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Football a central part of Family Weekend for 70 years

Since Oct. 25, 1929, parents of UA students have come down for a weekend dedicated to them, centered around a football game.

All told, Arizona has played 67 Family Weekend football games, with only the period from 1942-44 during World War II featuring no games.

Under its original name, Mom and Dad's Day was centered around a home football game, with opponents varying from New Mexico to West Texas State in the pre-conference days.

"The football game has always been a logical event around which to have it," University of Arizona associate director of athletics Tom Sanders said.

The first game saw Arizona defeat New Mexico State 28-0 and subsequently win the next nine games before New Mexico pulled off the 20-7 upset in 1938.

The name was changed to Parents' Day in 1964, a name which lasted until 1988 when it was changed to its present name of Family Weekend.

All told, the Wildcats are 45-21-1 in games played during Family Weekend. Opponents are not scheduled specifically for the game, Sanders said.

He said the UA always reserves certain time periods for certain games. For example, the first home game of the season is the Hall of Fame game and the first game in November is usually Homecoming. A date somewhere in between is reserved for Family Weekend.

Arizona has never been that unsuccessful in the games, though it did lose five in row from 1956-60 and has lost three of the last four games, including last year's lone loss, 52-28 to UCLA.

That game cost Arizona a shot at the Rose Bowl and with the Pacific 10 Conference as bunched up as it is this year with four teams tied for second at 2-1, the players know this game is important.

UA junior center Bruce Wiggins said knowing players' families are in the stands increases the players' desire to get a victory.

"Yeah, my mom's going to be there, I don't want to let her down," he said. "Every game is important. But it's like when we went to TCU, I had a lot of family there, you want to show them what you can do."

This Saturday's game against Oregon, Arizona's second Family Weekend game against the Ducks (the first was a 19-10 loss in 1983), has been pushed back to a 7:24 p.m. start to accommodate Fox Sports Net, which is televising the game live to a national audience.

The UA ticket office expects a crowd in excess of 52,000 for the game. The second largest game in UA history with 58,817 people was for the 1994 Family Weekend game against UCLA, a 34-24 win.