January 2

On this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss the Tale of the fascinating story of the 1922 Rose Bowl Game as well as many more Hall of Fame Legendary stories.

The photo in the banner is graciously shared by the David Tullio family when they witnessed the pre game festivities at the 2017 Big Ten Championship Game watching their beloved Northwestern Wildcats! We thank them greatly for letting us share this with you!

January 2, 1922 -Tournament Park, Pasadena, California -The 8th Rose Bowl game had a small college from Pennsylvania, Washington and Jefferson against the University of California. The WashJeff.edu internet page shares an interesting tale of the game. The Golden Bears were the top team on the West Coast and W&J were undefeated in 1921 and the best team on the East side of the nation. The Bears though were a heavy favorite, 14 points was the reported spread on the contest as W&J with a mere 450 students was the smallest school to ever participate in a Rose Bowl game. It is an interesting billing right there with the best of the East versus West theme but the story of the Presidents trek to Pasadena is where we want to dive into. During the undefeated season of W&J football their roster of 17 young men showed that only 11 of them participated on game days. Yes it is hard for us to fathom in this era of gridiron platooning and specialists but the Presidents had 11 fellas that just stayed on the field and balled out on every snap. The coach of this western PA group was the legendary Greasy Neale who was both a great player and coach not only on the gridiron but on the baseball diamond too. From a football perspective Greasy would go on to lead the Philadelphia Eagles teams of the 1940’s from the sidelines. The football budget for Washington and Jefferson in 1921 was extremely tight, in fact they only had enough dough to send 11 players to the Rose Bowl. The athletic administrator of the school himself reportedly had to mortgage his home to be able to attend the game. A major issue would occur on the team’s cross country travel, one of the eleven players on the trip C.L. Spillers contracted pneumonia and had to be left in Kansas City. W&J now faced the threat of not having enough players to field a full squad in the Bowl game! Author E. Lee North’s narrative titled, “Battling the Indians, Panthers, and Nittany Lions … The Story of Washington & Jefferson College’s First Century of Football, 1890-1990,”  says that one of the reserve players Bucky Buchanan had stowed away on the train and that he was given Spiller’s ticket when it was found that he could not continue on the journey. Another story from the December 28, 1921 New York Tribune says that the team wired home to have another reserve, Al Haddon sent to take Spiller’s place. The evidence of Buchanan being in the Pasadena team photos and not Haddon gives some credence to the stowe away story, plus it makes the whole thing more legendary and nostalgic. Any way the Presidents made it to Pasadena and fielded eleven to play in what would be the final game at Tournament Park. W&J ‘s Quarterback Charles West gave the game another breakthrough moment as he became the first signal caller of African-American descent to play in the Grand Daddy of them All. The game was a defensive battle throughout. Cal’s offense could muster only 49 yards on the ground and did not complete even one pass! The Presidents did not fare much better as their 114 yards rushing was about it for offense stats. In the end Washington & Jefferson and Cal tied, 0-0 in the only scoreless Rose Bowl game ever. W&J’s team captain Russ Stein, was voted as the game’s Most Outstanding Player  and he went on to play for the NFL and was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991.

5 Quick Gridiron Headlines from OnthisDay.com

January 2, 1928 - It was a close one in the 14th Rose Bowl when the Stanford Cardinal outlasted the Pittsburgh Panthers by the score of 7-6.

January 2, 1956 - Sugar Bowl - Pitt's Bobby Grier was a racial trailblazer as he became the first African American player, to break the color barrier in the segregated Deep South.

January 2, 1956 - The 22nd Orange Bowl was a battle of highly ranked teams. In the contest the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners got past the #3 Maryland Terrapins 20-6.

January 2, 1961 - Rose Bowl , Pasadena, California - In a slight upset the #6 Washington Huskies knocked off the top ranked team in the country, the Golden Gophers of Minnesota, 17-7. 

January 2, 1965 - The New York Jets signed future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath to a record contract in professional football. It sounds small by today’s standards but Namath and the Jets agreed to a $427,000 contract over three years.

January 2, 1966 - Lambeau Field, Green Bay -  The Cleveland Browns made their way to Wisconsin to battle the Packers in the final National Football League Championship Game before the Super Bowls started. This 1965 NFL Championship game was the first League title game broadcast in televised color. The teams exchanged passing TDs in the first quarter according to the boxscore on the Pro-Football-Reference website. The Browns could only muster two Lou Groza field goals the rest of the game while the Pack added a Paul Hornung touchdown run and three Don Chandler 3 pointers to steal the title. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Cleveland Browns 23-12 in this last championship game of the Pre Super Bowl Era of Pro football.
 
