The 3rd Rose Bowl Game

One of the top experts in early Eastern Pennsylvania football history is Scott Ferguson-Greene. Scott was kind enough to join us to discuss the 1917 Tournament of Roses New Years Day East-West Game where the University of Pennsylvania would play the University of Oregon in what would later be called the 3rd Rose Bowl.

The 1917 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was a college football bowl game on Monday, January 1, 1917. It was the third Rose Bowl Game, as the Oregon Webfoots and the Penn Quakers would square off at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California.
The Webfoots had an interesting invite to the big game. The Oregon football team was led by head coach Hugo Bezdek. Oregon and Washington were both unbeaten in the new Pacific Coast Conference that year. The two newcomers tied in their head-to-head meeting. Oregon was invited to participate in the Tournament of Roses game before their final game, even though Washington had one more conference win than Oregon, having beaten California twice. Based on the extra victory, Washington is credited with winning the conference that year, but Oregon already had the invitation to Pasadena.

The Penn Quakers only appeared in Pasadena's New Years' game. 1916 was their first season under legendary head coach Bob Folwell. The Quaker's captain that season was Neil Matthews. There had been other Ivy League teams at the Rose Bowl, Harvard in 1920 and Columbia in 1934, both winners. Penn was led by quarterback Bert Bell, who would later become the founding owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and eventually NFL Commissioner. Bell's performance was poor, as he turned the ball over multiple times.
Scoreless at halftime, Oregon scored a touchdown in each of the final two quarters and won 14–0. Oregon was led by the two Huntington brothers, Shy and Hollis. Following a scoreless first half, the Webfoots scored on a 15-yard pass in the 3rd quarter from Shy Huntington to Lloyd Tegert. Oregon scored again in the 4th quarter on a 1-yard run from Shy to lead the Webfoots to a 14–0 upset win. Shy Huntington also had three interceptions in the game. Oregon team captain John Beckett was named the Player of the Game when the award was created in 1953, with selections made retroactively. This shutout win was Oregon's (who would later be branded as the Oregon Ducks) sole Rose Bowl victory for 95 years.

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the University of Oregon football team, with head coach Hugo Bezdek on the right. This team was the Pacific Coast Conference champions and defeated the University of Pennsylvania in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1917.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites mentioned above including the WIkipedia, the Sports-Reference sites and RoseBowlGame.com