| 1892 | Cal and Stanford play the first Big Game in San Francisco. Despite forgetting
to bring the ball, Stanford wins, 14-10. |
| 1898 | Cal wins its first Big Game over the then-named Indians, 22-0. |
| 1899 | Stanford purchases an axe and decorates it to inspire its students to root
for their baseball team in a three-game series against Cal. Stanford loses,
but the legend of the axe is born. |
| 1901 | An underdog California team blocks a Stanford kick early in the game to
score a safety and lead 2-0. Both teams threaten to score later in the contest,
but a muddy field hampers their efforts and the game ends at 2-0. |
| 1904 | At the first game played on the Bears' new California Field, Stanford clobbers
Cal, 18-0. |
| 1906 | California president Benjamin Ide Wheeler wants football "made over,"
and the teams switch from American football to rugby. The first Big Game
of rugby ends 6-3 in favor of Stanford. |
| 1910 | Cal students perform the first card stunts at a U.S. university. The stunts
become famous and spread across the country. |
| 1912 | Known as the "Mud Game," there was so much mud that players' uniforms
are indistinguishable from one another. Not exactly the most exciting Big
Game, it ends in a 3-3 tie. |
| 1915-1917 | No Big Games are played because of a disagreement between the two schools
regarding the freshman rule. Cal returns to American football in 1915. |
| 1918 | This game marks the resumption of play between the schools. Cal stomps a
Stanford team composed of military men stationed in Palo Alto, 67-0. This
game is not included in the record books as a genuine Big Game. |
| 1920 | California's "Wonder Teams," coached by Cal legend Andy Smith,
are launched with a 38-0 Big Game win and a trip to the Rose Bowl. |
| 1923 | Memorial Stadium, costing $1.4 million, is completed. The first game played
in Cal's Memorial Stadium draws 80,000 fans who watch the Bears win their
fifth straight Big Game, 9-0. |
| 1930 | The Bears manage to hold Stanford to six points in the first half, but the
Indians come roaring back to win 41-0, the largest margin in any Big Game. |
| 1931 | Cal wins the Big Game, 6-0, after an seven-year drought. |
| 1932 | The Bears and Indians battle to a scoreless deadlock, the only Big Game
of its kind. |
| 1933 | Cal and Stanford student governments sign an agreement to make the axe the
trophy of the Big Game. |
| 1938 | Cal wins the Big Game, 13-0, and goes on to the Rose Bowl, defeating Alabama
to become the Pacific Coast Conference champion. |
| 1941 | The first costumed Oski appears in a Cal sophomore's sweater. Before this,
live bear cubs were used to represent the Cal mascot. |
| 1943-1945 | Stanford does not have a football team during these war years and no Big
Game was played. Cal's teams during this time are made up of Navy and Marine
Corps officer trainees. |
| 1946 | Cal students dress up in aviators' overalls and goggles, walk into the Stanford
Tressider Union, unbolt the axe display case, (with the axe inside) and
walk out with it. |
| 1947 | Coach Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf comes to Cal from Northwestern University.
His teams are undefeated in regular season play for the next three years.
Waldorf leaves Cal in 1956 with a Big Game record of 7-1-2 |
| 1949 | Jim Monachino runs for 84 yards on a play, the last time a Cal player runs
more than 50 yards on a single play in a Big Game. Cal rushes for 390 yards
that day, a school record. |
| 1952 | A record crowd of 83,000 watch in Memorial Stadium as the Cal Bears blank
the Stanford Indians, 26-0. |
| 1957 | Berkeley holds its last Big Game parade until 1994. |
| 1967 | A Cal student steals the axe from Stanford, leaving no visible signs of
entry. He needn't have bothered, since Cal scores 21 points in the fourth
quarter, beating Stanford 26-3. |
| 1970 | Cal upsets Rose Bowl-bound Stanford, winning 22-14. |
| 1972 | Cal quarterback Vince Ferragamo hits receiver Steve Sweeny for a seven-yard
touchdown pass in the last play of the game, winning the Big Game over Stanford. |
| 1973 | Hoping to avenge the 1967 axe theft, Stanford students impersonate Cal head
coach Mike White's staff and ask the Cal Rally Committee to bring the axe
to Ming's Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto for a photo session. The committee
falls for the bluff, and the axe is promptly stolen. |
| 1975 | Cal beats Stanford, scoring 48 points, the most points Cal ever scores in
a Big Game. |
| 1979 | The axe and its plaque are refurbished and the original forging mark is
discovered, proving that despite all the thefts, the axe is still the 1899
original. |
| 1982 | Fifty-seven yards, five laterals and a trampled trombone player on the last
play of the game give Cal the win. The event becomes known as "The
Play." |
| 1985 | Despite being down 24-0 in the third quarter, Cal almost pulls out a victory,
scoring 22 points. Stanford wins, 24-22. |
| 1986 | The Cal Bears, with a dismal record of 1-9, pull off the biggest upset in
Big Game history, beating Stanford 17-11. |
| 1988 | Eight field goals are kicked, tying an NCAA record. The game ends in a 19-19
tie. |
| 1989 | Stanford hosts the first Big Game played under lights. |
| 1990 | Despite losing the Big Game, 25-27, Cal goes on to win the Copper Bowl,
the first bowl win since 1938. |
| 1991 | Quarterback Mike Pawlawski hits receiver Sean Dawkins for a 66-yard pass;
Cal loses, 21-38, but goes on to win the Citrus Bowl. |
| 1993 | Cal blitzes Stanford, 45-17, and goes to the Alamo Bowl, winning 37-3 over
Iowa.  |
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