Super Bowl by the Bay: New exhibit at Green Library
On February 4, 2018, two teams will compete in Super Bowl LII for the title of National Football League champion.
Our story begins over three decades prior, on December 14, 1982, at a meeting in Dallas, Texas, in which NFL owners voted to accept Stanford University's bid to host Super Bowl XIX.
Super Bowl by the Bay, now on display in Green Library's south lobby, highlights the lead-up to Super Bowl XIX, as well as the excitement that gripped the campus on Sunday, January 20, 1985, when the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers competed at the old Stanford Stadium.
The game was celebrated as a battle between two great quarterbacks: Miami’s Dan Marino and San Francisco’s Joe Montana, each of whom ended up throwing for over 300 yards. After reaching what proved to be an insurmountable lead in the second quarter, the 49ers were ultimately victorious, defeating the Dolphins by a score of 38–16 to win their second Super Bowl. Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, having completed 24 of 35 passes for a Super Bowl-record 331 yards and three touchdowns. His 5 rushes for 59 yards and 1 rushing touchdown also broke the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards gained by a quarterback.
Stanford Stadium served as the fourth college stadium to host a Super Bowl. Besides including memorabilia from the game itself (including a t-shirt, hat, program, and Apple-branded seat cushion), the exhibit also includes correspondence, photographs, and other primary source materials highlighting how various campus stakeholders participated in and responded to Super Bowl planning and activities -- including some bitter criticism dispensed from the sidelines.
