Apple Cup Is Coming, But Its Book Is Already Here

Longtime Seattle sportswriter Bud Withers has written the only account of the storied rivalry.

Bud Withers shows off his Apple Cup book, Too Good to be Through. | Dan Raley

For well over a century, the Apple Cup has been a highly visible college football game that brings Washington State University and the University of Washington together to settle their fall differences and captivate a statewide audience.

Often the games are sold out. The stakes are high. The rewards are incalculable, from an athletic to a social standpoint.

Yet along the way, the Apple Cup, for all of its revelry, hasn't always received the treatment it deserves as a sporting spectacle.

After all, they misplace the game trophy for a number of years.

There also wasn't a written account of this longstanding football free-for-all that's been held in Pullman, Spokane, Montlake and even downtown Seattle.

While the trophy suddenly turned up, Bud Withers meticulously and painstakingly has written an eloquent account of this rivalry entitled, "Too Good to Be Through," which is his way of saying don't abandon this iconic Apple Cup, no matter who plays in what league and where.

Bud Withers has written the only book about the storied Apple Cup. | Dan Rale

"I really feel deeply about the rivalry," Withers said. "It may sound funny to say that, given that the Huskies have a 73 percent winning percentage. No question, the Huskies have dominated the rivalry. But to me, the appeal to it is there's no other rivalry in the country that has two schools of such dispirate characteristics.

"About everything you can name, from the size of the schools, to the population of the area around it, a cat and a dog, to the climate, Eastern Washington and here. They're so different in every way."

No one is better qualified to write this book than Withers, who was a highly acclaimed Northwest sportswriter for 45 years before he retired in 2015.

He worked locally for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Times, plus the Eugene Register-Guard. He's an award-winning writer several times over. He's written six books in all.

He's been a beat writer covering both the Huskies and the Cougars, keeping it low key for book purposes that he graduated from WSU in 1970.

This is a book for both fan bases to claim and consider it a point of record.

The Cougars react to their big stop at the end of the 2024 Apple Cup. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Pardon the expression, but Withers was nothing short of dogged in completing this project.

It took him 20 years, stopping and starting to fulfill his sportswriting obligations and even write other books on Gonzaga basketball, Oregon basketball's Kamikaze Kids, late Oregon State basketball coach Ralph Miller and Cougars football.

He sat with legendary Husky coach Don James and interviewed not long before he passed away. He spoke with countless coaches, players and fans. He listened to former Pac-10 officiating chief Verle Sorgen maintain 20 years later his referees blew a backward pass call that hurt the Cougars in the 2002 game, won in triple overtime by the UW.

He told about all of the disagreements, pranks and controversies dating back to 1900.

He was surprised to learn that the Huskies initially refused to play in Pullman, that the schools fought over finances early on, that they had a true rivalry from the beginning.

Huskies Geirean Hatchett, left, and Drew Azzopardi, center, hold up the Apple Cup trophy in 2025. | Dave Sizer photo

"I didn't know that going into this, they've been bickering for a century or more," he said.

Withers brings it all together in a well-written, 232-page book that is a keepsake for fans on each side of the conflict and can be obtained on Amazon for $24.95.