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At Stanford, he played backup to future Heisman winner Jim Plunkett for two years. However, he finally got his chance as a fifth-year senior during the ’71 season. He led the team, then called “Indians,” to the Pacific 8 championship. Winning the conference championship gave Stanford a birth in the coveted Rose Bowl.
In the granddaddy of all bowl games, Bunce led the team to a fourth-quarter come-from-behind win over unbeaten and heavily favored #4 ranked Michigan. He completed five of his last six passes, leading to the game-winning field goal, earning him the game’s most valuable player.
Bunce was also elected to the Stanford University Hall of Fame.
In 1972, the university decided to walk the emerging path of “political correctness” and abandon “Indians” as their mascot in favor of “Cardinal.” Thus, Bunce had the distinction of quarterbacking the final bowl appearance of the team with the name “Indians.”
Don played for a year in Canada, then went to medical school at Stanford. He graduated in 1977 and became one of the foremost orthopedic surgeons in the area, serving as the Stanford team doctor for ten years.
In 2003, while enjoying some beach time with his wife in Santa Cruz, Bunce had a fatal heart attack. He was only 54.
While many of his significant accomplishments qualify Dr. Bunce for induction into the Woodside Hall of Fame, the totality of them made him an obvious choice for induction, which took place in 2009.
Everything else is just history
I appreciate the article. I’m a Stanford alum who grew up in the area and saw both Rose Bowls in the 70’s in Pasadena. The Bunce game was great and we were very sorry to lose him so early. By the way, changing the team name, while initially jarring, came to be accepted by the great majority of alums, as we know the harm in relegating an entire people to “mascot” status.