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It was Nov. 1, 1980. I was visiting family in the Bay Area for the weekend, and my dad had two tickets to the Stanford-Oregon State football game — a game neither of us really cared about.
We went anyway, and watched
Stanford clobber the Beavers, 54-13.
As a 1975 UO graduate, I never liked Oregon State at that point in my life. But after the game on The Farm, I started following the OSU’s misfortunes. Being one who is always for the underdog, I had discovered the ultimate underdog.
The Beavers, under first-year coach Joe Avezzano, were consistently bad that year. They went on to finish the season without a win — zero and 11. I remember thinking at the time that this was a team I could really behind. The Beavers couldn’t get any worse. And they didn’t. But it took another 19 years and three more head coaches before they mustered a winning season.
I had no idea in November 1980 that one year later I would be moving to Corvallis from Cottage Grove, taking a job as sports editor at the Democrat-Herald and covering the Beavers.
I saw a lot of bad football games in the 1982, ’83 and ’84 seasons at what was then Parker Stadium. And yet, I enjoyed covering the Beavers.
After a big loss to Oregon in the 1984 Civil War, everybody knew Avezzano would be fired. His five-year-record of 6-47-2 spoke for itself.
On the Sunday afternoon after the Civil War, I interviewed Avezzano in the quiet of his office at Gill Coliseum. He was cordial and gave me a lengthy interview. Two days later, he was fired.
The next time I spoke with Avezzano was in a phone interview in late December 2000, a few days before the 10-1 Beavers were to play Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Avezzano, then assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, was just as friendly that day as he was before his OSU departure.
He told me that he never stopped following the Beavers. “I couldn’t be happier for Oregon State and (coach) Dennis Erickson,” he said.
Avezzano also told me that he had no regrets about his five seasons at OSU.
“We attempted to do things in a good way and it didn’t work out,” he said. “We didn’t win enough games.”
Avezzano was a successful assistant coach in the NFL. Off the field, he played in a country music band with his wife Diann. He also teamed up with his friend and country music star Collin Raye for an annual benefit that brought in more than $1 million for Special Olympics.
He ended our 2000 interview with three words for the Beavers: “Beat the Irish.” They did, walloping Notre Dame 41-9 to finish at No. 4 in the final polls.
If it weren’t for Joe Avezzano, who died Thursday at age 68, I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the platypus that I
am today.
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