January 2, 1972 - Miami’s Orange Bowl - The 1971 AFC Championship game matched the Baltimore Colts up against the Miami Dolphins per Pro-Football-Reference.com. The Dolphins showed the League a little of what was to come as they beat Baltimore Colts, 21-0 as Paul Warfield and Larry Csonka scored offensive TDs for the Fins while defender Dick Anderson added a 62 yard pick six for good measure.

Some Great Onthisday.com Quick hitter headlines

January 2, 1982 - "The Epic in Miami", in 85 degree heat (Fahrenheit), the San Diego Chargers defeat the Miami Dolphins 41-38 in overtime in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game, a game that set numerous playoff scoring records

January 2, 1983 - In a 35-27 win over the Houston Oilers, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson completes 20 consecutive passes and finishes the season winning his second consecutive passing title with an NFL record 70.55% completion percentage

January 2, 1984 - 50th Orange Bowl: #5 Miami (FL) beats #1 Nebraska, 31-30

January 2, 1987 - 16th Fiesta Bowl: #2 Penn State beats #1 Miami, 14-10

January 2, 1989 - 18th Fiesta Bowl: #1 Notre Dame beats #3 West Virginia, 34-21 for the national title

January 2, 2012 - A very exciting and high scoring Fiesta Bowl was witnessed. As two top 5 teams squared off with #3 Oklahoma State matched up against #4 Stanford as covered by an ESPN.com article. Ok State signal caller Brandon Weeden threw for 399 yards and 3 touchdowns matched his stats against Cardinal Andrew Luck who tossed for 2 TDs and 347 yards himself. The contest lived up to its billing as the Cowboys prevailed in overtime over the Cardinal 41-38.

January 2,  1912 - Canton, Illinois - Illinois Wesleyan’s great Tackle, Tony Blazine arrived into the world. The NFF tells of how Tony was a four year letterman at his school as they had a winning record in an era when they faced teams like Michigan State,Depaul and Kentucky. Tony Blazine was accepted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Blazine played 8 seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants. He then served as assistant coach at the University of Illinois and the University of Washington.

January 2, 1927 - Smithers, West Virginia - The standout defensive end from the University of San Francisco Gino Marchetti was born. According to the Pro Football HOF site Marchetti was the New York Yanks number 2 pick in the 1952 Draft. The Yanks soon after became the Dallas Texans for a season and then turned into the Baltimore Colts. He was a feared defender as he went to 11 straight Pro Bowls and was an All-NFL selection in an unbelievable nine different seasons of his 14 year NFL career! Gino was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

January 2, 1930 -Cumberland, Maryland - Bobby Williams the fine quarterback from the University of Notre Dame was born. Williams as a nineteen year old according to the NFF quarterbacked the 1949 Notre Dame team to ten straight victories  with a 56 percent completion rate and the national championship. Bobby’s best performance of the magical 1949 season came against Michigan State when he had a 50 yard punt that went out of bounds at the four, and ran 40 yards for a touchdown on a bootleg and went 13 of 16 on some timely passing! Bob Williams was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame by Football Foundation voters in 1988.  

January 2, 1959 - Sacramento, California - Stanford running back Darrin Nelson celebrates his day of birth. Darrin was a trend setter in college football as he became the first player in NCAA history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch more than 50 passes in one season per the NFF’s bio on him. Darrin Nelson didn’t just do this one time though, he would accomplish the feat three times during his standout career as a Cardinal! Nelson would finish his collegiate career as the NCAA leader for all-purpose yards, which remains a school record at 6,885. There was little doubt when the National Football Foundation selected Darrin Nelson into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

January 2, 1964 - Boston, Mass. - Plymouth State University’s great halfback Joe Dudek arrived on the scene.  Plymouth State may be only a Division III school but in 1985 Dudek gave them national attention according to the footballfoundation.org website story on Joe when his face was smack dab on the cover of the December 2, 1985 Sports Illustrated Magazine! Joe’s impact on college football was pretty big as he received the highest vote ranking for a Division III player in Heisman history when he was ninth in 1985. Dudek in his college career earned the Division III All-America honor three times as he rushed and gained 5570 career yards for an average of 7.1 per play and scored 79 touchdowns. Joe Dudek made his grand entrance into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.