. In 1995, Pacific's Board of Regents voted to disband the football team to save money for the athletic program, which was reported to have gone over $400,000 in debt.[2]

After the dissolution of the series, the Victor's Bell trophy was adopted and traded between the school's basketball teams, which happened until 2009. Since 2018, the Victor's Bell has been on loan from San Jose State to the San Francisco 49ers Museum at Levi's Stadium as a part of an exhibit on Bay Area college football.[4]

Statistics edit

Overall, the series is notable for its large amount of blowouts, through the first 66 years (37 games) of the series the losing team only managed to score more than 7 points three times.

Sources:[7][8]

San José State Pacific
Games played 72
Wins 43 23
Ties 6
Home wins 20 12
Road wins 23 11
Consecutive wins 9 7
Most total points in a game 111 (1991)
Most points in a win 64 (1991) 46 (1923)
Most points in a loss 35 (1966) 47 (1991)
Fewest total points in a game 0 (1895, 1935)
Largest margin of victory 41 (1970) 46 (1923)
Smallest margin of victory 1 (1953, 1979, 1992) 2 (1974, 1995)
Total points scored in series 1,472 1,242
Shut-outs of opposing team 12 (1898, 1899, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1951, 1961, 1982, 1984) 7 (1921, 1922, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1947, 1968)

Game results edit

San Jose State victoriesPacific victoriesTie games
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
11895San Jose, CATie0–0
21896San Jose, CATie6–6
31898San Jose, CASan Jose State18–0
41899San Jose, CASan Jose State6–0
5November 5, 1921San Jose, CAPacific34–0
6November 24, 1922San Jose, CAPacific23–0
7November 3, 1923San Jose, CAPacific46–0
8October 26, 1929San Jose, CATie6–6
9October 35, 1930Stockton, CAPacific27–0
10November 11, 1931San Jose, CAPacific27–0
11October 8, 1932Stockton, CASan Jose State7–0
12October 16, 1933San Jose, CASan Jose State12–6
13November 17, 1934Stockton, CASan Jose State13–0
14October 18, 1935Stockton, CATie0–0
15October 10, 1936San Jose, CASan Jose State8–0
16October 1, 1937Stockton, CASan Jose State12–7
17October 14, 1938San Jose, CASan Jose State19–6
18October 20, 1939Stockton, CASan Jose State13–3
19November 8, 1940San Jose, CASan Jose State28–7
20October 24, 1941Stockton, CASan Jose State7–0
21October 17, 1942San Jose, CASan Jose State29–0
22November 8, 1946Stockton, CASan Jose State32–0
23October 31, 1947San Jose, CAPacific14–0
24October 30, 1948Stockton, CASan Jose State14–7
25October 28, 1949San Jose, CAPacific45–7
26November 18, 1950Stockton, CATie7–7
27November 23, 1951San Jose, CASan Jose State7–0
28October 18, 1952Stockton, CASan Jose State26–21
29November 7, 1953San Jose, CASan Jose State7–6
30November 6, 1954Stockton, CAPacific13–7
31October 22, 1955San Jose, CAPacific14–7
32November 10, 1956Stockton, CAPacific34–7
33November 9, 1957San Jose, CAPacific21–6
34November 8, 1958Stockton, CAPacific26–13
35November 20, 1959Stockton, CAPacific20–7
36November 5, 1960Stockton, CAPacific26–20
37September 22, 1961San Jose, CASan Jose State16–0
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
38November 11, 1961Stockton, CASan Jose State29–26
39November 3, 1962Stockton, CASan Jose State24–22
40November 30, 1963San Jose, CASan Jose State32–20
41October 24, 1964Stockton, CASan Jose State37–13
42November 6, 1965San Jose, CASan Jose State52–21
43October 29, 1966Stockton, CAPacific38–35
44October 28, 1967San Jose, CAPacific34–14
45November 2, 1968Stockton, CAPacific28–0
46November 22, 1969San Jose, CASan Jose State15–12
47October 24, 1970Stockton, CASan Jose State48–7
48October 30, 1971San Jose, CASan Jose State28–18
49October 21, 1972Stockton, CAPacific38–28
50October 6, 1973San Jose, CATie21–21
51October 26, 1974San Jose, CAPacific29–27
52October 18, 1975San Jose, CASan Jose State41–13
53November 13, 1976Stockton, CASan Jose State50–30
54October 29, 1977San Jose, CAPacific24–7
55November 11, 1978Stockton, CASan Jose State33–31
56November 10, 1979San Jose, CASan Jose State32–31
57November 8, 1980Stockton, CASan Jose State28–23
58November 14, 1981San Jose, CASan Jose State40–25
59November 13, 1982Stockton, CASan Jose State31–0
60November 12, 1983San Jose, CAPacific30–26
61November 17, 1984Stockton, CASan Jose State33–0
62October 26, 1985San Jose, CASan Jose State34–26
63October 25, 1986Stockton, CASan Jose State44–15
64November 17, 1987San Jose, CASan Jose State42–17
65October 15, 1988Stockton, CASan Jose State35–17
66September 23, 1989San Jose, CASan Jose State41–32
67September 15, 1990Stockton, CASan Jose State28–14
68October 19, 1991San Jose, CASan Jose State64–47
69November 14, 1992Stockton, CASan Jose State28–27
70November 20, 1993San Jose, CAPacific24–20
71November 19, 1994Stockton, CASan Jose State28–15
72October 28, 1995San Jose, CAPacific32–30
Series: San Jose State leads 43–23–6

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Pacific's Mission". University of the Pacific. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Archives, L. A. Times (December 20, 1995). "Pacific Decides to Drop Football". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "'Victory Bell' Held by Hungries for Five Years". Pacific Weekly. November 20, 1959. p. 1.
  4. ^ a b Mountjoy, Nicole Grady (August 16, 2021). University of the Pacific. Arcadia Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4671-0706-8.
  5. ^ "California Colleges Form New conference". The San Bernardino Sun. San Bernardino, California. June 11, 1968. Retrieved December 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.  
  6. ^ Miles, Jerry (May 16, 1969). "Pacific Eight Gets New Rival". Progress Bulletin. Pomona, California. Retrieved December 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.  
  7. ^ 2023 San Jose State Football Record Book (PDF). San Jose State University. 2023.
  8. ^ Pacific Football record Book. Pacific Athletic Media relations. 2002.