POINT OF FACT
? How did the Rose Bowl game originate?
•On New Year's Day, 1889, Pasadena, Calif, held a community sports program. It featured running races, tilting at rings on horseback and, a few years later, Roman chariot races. The program was preceded by a parade known as the Tournament of Roses, and, as years passed, the pageant and sports entertainment drew large crowds from surrounding areas. In 1902 the University of Michigan football team was barnstorming the West and was asked by the Tournament of Roses Association to play a game with Stanford as Pasadena's main New Year's Day sports event. The game turned out to be a disaster for California's representative (Michigan won 49-0) and, whether for that reason or for others, the football game idea was dropped and the chariot races resumed. In 1915 Pasadena decided to give football another try, and the second Tournament of Roses Association game was played January 1,1916. This time the West Coast team, Washington State, defeated Brown 14-0, and the first postseason bowl game was firmly established. For seven years the games were played in Pasadena's Tournament Park. In 1923 the Rose Bowl itself, an enormous stadium erected on the city's outskirts, became the official site of the New Year's Day game. With one exception, it has been played there ever since. Jn 1942, because of wartime restrictions on the Coast, the game was transferred to Duke Stadium in Durham, N.C.
? What college has the best Rose Bowl record?
•Southern California, which has played in the most games—12 since 1923—and has won nine and lost only three. Alabama is next in number of wins with a 4-1-1 record.
? How many tie games have been played, and what teams were involved?
•There have been only three ties in the bowl's 48-game history, and all of them occurred before 1930. California and Washington & Jefferson played to a scoreless tie in 1922, Navy and Washington tied at 14-all two years later, and in 1927 Alabama and Stanford ended the game 7-7.
? Four Rose Bowl games were won by a single point. What years did this happen?
•In 1920 Harvard defeated Oregon 7-6, the latter gaining all its points on two field goals. Alabama beat Washington 20-19 in 1926, and Stanford defeated Pittsburgh 7-6 in 1928—both games were decided on points-after-touchdowns. In 1929 Georgia Tech beat California 8-7 with the help of football's most unusual performance. The score was 0-0 in the second quarter when California's Roy Riegels became confused and carried the ball 65 yards toward his own goal before being tackled at the one-foot line by teammate Benny Lom. The next play turned into a safety for Georgia Tech when Lom punted from behind his own goal line—the kick was blocked, and was touched last by a California player before it went out of bounds. In the third quarter Georgia Tech scored a touchdown but missed the extra point, to lead 8-0. Riegels' monumental goof proved the difference when California scored what would have been the winning touchdown and extra point in the fourth period.
? What was the highest score of a Rose Bowl game?
•There have been two 49-0 scores, and both times Michigan was the winner. In the 1902 inaugural game against Stanford, Fielding Harris (Hurry Up) Yost's "point-a-minute" team just about lived up to its name. Forty-six years later Herbert Orrin (Fritz) Crisler's untied and unbeaten Michigan team repeated its predecessor's performance over U.S.C.
? The most points scored by one man in a Rose Bowl game is 18, a record held by two fullbacks. Who were they?
•In 1925 Elmer Layden of Notre Dame scored three touchdowns, as his team trampled Stanford 27-10. Layden's second and third touchdowns were made on intercepted passes. Jack Weisenburger of Michigan equaled Layden's feat in 1948, when he ran for three touchdowns in Michigan's 49-0 slaughter of Southern California.
ILLUSTRATION