In February of 1977, just days before his death from melanoma, the extremely ill California senior quarterback, Joe Roth, walked from his apartment in Berkeley to a classroom on campus. Roth made the trip from his destined deathbed to turn in an assignment.
Along the way, Roth never stopped in search for pity or recognition of his valor. Instead, on his way back, he said hello to his teammates and asked how they were doing.
“It was unbelievably courageous,” said former Golden Bears’ head coach Mike White looking back on that moment. “That kind of courage and the way he carried himself and led the team made 1975 special.”
“It helped re-energize a football program,” White added.
Forty years later, the 1975 Cal football team still reigns as one of the greatest Bear teams of all time. A year that was manned by four eventual offensive All-Americans and a future NFL All-Pro included exceptional victories over then-No. 4 USC and rival Stanford. Cal finished 1975 as co-Pac 8 Champions.
“Joe Roth was the man,” said Burl Toler, a linebacker on that ’75 squad. “He was a natural. He played the game and conducted himself with grace.”
However, the junior college transfer quarterback wasn’t White or his assistants’ initial choice to start the 1975 season. With former quarterback Steve Bartkowski off to the NFL, White gave experienced upperclassman Fred Besana the opportunity to replace the 1974 first-overall pick in the NFL Draft.
But after losing its opening two games to Colorado and West Virginia, White turned to Roth, who never looked back.
“We knew while recruiting him and from tape that we had something special in Joe, but we had loyalty to Fred and had to give him the chance,” White said. “There was still a maturating process for Roth to learn the system, but he was spectacular.”
Cal won its first four games with Roth under center, finished the season on an 8-1 run and ranked No. 14 in AP ranking. The Bears averaged 32.5 points per game in the nine games Roth started in 1975.
It wasn’t just Roth who carried the offense. Cal running back Chuck Muncie finished the season as a consensus All-American and second in Heisman voting behind Ohio State’s Archie Griffin. Muncie rushed for 1,460 yards, caught 392 yards and scored 15 total touchdowns that year, which were all more than Griffin. Additionally, the 1975 Pac-8 Player of the Year threw the ball three times and completed all three for a total of 143 yards and two touchdowns.
There to haul in a majority of Roth or Muncie’s passes was junior receiver Steve Rivera. The 1975 consensus All-American caught 57 passes for 790 yards.
With every win that season more local and national attention began to shine on the Bears’ program.
“It was a culmination of what we had been building for the past couple of years,” White said. “As the season unfolded Joe showed his skill, and excitement around the community grew.”
Undeterred by a narrow loss at then-No. 19 UCLA in late October, the following week Cal rebounded with a 28-14 win at home on national television over the highly-ranked Trojans. The Bears’ offense put up 477 yards that day, which included future NFL Pro Bowl defensive players Clay Mathews and Gary Jeter. The win was the program’s second ever victory over a top-5 team.
“I’ll never forget how loose and ready that team was for USC,” said long time Cal operations assistant Dog Turner. “At one point during the game I ran over to Chuck Muncie and told him he was supposed to be in. He kicked his helmet in the air and it nearly landed correctly on his head. He went out on the field and tore up the Trojan defense.”
Following the win over USC, the Bears entered the national polls at No. 18 and the team had Berkeley rallying behind them. The support was no more evident than when Cal fans packed Stanford Stadium to watch Cal roll past Stanford 48-15 in a must-win game. UCLA sat tied with the Bears atop the Pac-8 Conference and had defeated Oregon State earlier that day.
Unfortunately, after the Stanford victory the season was out of Cal and Roth’s hands. With no more games left on their schedule the Bears had to hope for a USC upset over the No. 14 Bruins. A win or even a tie by the Trojans would have sent Cal to the Rose Bowl.
Watching the game in Lake Tahoe, White recalled the game with a chuckle.
“Considering how it played out and knowing you could do nothing made it a brutal game to watch,” White said. “Eight turnovers by UCLA and they still managed to win. I’m sure every Cal fan wanted to pull their hair out. I sure did.”
As UCLA escaped with a 25-22 win over USC and a birth to the Rose Bowl for a date with Ohio State, White, all be it discouraged for his team, felt there was a great deal to build from and ride on.
Though they weren’t selected for a bowl game, the Bears had won eight games, the most at that time under White and the most since legendary Cal coach Pappy Waldorf adorned the Bears’ sidelines in 1951. Furthermore, they had built one of the nation’s best offenses. It was an offense that could do anything and amazingly finished with 2,522 rushing and 2,522 passing yards.
“We had so many guys performing at such a high level,” said the late Chuck Muncie in a 2000 interview about the 1975 team. “Nobody was concerned about their individual statistics. That was a special football team.”
As Roth checked in with his teammates days before he died, coaches and teammates all noticed and remarked how upbeat the terminally ill quarterback was. Never wanting anyone to feel sorry for him, Roth walked around the football facilities that day as he had done in 1975 against USC and Stanford.
“Even at that moment he was courageous,” White said. “His courage inspired our team and the community. The 1975 season showed it could be done in Berkeley and the community felt that energy. For those of us who were around 40 years ago, we still feel that.”
