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University of the Pacific (U.O.P.)

Why We're Rivals

University of the Pacific is San José State's original rival, starting even before the 20th century. Originally, San Jose State and U.O.P. came to dislike one another due to the regular scheduling of all sporting events against one another, as well as the similarities between the campuses. Before U.O.P. moved to Stockton, San José State was siutated a mere 70 miles away from the Tigers, and at that time had about the same student population.

Rivalry Stories

University of the Pacific and San José State have a trophy that the two schools play for each year in basketball called "The Bell". No one knows exactly when "The Bell" was first introduced to the rivalry but it is estimated it could be as far back as the early 1900's. "The Bell" is a large steel bell shaped trophy (obviously), with half of it painted in the University of the Pacific colors and half of it painted in San José State colors. Tradition states that whichever school has "The Bell" must transfer it from their school to the rivals should they be beaten on the basketball court. "The Bell" will sit in a predetermined fraternity house until it switches hands once more. To complete the transfer it is mandatory that a basketball be dribbled from the losing team's school to the winning team's campus, which is 82 miles apart.

In the 1957 football season the starting quarterback for the University of the Pacific was Tom Flores. That same year, San José State's quarterback was Dick Vermeil. In 1981 the two former quarterbacks went on to coach against each other in Super Bowl XV at the New Orleans SUperdome. This was the first time in history that two players who had played against one another as starting quarterbacks went on to coach against each other in a Super Bowl.

A famous football game occurred in the late 1940's between U.O.P. and San José Sate. The pre-game activities for the game that day involved parking a fire truck on San José State's field. This normally would not be a problem, however, as the fire truck sat, the skies began to rain heavily. As it rained harder and harder San José States field soon turned into a swamp and the fire truck became stuck at the 50-yard line. All attempts to pump the water off the field and remove the truck failed and it was soon decided to play the game with the truck lodged in the middle of the field. San José State later went on to win the game with the fire truck on the field the entire time.

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