Road to 1991 Perfection: Fraley, Huskies Lost Mambo Socks, Nothing Else
The University of Washington football players in 1991 lost only their Mambo socks.
At the time, it was trendy for them to wear a purple covering over their heads inside their helmets, something fashionable in college football at the time.
Coach Don James didn't really like them, but he acquiesced to his guys. After all, the Huskies were unbeaten wearing them.
At Oregon State, the Huskies experienced a momentary slow start before they went on and crushed the winless Beavers 58-6, improving their record to 10-0.
They gave up an early blocked punt and a subsequent field goal, leading the Corvallis faithful to break out the tiresome chant, "Overrated, overrated."
As the game wound down, the Husky starters, who barely played a half and remembered the earlier diss, had their helmets off and their Mambo sock hats visible when they began to celebrate.
They gyrated and sang the words to the anthem of the times, MC Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit."
"Someone complained to Coach James that we were throwing gang signs," inside linebacker Chico Fraley said. "We said, 'It's MC Hammer!' But we couldn't wear those purple hats anymore.
This is another in series of vignettes about the UW's 1991 national championship team, supplementing the conversation for the pandemic delayed and shortened season. We're in week 10 of this throwback series, where the Huskies traveled to Oregon State and clinched a Rose Bowl berth and the then-Pac-10 title. It was a fashion statement.
The Mambo socks might have been the season's only casualty.
James was never big on contemporary tunes wafting through Husky Stadium during practice or on game day, but music showed up more and more on other campuses.
One such occasion came when the UW opened the season at Stanford. The Huskies walked onto the field and were greeted by the hip hop song "Ain't No Future in Your Frontin'." This was a an obvious slam.
"It was basically saying, 'You're not that good,' " Fraley recalled.
Defensive backs Walter Bailey and Tommie Smith immediately started dancing, which was their way of mocking the music. Defensive end Andy Mason and others soon joined them.
James normally would have put a stop to this exchange but he let it go. In this case, he understood the competitive exchange taking place between the teams. There was no pushback before or after the Huskies won 42-7.
"Coach James was very discipline-oriented, but he felt it, too," Fraley said. "They opened it up, so we rolled. It was a lot of fun."
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