In 1941, the Beavers football team won the Pacific Coast Conference and a berth in the 1942 Rose Bowl against the undefeated Duke Blue Devils. With the United States' entry into World War II, concern about a Japanese attack on the West Coast brought a relocation of the game to Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina.[3] In spite of the fact that Duke was favored by two touchdowns, the Beavers pulled off a major upset, winning 20–16.[4] Durdan, who showed his all-around skill by rushing for 54 yards and a touchdown, passing, and punting, was named the game's most valuable player.[3] This remains the Beavers' only Rose Bowl victory.
Durdan served in the United States Navy during World War II.[5] After the war, Durdan signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 1946, where he played halfback as well as defensive back for one full season and part of a second in 1947.
In addition to playing professional football, Durdan also played professional basketball for the Portland Indians of the Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. The league lasted just two seasons (1946–47 and 1947–48), but Durdan's Indians won the best-of-five league championship in 1948 over the rival Seattle Athletics.[6]
In 1946, Durdan married Maxine DeMoss, sister of Oregon golf champion Grace DeMoss (another DeMoss sister married Durdan's Rose Bowl teammate Quentin Greenough).[5][7] Following his sports career, Durdan became a funeral director in his wife's family's funeral home business in Corvallis, Oregon.[5] He died in Corvallis in 1971. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1981,[8] and in 1988, to both the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame.[9][10]
