What's Your Favorite Piece of Stanford Memorabilia?

by Scott Allen on Jun 26, 2025 7:24 PM PDT

I haven't lived at home for 5 years, so my mom is determined to turn my childhood room -- once a veritable shrine to Cal Ripken, Jr. -- into a guest room. (I'm lobbying for the 6-foot Cal cutout to maintain its spot in the corner.) I was going through things in my closet when I came across this gem, an eBay purchase circa 1998:

Look at that beauty. It's a low-res 8x10 photo of Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen signed by...Tim Young?! The item description on eBay indicated that the photo was signed by Madsen, but it was fairly obvious from the accompanying image that the signature across the front of Madsen's jersey wasn't his own. The "#55" confirmed that it was Young's.

I brought this to the attention of the seller and he offered to send me the photo for free, without offering any sort of explanation for the mistake. I happily accepted. Is it actually Young's signature? I can't be sure. I just know it's not Madsen's.

This is my strangest, if not favorite, piece of Stanford memorabilia. What's yours?

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I hate people when they're not polite.

by GaryT on Jun 26, 2025 8:14 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Okay, that’s kinda cool.

by Go Mighty Card on Jun 27, 2025 3:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Awesome.

Is that thing signed by Kevin Moen?

by Scott Allen on Jun 27, 2025 8:51 PM PDT up reply actions

That reminds me...

My grandfather has a copy of the prank edition of the Daily Californian that was printed a few days after the ‘82 Big Game. That’s another one of my favorites.

by Scott Allen on Jun 27, 2025 8:54 PM PDT up reply actions

I've got a couple of those, too

I picked it up off the Daily Cal rack on Sproul Plaza they day they were distributed.

Official Acceptor of TwistNHook's Unconditional Surrender Person of CGB and Queen of Spite Recs

by CalBear81 on Jul 1, 2025 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Awesome!

Official Acceptor of TwistNHook's Unconditional Surrender Person of CGB and Queen of Spite Recs

by CalBear81 on Jul 1, 2025 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions

"Stanford Stuns No. 1 Arizona"

On my first Thursday night as sports editor of the Stanford Daily in 1988, Stanford upset No. 1 Arizona. For years, I had the entire flat of the front page – keep in mind, this was when everything was laid out by hand, cut and paste onto a page. I can still remember there was debate over whether it should go on page 1 of the entire paper – the sports department overwhelmed the news side in convincing them to do so.

Unfortunately, over time, the flat did not hold up - pieces of it started falling off. (If I were more forward-thinking at the time, I would have had the whole thing framed.) But I still have the original photo – not a reprint, but the very shot the photo department printed out and laid on the page. In the upper left-hand corner is the scoreboard, 82-74, with “Stanford Wins” halfway scrolled down. The student section is pouring onto the court, and Todd Lichti has leapt into Howard Wright’s arms.

Incredible night.

by JonWeisman on Jun 26, 2025 8:48 PM PDT reply actions