All about the Bill Walsh Legacy Game

Stanford and San Jose State renew their rivalry on Black Friday, but where did it get its name from?

Bengals head coach Sam Wyche, left, and San Francisco head coach Bill Walsh said \"I love you\" to each other after the 49ers beat Cincinnati in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, January 22, 1989. The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating Cinbrd 04 15 2012 Enquirer 1 F00420120413img Pass 10 Jpg 1 1 Cp19hs8pimg Pass 10 Jpg 1 1 Cp19hs8p / Michael E. Keating/The Cincinnati Enquirer via Imagn Content Services, LLC

On Friday afternoon, the Stanford Cardinal will travel to San Jose for a Black Friday matchup with the San Jose State Spartans, a game that is known as the Bill Walsh Legacy Game. But after an 11 year hiatus, this classic battle is back with three consecutive home-away matchups scheduled. Named after one of the most legendary coaches in football history, the meeting between these two programs is of massive significance.

Bill Walsh, a three-time Super Bowl winning coach with the San Francisco 49ers, was an alumni of San Jose State, having graduated from there in 1955. Transferring from College of San Mateo, Walsh went on to have a college football career with the Spartans, playing tight end and defensive end before getting into coaching.

Walsh’s coaching career saw him land at many destinations, but one of his first coaching jobs was at Stanford, where he coached the defensive backs from 1963-1965. After over a decade of being an assistant coach for various college programs and NFL teams, Walsh landed his first head coaching job with Stanford in 1977 where over the next two seasons, he led to Cardinal to a 9-3 record and a Sun Bowl win in 1977, plus an 8-4 record in 1978 and an Astro-Bluebonnet. His success at the college level led to his resignation in January of 1979, before becoming the 49ers head coach in time for the 1979 season.

After winning his third Super Bowl following the 1988 season, Walsh left coaching for a few years, holding various roles in broadcasting but it did not come without rumors that he was to return to coaching. Finally in 1992, Walsh returned to the sidelines in the college ranks, once again becoming the head coach at Stanford where in his first season back, he led the team to a 10-3 record and a Blockbuster Bowl win. After two straight losing seasons in 1993 (4-7) and 1994 (3-7-1), Walsh retired from coaching for good.

While Stanford and San Jose State had met regularly through that 2013 season, Walsh’s death in 2007 led to the game to be renamed the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, commemorating the ties that he has to both institutions.

With 67 meetings in total, first meeting in 1900, the Cardinal lead the all-time series 52-14-1, winning the 2013 matchup by a score of 34-13. Currently, the Cardinal possess a six game winning streak in this game, with their longest winning streak being 11 straight from 1900-1953. Kickoff for this year’s edition will be at 1:00 p.m. (PT) and will be available to stream on Fubo and Paramount Plus.