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It started with toilet paper, but in subsequent years broadcaster Paul James would arise on game day to find wrecked cars and tires, even a missile in his front yard, always painted red and covered with anti-Brigham Young University epithets.
Finally, University of Utah fans began depositing actual toilets at James' home the night before the big football game between the University of Utah and BYU. Utah fans had marked James as a traitor for abandoning the Ute mic in 1967 to become the "Voice of the Cougars," and wanted to make sure he paid.
"Every year they had something new," James recalls in a new documentary about Utah's legendary football rivalry. "It was the unique feature of the Utah-BYU game because I know I'm going to get trashed."
A tradition like no other • Well, in the national scale, not quite. But darn close, according to former Jazz coach Frank Layden, who narrates "Red Blood, Blue Blood" by KUED producer Joe Prokop.
The hourlong documentary, which tells the story of how a mere football contest turned into Utah's biggest annual cultural event, airs Tuesday, Nov. 23, on the U.-operated public television station. The title invokes not only the schools' colors — red for the U., the state-owned university, and blue for the LDS Church-owned BYU — but also the tribal loyalties the rivalry inspires, perhaps mirroring the state's cultural divide.
While football rivalries may be a dime a dozen, Layden notes that few in-state rivalries match Utah's "Holy War" for intensity and national interest.
The football teams and their fans will converge in Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 27, for their 85th meeting — and the last game for the Utes and Cougars as conference-mates. Both teams are bolting the Mountain West next year, but officials are keen on preserving the annual end-of-season showdown.
Roots of the rivalry • This in-state Holy War dates to 1895, when a baseball game between the schools devolved into a brawl. The then-Brigham Young Academy later launched a football program that played Utah a few times around the turn of the century before folding.
BYU resumed the program in 1922. That was the year the Utah rivalry officially commenced, but it was hardly competitive for more than 40 years. The Utes won nearly ever game until the arrival of Tommy Hudspeth as the Cougars' coach in 1964.
In the 1930s through 1950s, the U.'s main opponent was Utah State University, which sent its Aggies to Salt Lake City for a huge Thanksgiving Day game, according to Layden. But by the mid-1960s, the BYU matchup was the big show as the Cougars rose as a football power thanks to Hudspeth's aerial-oriented offense, which LaVell Edwards perfected under the mighty arms of NFL-bound quarterbacks such Steve Young and Jim McMahon.
Holy War fault line • The film features rare game footage and still photographs, but Prokop also unfolds the rivalry's story through fan interviews and Layden's avuncular narration. Fans, after all, drive the rivalry between Utah's two marquee universities. The few former players who appear, like Utah's Dan Clark and BYU's Kyle Whittingham, now Utah's head coach, don't provide an athlete's perspective.
Clark, who was president of the U.'s Crimson Club while his daughters attended BYU, illustrated how the rivalry's fault line runs right down the middle of the state, sometimes with family members on either side.
"Families didn't talk to each other for a week. They would just pass in the halls," said Dick Rosetta, a longtime Salt Lake Tribune sportswriter.
BYU fans go to alarming lengths to affirm their loyalties. Steve Larsen won't ride in red cars or eat red food. And while Larsen is avoiding his tomatoes, Ray Beckham plans on the Cougar fight song being sung at his funeral.
Keeping it civil • KUED was under orders from the boss, U. President Michael Young, who happens to be a BYU alumnus, to keep the film positive. Ugly fan behavior marred last year's contest, won by BYU in Provo, and the confrontations culminated with a post-game tirade by BYU quarterback Max Hall denouncing everything about the U. Young and his BYU counterpart, Cecil Samuelson, who happens to be a U. alumnus, issued stern calls for civility.
Accordingly, "Red Blood, Blue Blood" conspicuously avoids the rancorous side of the rivalry. Those interviewed don't deride their opposing school; they even admit admiration for the other teams' accomplishments.
In the spirit of camaraderie, Prokop pairs coaches Ron McBride and the now-retired Edwards, under whose watches the rivalry really caught fire in 1990s.
Their friendly chat concludes with a debate: whether BYU star running back Luke Staley fumbled the ball in the final minutes of Edwards' final game as coach in 2000. Officials ruled Staley down and disallowed his apparent fumble, to McBride's dismay. BYU went on an 83-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown, silencing a hostile crowd and further inflaming the rivalry's intensity.
The conversation between Edwards and McBride, now coach for Weber State, is recorded in a companion show titled "Legends of the Rivalry," also to be broadcast Tuesday.
'Red Blood, Blue Blood: The Rivalry'
What • A new KUED documentary profiles the history of the storied football rivalry between Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. The hourlong doc was produced by Joe Prokop and is hosted by former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden.
When • The show will air Tuesday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. on KUED Channel 7, with a rebroadcast Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Fundraiser •The U. hosts a fundraising sneak preview Monday at Rice-Eccles Stadium, 6 to 8 p.m. A $100 tax-deductible admission comes with the DVD and a buffet. Visit http://www.kued.org for more information. —
U-BYU rivalry timeline
1895 • Rivalry born after a baseball game between Brigham Young Academy and the University of Utah ends with a brawl.
1896 • First of six early football matches between the two schools before Brigham Young Academy ended its football program.
1922 • While opinions differ on when the football rivalry started, this year marks the return of BYU's football program and the start of an annual contest — interrupted only by World War II.
1964 • Tom Hudspeth is appointed BYU head coach, and Cougars begin enjoying winning seasons, thanks to a new emphasis on passing.
1972 • BYU promotes LaVell Edwards to head coach, heralding the Cougars' rise to national football prominence and six consecutive BYU victories over the Utes.
1970s and 1980s • BYU owns the rivalry on its way to earning a national title in 1984.
1990s • Utah hires Ron McBride as head coach in 1990. Although Edwards and McBride become friends, the rivalry becomes more heated and intensely competitive with most contests decided by close margins.
2009 • BYU wins in Provo, but the rivalry strikes a low note as fans hurl beer and obscenity-filled insults at each other, prompting school officials' call for civility (and sobriety). The rivalry now favors Utah 50-30-4.