The 9th Rose Bowl Game

Rich Shmelter historian, podcaster and author of multiple gridiron books including The USC Trojans Football Encyclopedia joins us to chat about this 9th Rose Bowl between USC and Penn State.

The stadium that we know as the Rose Bowl made its New Years' Game debut on January 1, 1923 as the USC Trojans would play the Penn State Nittany Lions in the annual Tournament of Roses New Years' Game in Pasadena. It was not the first football game played in the stadium though, as a few regular season games were played there before the actual Tournament of Roses football game to break in the new stadium and make sure it was ready for the large Holiday event. USC had actually already played three games in the new stadium: USC lost to California in the very first game in the stadium on October 28, 1922, and defeated Idaho and Washington State in the new stadium to close out their season. The Olympic Club also played a football game there. The stadium was officialy dedicated on this January 1, 1923 game day though.

The Rose Bowl was designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1921. His design, as well as the name for the stadium, was influenced by the Yale Bowl. The Arroyo Seco (translation "dry stream") was selected as the location for the stadium. The Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921 to 1922. At first it was more a horseshow stadium than a bowl until a later renovation/additon of seating.

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the Rose Bowl construction in 1921

It was the first bowl game appearance for both the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University football teams, who as we shall see later this month would meet again in the Rose Bowl in 1928.

Legendary Coach Hugo Bezdek was the head coach of PSU while Coach Gus Henderson manned the Southern Cal sideline.

Penn State started the scoring in the first quarter by kicking a field goal on a 20-yard drop-kick field goal by Mike Palm.

The Trojans repsonded in the second quarter as Halfback Campbell ran one into the end zone. The USC defense stiffened after that early score as the Nittany Lions were held to just five first downs and 104 yards for the game. Roy Bullet Baker  marked another touchdown on the board for Southern Cal, in the third quarter as he rushed for 123 yards on the day for the Trojans. This score held up in a 14-3 USC victory.

The game MVP, determined retroactively in 1953, was Southern Cal Offensive Guard, Leo Calland.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of  ROSE BOWL FOOTBALL GAME, VIEW NORTHEAST, 1923 - Rose Bowl Stadium, from Positive Image Photographic Services.

The other photo above is also from Wikimedia Commons and is of the Rose Bowl construction in 1921.After crowds out-grew Pasadena's Tournament Park, architect Myron Hunt drew up plans for the construction of the Rose Bowl stadium in 1920. On January 1, 1923, USC beat Penn State, 14-3, in the first Rose Bowl game. The stadium was enlarged several times, with the south end completed in 1928, taken by an unknown.