The 13th Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl played on January 1, 1927 proved to be as exciting of a Tournament of Roses contest as any as two powerhouses met in Pasadena

The 1927 Rose Bowl Game was held on January 1, 1927, in Pasadena, California. The game featured the Alabama Crimson Tide of the Southern Conference versus Stanford of the Pacific Coast Conference. Each squad was well coached and had an unblemished record during their respective 1926 gridiron campaigns. 

Epic Rose Bowl 02 Jan 1927, Sun The Huntsville Times (Huntsville, Alabama) Newspapers.com

The Stanford team was under head coach Pop Warner in his third season at the school. The Pacific Coast champs compiled a 10–0 record during the regular season and outscored opponents by 261 to 66. 

The Crimson Tide had shocked the football world a year earlier when they knocked off Washington by a point. Wallace Wade, in his fourth year in 1926, and Alabama finished the season with nine wins and zero losses. The closest competition was a 2-0 victory over Sewanee in October.

There was an air of excitement for this matchup. The United Press International called the 1927 Rose Bowl "the football championship of America." The Rose Bowl Game was really coming into its own as the hype and billing led to a crowd of 57,417 , which set an attendance record. The Game action was just as good as the pre-game hype. Stanford's George Bogue missed an 18-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter. Bogue made up for it a bit later, though, when he brought the California faithful to their feet by throwing a touchdown pass to Ed Walker and kicked the point after to put Stanford up, 7-0. Stanford held that lead through most of the rest of the game. That all changed in the final minutes. The Tide stalled a Stanford drive and forced them to punt on fourth down. The exceptional Crimson Tide rush of guard Babe Pearce, entered the backfield and blocked Frankie Wilton's punt, and Alabama took over at the Stanford 14. Alabama running back Jimmy Johnson muscled himself the yardage needed for the touchdown. It all came down to the extra point attempt. Alabama's Herschel Caldwell's kick sailed true and knotted the score. The final minute ran off with Stanford in a stalemate, and the clock went to zeroes with a 7-all tie. In 1953 a gropu f historians awarded Alabama offensive lineman, Fred Pickhard as the MVP of the game.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites:  the Sports Reference's family of website databases,  Stathead.com, 1927 Rose Bowl. (2022, October 27). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_Rose_Bowl

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of  A scene from the October 16, 1926 football game between the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Grant Field. The caption reads: "Pass that resulted in Alabama's first touchdown."