The 43rd through 47th Rose Bowl Games

On this edition we have coverage of the historic Rose Bowl games from 1957 through 1961. The teams, Coaches and Players with what they did to make their Rose Bowl games memorable.

1957 Rose Bowl

The 43rd episode of the Granddaddy of them All featured a match-up of the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference versus the #10 Oregon State Beavers of the Pacific Coast Conference on January 1, 1957. Coach Tommy Prothro brought the Beavers to the game with a 7-2-1 record. The Hawkeyes had field boss Forest Evashevski manning the sidelines. The two teams had met earlier in the season in Iowa, with the home team squeaking out a 14-13 victory. The neutral site was calculated to make the game that much more even.

The 44th edition of the New Years' Day classic in Pasadena was a tigh one. The Oregon Webfoots returned to the big Game with Head Coach Len Casanova at the helm to face the Buckeyes of Ohio State led by Coach Woody Hayes. Ohio State started the game with a 79-yard scoring drive to take the early lead on a one-yard run by quarterback Frank Kremblas. In the second stanza, Oregon replied with 5-yard TD run from Jim Shanley after an 80-yard, 10-play drive. Ohio State's Don Sutherin booted a 34-yard field goal in the fourth to put the Buckeyes ahead for good. Ironically it was from the same spot that Webfoot kicker Jack Morris had missed a quarter earlier. It was OSU 10-7 in their run for the Roses. For only the second time in the game's history, it was a player on the losing side who took home honor when Oregon quarterback Jack Crabtree was named the Player of the Game.

The second-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, coached by Forest Evashevski, representing the Big Ten Conference, was heavily favored over the #16 California Golden Bears of the Pacific Coast Conference led by Pete Elliott. One big asset of the Hawkeyes was the play of Randy Duncan helped Iowa take a 14–0 lead with a touchdown run in the first quarter and a touchdown pass to Jeff Langston in the second quarter. The Hawkeye backfield carried Iowa the rest of the way, as Willie Fleming ran for two touchdowns and Bob Jeter, the Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player. The scoreboard read 38-12 Iowa at the game's end.

Another one-sided affair at the 46th Rose Bowl when the Washington Huskies of Coach Jim Owens blew the doors off of the Wisconsin Badgers and Coach Milt Bruhn, 44-8. Husky George Fleming had a whale of a day scoring on a punt return, kicking a field goal, and 5 extra points. Fleming, along with Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt was named a co-Players of the game. Schloredt threw a scoring pass to Lee Folkins and another score.

Head Coach Murray Warmath took his Minnesota Golden Gophers to Pasadena for a New Years' resolution to win the Rose Bowl game against the Washington Huskies of Coach Jim Owens. The first half of the match had Minnesota leading in every statistical category, but they were down on the scoreboard by 17. The Gophers made it interesting by scoring in the third, but Washington was too much, winning 17-7. Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt was named Player of the Game for a second consecutive year, the first to repeat;. Again he scored a TD with both his legs and his arm. 

Check out our bonus halftime story from this game in a separate post and podcast.

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.