Rose Bowl Game

Rose Bowl Game

January 1

The Rose Bowl Game is the oldest and best known of the post-season college football bowl games, held in Pasadena, Calif., the home of the Tournament of Roses. The first Rose Bowl game was played in 1902 between Michigan and Stanford; the Michigan Wolverines, coached by Fielding H. "Hurry Up" Yost, demolished the Indians, 49-0. Yost was known for his "point-a-minute" teams, and the Michigan 11 had racked up 550 points in 11 winning games, unscored on and untied, before the bowl encounter. Willie Heston, one of the great all-time backs, led the team to victory.
Football gave way to chariot races after that first game, but football came back to stay in 1916. Among the notable highlights in the years since then was the wrong-way run in 1929. The University of California was playing Georgia Tech. Roy Riegels, the center and captain of California's Golden Bears, picked up a Tech fumble, started toward the Tech goal line, and then, facing a troop of Tech defenders, cut across the field and started toward his own goal line, 60 yards away. Players on both sides gaped. Finally Benny Lom, a Bears halfback, ran after Riegels and grabbed him at the three-yard line. Tech players bounced him back to the one. California tried a punt, but it was blocked and the ball rolled out of the end zone. The officials declared a safety, and Georgia Tech won the contest by one point.
From 1947 to 1998 the Rose Bowl brought together the champions of the Midwest Big Ten and Pac Ten (Pacific Ten) Conferences; since 1999, the top two ranked teams in any conference have played here. Numerous other bowl games have come along since 1902: the Orange Bowl in Miami, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas started games in the mid-1930s, and by the 1980s there were 16 bowl games in late December or on New Year's Day.

CONTACTS:
Tournament of Roses
391 S. Orange Grove Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91184
626-449-4100; fax: 626-449-9066
www.tournamentofroses.com

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 12
BkFestHolWrld-1970, p. 3
BkHolWrld-1986, Jan 1
DictDays-1988, p. 97
EncyChristmas-2003, p. 258
FolkAmerHol-1999, p. 9

Celebration day: Jan 1