OSU file photo
Tom Skladany had a long, long chance for a dramatic game-winning kick against USC.
The memories: From OSU punter Tom Skladany, who was called on to try a desperation 62-yard field goal attempt as time expired: "I remember Woody got ticked off at breakfast right before the game, and he started clanging his fork on his glass, which means you better sit up and listen. And he starts screaming for the maitre 'd to come out, and he said, 'I want you to go and cut four ounces off everyone's steaks. I think [John] McKay has infiltrated our breakfast.' He knew that we ordered six-ounce streaks, and he thought they put out 10-ounce steaks to make us sluggish. So we start laughing, and some guys are ticked, and what a beautiful way to get a team all fired up before the game. He was just a genius.
"We should have won the game but stupid things happened. One time, Tim Fox was in on the punter and he was so fast he was past him by the time the guy kicked it, and the punter was so scared he missed the ball and then he picked it up and ran for a first down. And then Neal Colzie intercepted the ball and ran it down to the 15 or so and spiked it or something and got a 15-yard penalty. And then we jumped offsides for five yards. We had the game and they got a score late and got a 2-point conversation, and they stole our rings.
"I was kicking from 60 and 64 before the game, downwind. Woody came over to me on the sideline and said, 'Can you kick it?' I was a sophomore, so I said, 'Yeah.' I remember he hit me on the read end as I was going out on the field, and I'll never forget, I still had the handprint in the shower. I kicked it, but we had a 7 mph headwind, and it hit in the end zone. It looked good on TV because of where the camera was, but it still needed another three, four, five yards.
"On the flight home, he was crushed, because the national championship was right there. I'm sitting in the back, and one of the coaches said, 'Woody wants to see you.' I went up to first class, and he said, 'Did you hit it as good as you could hit it?' And I said, 'Yes, sir.' And he said, 'Allright, I just had to know.'"
