The 28th Rose Bowl Game

Author, historian and football history podcaster Joe Ziemba joins us to discuss the history surrounding the 1942 Rose Bowl Game. A contest not played in Pasadena.

War changes everything. It moves the perspective of entertainment items like sporting events when the seriousness of wartime deservedly becomes the central pivot to life in general for the country. December of 1941, just after the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor thrusting America into World War II, depicts this notion. With the threat of a Japanese attack on the West Coast of the US, the Government decided to ask the Rose Bowl not to play in Pasadena. By December 16, Duke University invited the game and Oregon State to Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina; after all, Western sites, such as Oregon, were eliminated as locations for the Rose Bowl Game to be played. Oregon accepted, and for the first time, the "Granddaddy of them All" would be played in a place other than Pasadena, California. The Blue Devils, under Coach Wallace Wade, were heavy favorites. Oregon's Head Coach Lon Stitner kept his team focused, practicing in the Nation's Capitol a few days before the game before arriving in Durham. The teams traded touchdowns in the first half to create a tie score at the half. Coach Stimer gave an inspiring speech at intermission, which rallied his team to score 13 points in the third quarter. Duke responded with another TD and a fourth-quarter safety to round out the final score of Oregon State 20, Duke 16. Those 16 points were the season's first ones scored by the opponents of the Beavers. Oregon State's Donald Durdan, with 54 yards rushing and a touchdown,  was later named the game's most valuable player.

Oregon State Upset Duke in Rose Bow 02 Jan 1942, Fri Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) Newspapers.com

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