January 1

On this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss Bowl games, how they started and what the most significant ones played on January 1 did for the game of football as well as many more Hall of Fame Legendary stories.

January 1, 1902 - Tournament Park, Pasadena, California - The first bowl game was played. According to an NCAA.com article, it started as the centerpiece of the "Tournament of Roses," a yearly festival by the Valley Hunt Club that began in 1890. Before the advent of the football game, the parade staged events like tugs-of-war, polo matches, and even greased-pig catching. The game's name was changed to the Rose Bowl Game starting with the 1923 Rose Bowl when it moved to the newly constructed Rose Bowl Stadium. In the contest, the Michigan Wolverines blew out the Stanford Cardinal 49-0. Wolverine standout and future Hall of Fame inductee Willie Heston rushed for 170 yards in the contest, setting a record that lasted for 57 years. Michigan only had 12 points scored against it all season long, including this game!

January 1, 1919 - 5th Rose Bowl Great Lakes, US Navy beats Mare Island, USMC, 17-0 per the Onthisday.com website. The game’s Most Valuable Player was a US Naval player named George Halas.  

January 1, 1926 - Pasadena, California - The first game was officially called the Rose Bowl when it entered its new stadium venue of the same name. Remember that the Rose Bowl was the only Bowl game back in this era, and it was a big deal for Alabama to get the invite; in fact they were the first southern to play in the Rose Bowl. The University of Washington was a powerhouse as they were led by their star halfback, George Wildcat Wilson. In the game, it was Wilson's dominant performance for much of the first half of the "Grand Daddy of them All" had opponent Alabama on their heels and down by a couple of scores. The Crimson Tide got a break late in the second quarter when George Wilson left the game due to injury. The Tide rolled, led by Johnny Mack Brown, with 20 unanswered points and were driving down the field to score again when the banged-up Wildcat Wilson re-entered the contest and was significant in shutting down the 'Bama drive at the Husky 12-yard line. Wilson then guided the Washington offense down the field and capped off the drive with Wilson throwing a 20-yard scoring strike to John Cole. It was not enough as the Tide held on to win the game 20-19. The stat line of the game showed that with Wilson on the field, the Washington Huskies gained 317 yards and put up 19 points. When he was out, they mustered a mere 17 yards and were shut out, while the Crimson Tide scored all 20 of their points in that 22-minute absence of Wilson from the contest. It put Alabama football on the map as a major power in the college football landscape. The game was good as upstart Alabama defeated the favorites, Washington, 20-19. This game is often referred to as the Game that Changed the South. Many gridiron history experts recognize it as the most crucial game in southern football history.

January 1, 1935 - 1st Sugar Bowl: Tulane beats Temple, 20-14

January 1, 1935 - 1st Orange Bowl: Bucknell beats Miami (FL), 26-0

January 1, 1937 - La Tropicale Stadium, Havana, Cuba -  Auburn University plays in its first post-season bowl appearance. The Bacardi Bowl in 1937 saw the Tigers lock up with the good Villanova team as the game ended in a 7-7 stalemate. The Bacardi Bowl took place on seven different occasions throughout history. The games were also referred to as the Rhumba Bowl and were the climaxing event of Cuba’s annual National Sports Festival. The first five Rhumba Bowls pitted one of the US teams of the south against a Cuban university squad. This 1937 edition was the only game in the bowl series with two American teams playing each other. The last occurred on December 7, 1946, as Mississippi Southern University played the University of Havana. 

January 1, 1942 - Durham, North Carolina - The Rose Bowl was played on the East Coast once. Oregon State College surprised everyone as they won the Pacific Coast Conference champion­ship. The Golden Rankings website details how the Beavers won their final five games to earn their first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl. As was the custom at the time, the PCC champion picked its opponent for the game in Pasadena. The Golden Gophers of Minnesota was the logical choice as they were tops in all the polls, but they were prohibited from playing in a bowl game by the predecessor of the Big 10, the Western Conference rules at the time. So Oregon State chose the next best team, Duke, who was second in most rank­ings. Many Duke fans booked their travel plans as they got a sweet deal of round-trip train fare, accommodations in California, tickets to the big game, and a free stop at the Grand Canyon for under $182. Sign me up! However, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 launched the U.S. into World War II. Not even a week later, fearing Japanese attacks on the West Coast, the military leaders shut down all major sporting events, including the Rose Bowl. That was when the teams and the Rose Bowl committee got their heads together and decided the game must go on, and they switched the venue to Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, North Carolina. This contest was the only Rose Bowl Game ever played outside Pasadena (until 2020). It was a pretty good game too, but we will let Golden Rankings fill you in on that part. The Final score was Oregon State in an upset 20-16 over the Blue Devils.
https://goldenrankings.com/interestingfootballgames6.htm

January 1, 1952 - Pasadena, California - This edition of the Rose Bowl Game was the first nationally televised college football game. In the Game Illinois destroyed Stanford by the score of 40-7.

January 1, 1962 - Pasadena, California - There was another first for the “Grand Daddy of them All”  it was the first nationally televised college football game broadcast in color. Minnesota outlasted UCLA 21-3 in the milestone broadcast. Wow can you imagine that until this day some pigskin fan on the East Coast may have never seen the Bruin blue before!

January 1, 1963 - Pasadena, California - For the first time in history a game to determine the top team in the nation was scheduled based on the AP and UPI poll, as the top ranked teams would do battle. What a billing! The top ranked Trojans of Southern Cal and #2 Wisconsin Badgers were going to mix it up on the Rose Bowl turf for the top spot. According to the American Football Database it was USC who would end up the victors in a high scoring affair, 42 to 37 over the Badgers. Wisconsin came on strong at the end with 23 unanswered fourth quarter points to make it a nail biter at the end. https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/1963_Rose_Bowl

January 1, 2005 - Tempe, Arizona - At the Fiesta Bowl Utah became the first non-BCS Conference team to appear in and also win a Bowl Championship Series Bowl game by blowing out Big East champion Pittsburgh 35–7. According to Utahutes.com the performance of Utah’s Quarterback Alex Smith propelled him to becoming the #1 overall draft pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. The Utes would eventually become a member of the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.

