His Magic Moment : Former Bruin Kurt Altenberg Made the Kind of Catch Memories Are Made of as His 52-Yard Score Beat USC

Kurt Altenberg fast-forwarded the videotape, settled back in a recliner and watched himself spike a football into the heart of every USC player and fan on that fateful Saturday.

It’s been 23 years since Altenberg made the catch that etched his name in the annals of the USC-UCLA game, but seeing it again conjured up memories for the former UCLA wide receiver.

“I got this in the mail last Friday,” Altenberg said of the video, which chronicles the USC-UCLA series. “I stayed up until 3 in the morning watching it. I got goose bumps. I was hoping I’d make the catch again.”

Altenberg’s 52-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Gary Beban with 2:39 left gave the Bruins a stunning 20-16 win over USC before 94,085 fans at the Coliseum on Nov. 20, 1965, capping one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of the cross-town rivalry.

Altenberg punctuated his touchdown by spiking the ball in the end zone, the first and only time he indulged in such a celebration.

Although he has been around football nearly all of his 44 years--as a player at Serra High, El Camino College and UCLA, and recently as an assistant coach at Bishop Montgomery High--Altenberg is remembered most for his catch that put the underdog Bruins in the Rose Bowl and left USC wondering how it could blow a 16-6 lead in the final 4 minutes.

“Athletically, it was the highlight of my life,” said Altenberg, twice a first-team all-conference selection. “Interestingly, when the season started we were picked to finish last (in the conference). We had a new coach, Tommy Prothro, and we got killed in our first game by Michigan State.”

UCLA will again be an underdog Saturday when it faces unbeaten USC at the Rose Bowl in a showdown for the Pac-10 championship, but a Bruin victory will not cause the stir of 1965.

Altenberg’s team, which included 195-pound defensive tackle Terry Donahue, was considered little more than a minor hurdle for powerful USC and Trojan halfback Mike Garrett, the Heisman Trophy winner that year.

“For the first 56 minutes, they beat us pretty bad,” Altenberg recalled. “But every time it seemed like they were going to score, they’d fumble or get a penalty.”

To be sure, USC was its own worst enemy. The Trojans racked up 424 yards in offense, including 210 rushing by Garrett, but they frittered away scoring opportunities by losing five fumbles, throwing a pass interception in the end zone and letting the clock run out in the first half with the ball on the UCLA 7-yard line.

The Trojans probably would have won the game if not for their last fumble. Quarterback Troy Winslow, an Inglewood High graduate, lost the ball and Erwin Dutcher recovered for UCLA at the USC 34 with 4 minutes left.

That was all Beban needed. The sophomore, already showing the talent that earned him the Heisman Trophy as a senior, hit Dick Witcher with a 34-yard touchdown pass on the next play and threw to Byron Nelson for a 2-point conversion.

Suddenly, UCLA, badly outplayed to that point, was down only 16-14.

Prothro tried an onside kick and Dallas Grider recovered for UCLA at the Trojan 48. The Bruins picked up a first down at the 38, but on the next play Beban was sacked back to his 48.

Enter Altenberg. The senior, among UCLA’s biggest offensive players at 6-2 and 210 pounds, was supposed to be the decoy on the winning pass.

“The play was designed for (running back) Mel Farr,” Altenberg said. “I was going to run deep and Farr was going to swing up the sideline and get us in position for a field goal. Beban had thrown the same pattern to me earlier in the game and USC intercepted. But being a sophomore, Beban didn’t know any better. He threw it to me anyway.

“I remember running up the sideline and Prothro, who was standing about 10 feet away, yelling, ‘Run Altenberg, run!’ ”

Altenberg, who had slipped behind USC cornerback Nate Shaw and safety Mike Hunter, caught the ball at about the 8 and strode into the end zone.

“It was an easy catch,” he said. “Beban’s throw was perfect. All of us got mobbed. I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t until about a week later that I finally believed we were going to the Rose Bowl.”

UCLA pulled what was considered an even bigger upset in the Rose Bowl by avenging its season-opening loss to Michigan State, 14-12. The Bruins ended with an 8-2-1 record and the nation’s No. 4 ranking.

Altenberg experienced another thrill at UCLA’s awards banquet. When the curtain was drawn at the ballroom in the Beverly Wilshire hotel, there were two billboard-sized photos of Altenberg and Witcher making their touchdown catches against USC.

The next season he played two games with the Washington Redskins until leg injuries convinced him to give up football and pursue a career in business.

Raised in Inglewood, Altenberg has lived the last 18 years in Rolling Hills Estates with his family. He runs a furniture distributorship and, for the last four years, has served as an assistant coach at Bishop Montgomery, where his son, Scott, was an All-Angelus League quarterback and kicker this season.

Altenberg, who says he has attended all of the USC-UCLA games since he left Westwood with a degree in political science, says he likes the Bruins’ chances Saturday.

As he learned 23 years ago, being the underdog isn’t all that bad.