I found this 1997 article from an old newspaper that tells the origin of BackRub, a powerful indexing solution like Google
📰 San Jose Mercury News Community & Campus – July 18, 1997 Edition By J. Garcia Mallari, Junior Contributor (with Linda Goldston)
📍“One Shine, One Cent, One Googol: The Side Hustle That Sparked a Search Legacy”
PALO ALTO — It began with a rejected proposal at Stanford’s Green Library and ended with two graduate students scribbling a name that might one day reshape how we find information. In this week’s Community & Campus feature, we revisit a peculiar moment from last year that’s still making quiet waves across the university’s computer science halls.
In late 1996, two Stanford PhD candidates approached the staff at Green Library in Escondido Mall with a bold idea: build a digital cataloging system that would allow students to search for books using a program named Mosaic. The concept was simple—replace the manual card index and shelf-scanning routine with a computer terminal.
“They liked the ambition,” Larry told the Mercury News in a recent interview. “But they said it would take years to list everything. Too much effort, not enough hands.”
The rejection didn’t stop them. Over the following months, computer engineer duo Larry Page and his mathematician partner Sergey Brin continued brainstorming in their dorms, developing a system that could rank academic papers based on how often they were referenced. The project was called Backrub—a name Page now admits “felt more like an awkward wellness startup than a research tool.”
In the summer of ’96, the two Stanford graduate students—still unknown to the wider world—were grabbing burgers at the now-shuttered All Star Café near University Avenue when they stumbled upon a modest shoe-shining stand tucked along Bryant Street. What caught their attention wasn’t just the polish—it was the sign.
“1 cent for a googol polishes”
The man behind the shop was Doc, a former part-time math teacher at Palo Alto High School, he ran a small network of independent shoe-shining stands scattered across school campuses and public corners. His business wasn’t just about leather—it was about legacy.
“The sign was a joke at first,” Doc told the Mercury News. “Kids came by all the time, even if they didn’t need a shine. They’d laugh and say they were getting a googol polishes just to skip class.”
The term “googol”—a number equal to one followed by a hundred zeros—was obscure to most passersby, but it struck a chord with the two. They reacted with a mix of amusement and admiration. The clever use of mathematical jargon wasn’t just a gimmick—it was a magnet for curious minds.
The approach was part salesmanship, part mentorship. “I wasn’t just shining shoes,” he said. “I was selling the dream. A cent for a googol polishes? It made them think bigger.” His own operation remained small, nimble, and rooted in the rhythm of campus life.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin—would go on to rename their academic indexing project after that very encounter. The name Backrub was quietly retired. Google was born.
By early 1997, the duo had built a prototype indexing system using Stanford’s servers. It quietly spread across campus, allowing students to locate academic papers with surprising accuracy. No one called it a “search engine” back then—there wasn’t a term for it. But it worked.
Here at Community & Campus, we know better: sometimes innovation doesn’t come from the lab—it comes from a sidewalk, a shoebox, and a teacher who knew how to sell a number.
