The 29th through the 36th Rose Bowl Game

The history of the Rose Bowl Games played from 1943 through 1950 are discussed. We are right in the midst of 40 days of Rose Bowl history in celebration of the stadium's 100th anniversary in January of 2023.

Rose Bowl Contest Thrills 02 Jan 1943, Sat The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com

The Georgia Bulldogs and the UCLA Bruins tangled in the 29th Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1943, in Pasadena, California. Scoreless through the first three quarters, Georgia put up nine unanswered points in the final period: Willard "Red" Boyd blocked a Bob Waterfield punt out of bounds for an automatic safety for the first two, and then Georgia’s Frank Sinkwich dove in from one-yard out for a TD and Leo Costa converted the PAT. The Bulldogs won it 9-nil. Georgia’s Charley Trippi was retroactively named the Player of the Game when the award was created in 1953.

Trojans Upset Huskies 02 Jan 1944, Sun Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.comThe 30th edition of the Rose Bowl Game was played on January 1, 1944. It is another unique wartime circumstance as it was the only Rose Bowl game with teams from the same conference. It was necessary to have two West Coast-Pacific Conference teams due to the travel restrictions imposed by the war effort. The combatants were USC and Washington. USC had Coach Jeff Cravath calling the shots, while on the Washington sideline, it was head coach Ralph Welch. Gordon Gray hauled in two passes for scores, one from Jim Hardy and the other from Ainslee Bell, to help the Trojans cruise to a 29-0 victory over the Huskies. Southern Cal guard Norman Verry was retroactively chosen as the game's MVP.

Southern Cal made a return trip across town for the 31st rendition of the Tournament of Roses New Year’s Day game to face the Tennessee Volunteers. The game was scheduled for Monday, January 1, 1945, and after the opening whistle, Coach Jeff Barnhill and Vols barely knew what hit them. The momentum was all Southern Cal as, during the opening minutes, Trojan John Ferraro blocked a punt, and teammate Jim Callanan scooped it up and delivered it to the endzone for a touchdown. It set the tone, and the Trojans rolled 25-0. USC Coach Jeff Cravath led his team to a second straight Rose Bowl win. It is unclear who was decided as the MVP, but from the stat lines, Jeff Hardy had to be in the running with two TD throws and another rushing. 

USC Thumps Vols 02 Jan 1945, Tue The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) Newspapers.com

Coach Cravath and the USC team were invited for a third straight year to the Rose Bowl game scheduled for January 1, 1946. Their opponent this time would be the Alabama Crimson Tide, still coached by Frank Thomas. The Crimson Tide dominated the game as they led at the half 20–0, allowing the Trojans very little offense as USC had negative 24 yards in the first half. USC didn't make a first down until the third quarter, and at that point, it was too late as they were down 27–0. Bama had its stars shine as Quarterback Harry Gilmer threw for one touchdown and ran in another, rushing for 116 yards on 16 carries. Hal Self scored twice, once on a one-yard run and a 24-yard scamper. And the Tide defense was stifling! Alabama out-gained USC 351 to 41 yards. The final score was Alabama 34, USC 14, with Gilmer retroactively selected as the game's MVP.

Tide Smears Cal 02 Jan 1946, Wed The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama) Newspapers.com

For the 33rd Rose Bowl Game, the invitations went out to the Illinois Fighting Illini and the UCLA Bruins. The teams were chosen for the first time by agreement with the top  Big Nine team versus that of the Pacific Coast Conference. Bert LaBrucherie led UCLA to a perfect 10-0 Pacific Coast Conference title, while the Illini of Coach Ray Eliot fought their way through the rugged Big Nine Conference with a 7-2 mark. The Bruins kept it interesting early as they scored the school's first-ever post-season points on an Ernie Case quarterback sneak to give the Bruins a 7–6 first-quarter lead. It was all Illini from there as Illinois took control with a sound running game, outscoring UCLA 39–7. Illinois dominated the Bruins on the ground, compiling 320 yards to the Bruin's 62. The talented tandem of Illinois halfbacks Jules Rykovich and Buddy Young shared the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game award, decided retroactively in 1953. 

The 34th episode of the Rose Bowl was played Thursday, January 1, 1948. The billing was the second-ranked and undefeated Michigan Wolverines of the Big Nine Conference against the 8th-ranked USC Trojans. Coach Fritz Crisler readied the 1947 Wolverines, known as the "Mad Magicians", on their cross-country trek against the Southern cal squad of Coach Jeff Cravath. The result had the final score and the feel as the first New Years’ Game played in Pasadena in 1902 as the Wolverines romped, this time over the Trojans 49-0. Running back Bob Chappuis of Michigan was recognized as the Most Valuable Player five years later. Also featured in this game were Bruce Hilkene, along with brothers Bump Elliott and Pete Elliott.

The 1948 Northwestern Wildcats football team was a remarkable collection of talent that made history that year. Led by coach Bob Voigts and halfback Frank Aschenbrenner, the team compiled an 8-2 record and won their first-ever Big Ten title. They achieved this despite a tough schedule that included four ranked opponents, including the number-one Michigan team. The two losses on the ledger were to perennial powerhouses Michigan and a hard-fought 7-12 loss to Notre Dame. 

The California Golden Bears Football also had a season for the ages. It was an excellent season for head coach Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, and the team went on to have an astonishing 10-0 record, setting a new school record. An interesting side note to the 1950 Rose Bowl Game was that Coach Waldorf had previously been the Wildcat's coach from 1935 to 1946 before leaving for Cal.  It was an incredible year of football that saw the Bears win an unprecedented ten consecutive games. Heisman Trophy runner-up Quarterback Bob Celeri also led the team to be drafted into the NFL. Ohio State, a clear underdog was led by head coach Wes Fesler. The 36th Rose Bowl Game was played on  Monday, January 2, 1950. The sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, champions of the Big Ten Conference, played the undefeated champions of the Pacific Coast Conference, the #3 ranked California Golden Bears.

Cal started the scoring in the second quarter when Jim Monachino dashed for a 7-yard run to paydirt, and then Cullom kicked the ball through the uprights to have the Bears up 7-0 at the half.
Third quarter. The Buckeyes responded in the third on a Fred Morrison 1-yard run and subsequent Jimmy Hague PAT kick to tie the game. That was followed by another Ohio State score on Jerry Krall’s 6-yard TD run and another kick by Hague. Cal replied to tie the game on a Monachino 40-yard run, and Cullom kicked to knot the game at 14. The fourth quarter contained the difference maker when the Buckeyes moved the ball and then set up a Hague 18-yard field goal to win the game 17-14 in the upset. Ohio State fullback Fred "Curly" Morrison was named the Player of the Game a few years later retroactively.

1950 Rose Bowl. (2022, October 12). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Rose_Bowl

The picture in the banner above is courtesy of Wikimedia Comons of  Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California on a postcard made between 1930 and 1945

Special thanks to the information garnered for the above stories from the awesome sources of Newspapers.com, Wikipedia.com, Sports-Reference, and Stat-Head websites