SPORT: THE PURPLE ROSE OF NORTHWESTERN

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None of this might have happened had Barnett not convinced a headstrong and homesick theater major that he should give his college one more try. Like Tony Randall, Warren Beatty, Ann-Margret and Charlton Heston before him at Northwestern, Darnell Autry is an actor. Unlike them, he can explode through the line, break tackles and outrace defenders. He rushed for at least 100 yds. in every one of Northwestern's games this year, and had he not been a mere sophomore, he might have got more consideration for the Heisman Trophy.

Last spring, though, Autry returned home to Tempe, Arizona, with every intention of transferring to Arizona State. "Winter hit me right in the mouth," says Autry, who recently projected himself as a Sicilian statue for a theater class. "I couldn't imagine ever coming back for another year." But Barnett and Autry's father pressured him to return, and by the time football started, "things just turned around like that."

Last week Autry and the other Wildcats visited the Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, where they received roses with purple streamers and a giant football sign made by all the kids in the school. A second-grade class serenaded the team by singing, "Everything's coming up roses for you and for me."

Forty-seven years ago, the Wildcats were sent off to Pasadena to play California with signs reading GO WEST, YOUNG MEN AND SMELL THOSE ROSES and MAKE WALDORF SALAD--a reference to Cal coach Pappy Waldorf. Thanks to a 43-yd. run by Ed Tunnicliff with three minutes to go, Northwestern beat Cal 20-14 for coach Bob Voigts.

The 79-year-old Voigts, who attends every game, will be going west with these young men also. Says Voigts of his return to the Rose Bowl: "I didn't think it was possible."

--Reported by Julie Grace/Evanston