The 1st Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl is 100 Years Old! In celebration of this milestone we are covering the history of the stadium and the New Years Game game associated with it by gathering research from resources from some of the finest historians and authors in the gridiron realm. Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology joins us to chat about the first game played at the Tournament of Roses festival way back in 1902.

In 1902 the Tournament of Roses Committee was searching for extra entertainment for visitors to the now annual New Years celebration in Pasadena, California. The game of football was becoming very popular so it was a logical choice to have a game played at the celebration. 

Yes the Rose Bowl was originally billed as the "Tournament East–West football game." What most call the first Rose Bowl game was played on January 1, 1902, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California. Though they did't realize it at the time, it started the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games.

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the very first Tournament East-West football game

This inaugural game featured Fielding Yost's fantastic 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team, who represented the East. Stanford one of the better teams on the West Coast was the Pacific area offering. Hurry Up Yost's Wolverines absolutely demolished  the 3–1–2 team from Stanford University, by a score of 49–0. It could have been an even more lopsided score but Cardinal captain Ralph Fisher requested to quit with eight minutes remaining and by agreement with Michigan team captain Hugh White the second half was shortened to accomodate. Michigan finished the season 11–0 and was considered a national champion. Yost had been Stanford's coach the previous year.

Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team
Front (left to right): Everett Sweeley, Boss Weeks, Curtis Redden, Arthur Redner, Albert E. Herrnstein
Middle (left to right): Ebin Wilson, Neil Snow, Hugh White, Bruce Shorts, Willie Heston
Back (left to right): H.K. Crafts, Dan McGugin, George Gregory, Fielding H. Yost, Herb Graver, Charles A. Baird, Keene Fitzpatrick by an Unknown author

The Pasadena boosters were exploring a way to bring in more tourism and money to the area. The Tournament of Roses Association president, James Wagner,  posted a guarantee of $3,500 to cover the expenses of bringing the football teams of the University of Michigan and Stanford University to Pasadena to play in the contest. To offset this then lofty number, an admission price of 50 cents to $1 to see the game. An additional $1 would be charged to admit a family's horse and buggy to the grounds. The game was played in Tournament Park, where temporary stands were built and the field was 110 yards long.

Michigan Fullback, Neil Snow was named as the game's Most Valuable Player. Snow scored 5 Touchdowns in the game on scoring runs of 5yards, 2 yards, 8 yards, 17 yards and four yards.

You can learn more about Yost and this great 1901 squad as well as his time at Stanford in our posts and podcasts with author John Behee.

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the very first Tournament East-West football game, hosted by the Tournament of Roses. The game would become known as the Rose Bowl Game and like (nearly) all subsequent games it was played on New Years Day, January 1, 1902. The first game featured Fielding H. Yost's dominating 1901 University of Michigan (representing the East) crushing previously 3-1-2 Stanford (representing the West) by a score of 49-0. Michigan would end the season 11-0-0 and considered the National Champions. Yost had been Stanford's coach the previous year. The game was so lopsided that the game wasn't played again until 1916, when it would become a yearly tradition. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library's Photo Collection, by an Unknown author

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet site Football Archaeology and its author Timothy P. Brown