Maybe Crazy Paco would have a guess....
In looking at Pitt football’s schedules in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Pitt played
UCLA every year from 1958-1972 except for 1965. Of those 14
meetings, eight were at UCLA in ’58, ’60, ’61, ’63, ’66, ’68, ’69 and ’71.
They also made the trip to the west coast four times to play USC in
1954, ’57, ‘59 and ’65 with USC only playing at Pitt in 1961. Pitt also
made a trip to Seattle to play Washington in 1961.
Pitt was an independent back then and there were no big conference
TV contracts like there are today with millions of dollars going to each
school. I would think that tickets sold was the primary source of
revenue for the football program.
Typically, Pitt played Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Penn State, Syracuse,
and West Virginia every year. All fairly reasonable trips and distances.
With all those costly trips to the west coast, was there a university
administrator or someone in the athletic department that wanted to
make all those trips to the west coast? Why make all those costly trips?
In looking at Pitt football’s schedules in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Pitt played
UCLA every year from 1958-1972 except for 1965. Of those 14
meetings, eight were at UCLA in ’58, ’60, ’61, ’63, ’66, ’68, ’69 and ’71.
They also made the trip to the west coast four times to play USC in
1954, ’57, ‘59 and ’65 with USC only playing at Pitt in 1961. Pitt also
made a trip to Seattle to play Washington in 1961.
Pitt was an independent back then and there were no big conference
TV contracts like there are today with millions of dollars going to each
school. I would think that tickets sold was the primary source of
revenue for the football program.
Typically, Pitt played Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Penn State, Syracuse,
and West Virginia every year. All fairly reasonable trips and distances.
With all those costly trips to the west coast, was there a university
administrator or someone in the athletic department that wanted to
make all those trips to the west coast? Why make all those costly trips?