The 48th Rose Bowl Game

Gridiron historian and author R C Christiansen joins us in the celebration of Rose Bowl history to discuss the 1962 game between UCLA and Minnesota.

Stephens, Gophers Give Bruins Lesson 02 Jan 1962, Tue The Winona Daily News (Winona, Minnesota) Newspapers.com

The 48th edition of the Rose Bowl pitted the UCLA Bruins of coach Bill Barnes against the Minnesota Golden Gophers team coached by Murray Warmath. Ohio State had been in line for the invite due to winning the Big Ten Title but turned it down after the Pacific Coast Conference collapsed and the contract to bowl participation became void. The Gophers gladly accepted the trip to Pasadena. The Bruins had defeated rival USC but had not only lost to former conference opponent Washington but to Big Ten Conference powerhouses Ohio State and Michigan as well. The scoring in the game was dominated by the Gopher ground game, with Sandy Stephens crossing the goal line stripe twice and Bill Munsey tallying another Minnesota TD run. Stephens has the distinction of being the first African American All-American quarterback. He is also the second starting quarterback of African-American descent in a Rose Bowl game. The first was Charles Fremont West of Washington & Jefferson, in the 1922 game. The ground attack of the Gophers was too much for UCLA as Minnesota triumphed 21-3. Mr. Stephens was the Player of the Game for his fine play.

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

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of American football equipment by gnokii at openclipart.org cobined with a photo of roses by Darin Hayes