By Woodrow Carroll
Because of COVID-19 pandemic, at least 19 college football bowl games have been canceled, moved, or reworked. In the case of the Rose Bowl, the operative word is moved.
The ugly virus has forced the Rose Bowl to move from Pasadena, Calif. to Arlington, Texas. Opponents Alabama and Notre Dame will be in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area rather then greater Los Angeles area for a 3 p.m. game Friday.
Billed as “The Granddaddy of them all (bowl games)” the first Rose Bowl was held in 1902 at University Park in Pasadena, Calif.. The game was designed to complement the Tournament of Roses Parade which started in 1890.
The first Rose Bowl game was Michigan against Stanford. Michigan won, 49-0. Played in halves, the game was called late in second half with Stanford hopelessly beaten.
Searching for the right event to go with the Tournament of Roses, polo replaced football in 1903. Chariot racing followed. After budding Ben Hurs were injured, chariot racing was dropped and football returned as the anchor event of the Tournament of Roses in 1916.
Washington State beat Brown, 14-0, in the 1916 Rose Bowl, a scintillating game it was not, but, not a mismatch, either!
World War I dictated Rose Bowl opponents in 1918 and 1919. The Mare Island Marine Corp (California) beat Camp Lewis (Washington), 19-7 in 1918.
In 1919 Great Lakes (Illinois) beat Mare Island, 17-0. The MVP of the 1919 Rose Bowl was the Chicago Bears’ future owner, George Halas, who starred for Great Lakes.
When an event has a history and tradition of more than 100 years, there are plenty of tales. Notre Dame appeared in the 1925 Rose Bowl. In a classic among classics, the Irish beat Stanford, 27-10. Coaches Knute Rockne for Notre Dame and “Pop” Warner of Stanford shined, as did the Four Horsemen for the Irish and running back Ernie Nevers for Stanford.
In 1926 Alabama made its first appearance in the Rose Bowl. No four horsemen for Alabama. Just one horseman, as it turned out in the form of Johnny Mack Brown.
Brown scored two touchdowns in Alabama’s 20-19 victory over Washington. In time, Brown found the West Coast to his liking, especially Hollywood! For many years, Brown was featured in movies of the western genre, including on horseback.
Friday’s Alabama-Notre Dame clash will not be the first Rose Bowl away from Pasadena.
In 1942, because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, less than one month earlier, the West Coast was deemed vulnerable. To preserve the game, the 1942 Rose Bowl was moved cross country to Durham, N. C. where hometown Duke was host to Oregon State. Duke was favored, only to fall to spirited Oregon State, 20-16.
Life gives us strange coincidences. Playing for Duke in the 1942 Rose Bowl was Tommy Prothro, who kicked an extra point for Duke in the loss to Oregon State. Prothro had a sports bloodline. Prothro’s father was “Doc” Prothro who managed the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball, 1939-1941. All three seasons ended in 100 or more defeats.
Tommy Prothro ended up coaching on the West Coast. As the fates would have it, Prothro coached Oregon State, the school that had defeated his Duke team in 1942.
In 1957, Prothro’s Oregon State team played Iowa in the Rose Bowl. In the regular season, Iowa won, 14-13. The Rose Bowl rematch was not as close with Iowa victorious, 35-19.
Prothro was different and persistent. Prothro, who usually carried a briefcase with him on the sidelines and nobody figured what was inside, moved to UCLA after coaching Oregon State in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Michigan defeated Oregon State, 34-7 in that Rose Bowl.
Prothro was a winner in the 1966 Rose Bowl. Newly-ensconced at UCLA, his Bruins surprised favored Michigan State, 14-12, to make Prothro a winner, and, the first coach to take two schools to the Rose Bowl.