January 1, 1890 - Wellesley, Massachusetts  -  Vince “Pat” Pazzetti who played quarterback for both Wesleyan and Lehigh University was born. According to his bio on the NFF website Pat played at Wesleyan University as a standout during the football seasons of 1908 and 1909, before transferring to Lehigh for junior and senior campaigns in 1911 and 1912. After the 1912season Pazzetti earned All-America accolades in the same backfield with the legendary Jim Thorpe. The National Football Foundation selected Vince Pazzetti to enter into the College football Hall of Fame in 1961.

January 1, 1901 - Allegheny, Pennsylvania -  The great Wabash College and Yale University standout tackle, Century Milstead entered into this life. The footballfoundation.org website states that generally lineman are the unsung heroes of football most of the time going unnoticed in games. That is not the description they give for our man Century though. As a member of the Wabash Little Giants Milstead helped the team upset much larger teams like Purdue, Georgetown and Butler in convincing fashion. He transferred to Yale in 1922 but had to sit out a season to solidify his eligibility and he was worth the wait. In 1923, Milstead played a key role in a perfect Eli campaign which brought him All-America recognition. After graduation, he coached at Yale, played pro ball for the New York Giants, became a sales executive, served as president of the Touchdown Club of New York as well as on the Lambert Trophy board Century Milstead found his way into the College football Hall of Fame in 1977.

January 1,  1925 - Britton, Oklahoma - The Fullback from William and Mary, Jack Cloud was born.  Jack set the scoring record of 102 points in one season at William and Mary in 1947 according to the NFF. The New York Sun named him All-America in 1947, and the Newspaper Enterprise Association picked him in 1948 for the honor. Grantland Rice wrote, "Jack Cloud may be the closest thing to Jim Thorpe. The National Football Foundation selected Jack Cloud to enter into their College football Hall of Fame in 1990.

January 1, 1927 - Dallas, Texas - Doak Walker the highly decorated Southern Methodist University halfback was born. The NFF site says that Doak was a 3-time All-America halfback for SMU. He won the Maxwell Award in 1947, won the Heisman in 1948, and was named Player of the Year by Collier's Magazine in 1949. Doak Walker found the doors to be open wide to welcome him into the College football Hall of Fame in 1959. Doak after college joined the Detroit Lions and spent 6 productive seasons with the franchise. In fact according to the ProFootballHOF.com site, he did almost everything for the Lions as he passed, ran returned punts and kicks but he also performed the punting and place kicks for the team as well. Walker was selected as All-NFL in 5 of his six seasons played in the League. Doak Walker was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

January 1, 1932 - Knoxville, Tennessee  - Standout Mississippi Quarterback Jackie Parker was born. The NFF states the value of Parker to his team in one game at Rival Auburn. There Quarterback Jackie Parker single-handedly wrenched Auburn. State ran up 49 points in those first three periods, with Parker having a hand in 42 of them on touchdown runs of six, 11 and 34 yards and passes of 11, nine and 27 yards, and he kicked all six extra points. With victory well in hand, Parker watched the final quarter from the sidelines. What a stat line for playing only 75% of the game. During his two seasons at MSU, Parker was All-Conference and All-American. Following his collegiate career. Jackie Parker found his way into the College football Hall of Fame in 1976. After school was over Parker played 14 seasons in the Canadian Football League and was the CFL's Most Valuable Player three times and an All-Pro nine times. Retiring as an active player, Parker became the general manager of the CFL's BC Lions.  

January 1, 1940 - Cheyenne, Wyoming - Mike McKeever the fine guard from USC came into this world. The Footballfoundation.org website states that Mike earned All-America honors and he was also chosen to the academic All-America team. Mike and his brother Marlin were the first twins to earn All-America status. McKeever suffered a head injury in his senior year at USC and it ended his collegiate football career. Prior to the injury he was high on the NFL draft list but the head wound prevented him from showing what he could do at the pro level. He was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 1987.  

January 1, 1962 - Marlin, Texas - Pierce Holt the Angelo State defensive end was born. Pierce started all four seasons at Angelo and was a Two-time All-America selection. When it came to scholastic honors, he was a Two-time Academic All-Conference among other awards. Pierce was inducted into the College football Hall of Fame in 1997 by the National Football Foundation voters..  

January 1, 1967 - Miami, Florida - The outstanding linebacker from the University of Alabama, Derrick Thomas arrived into the world. The Football Foundation website  reveals how Thomas was one of the greatest linebackers in Tide history. Derrick Thomas concluded his career as the NCAA FBS leader in career sacks with 52 en route to winning unanimous All-America honors in 1988. Derrick Thomas was welcomed into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014. At the 1989 NFL Draft Derrick became the fourth overall pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. He had a productive 11 year career with the franchise where he registered 126.5 career sacks, twenty of them coming in one season. He made the All-NFL team three times and played in nine Pro Bowls. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Derrick Thomas in 2009.

The awesome photo above in the banner is titled "EXTERIOR SOUTH SIDE SIGN AND MAIN ENTRY VIEW, FACING NORTHEAST. - Rose Bowl Stadium" and comes from a collection  taken by photographers Historic American Buildings Survey, creator William L. Leishman, Myron Hunt, William Taylor,  and David Maul around 1933. The collection was donated to the US Library of Congress for all of us to enjoy!