Rose Bowl Bound

Friday, October 3, 1997

Rose Bowl Bound

At 75 years of age, the Rose Bowl is one of the oldest and most
celebrated stadiums in the country. It has hosted five Super Bowls,
events for two Olympic games, World Cup soccer and of course
college football games.

But what it may be known best for among UCLA students is its
distance from campus. While most schools own their own on-campus
football stadiums, UCLA does not own the Rose Bowl. And its players
and fans must travel 45 minutes to get there, easily doubled in
pregame traffic.

The Rose Bowl is best known, however, as the site of … The
Rose Bowl. The New Year’s Day football game and parade date back to
well before the actual stadium was constructed in 1922.

Books have been written about the grand-daddy of bowl games;
Rube Samuelsen wrote in 1951 that "the position of Pasadena’s famed
holiday game in the cavalcade of important American sports events
is threatened only by the World Series and the Kentucky Derby."

The Rose Bowl’s stature has probably diminished since 1951 with
the emergence of other New Year’s Day bowl games and the success of
professional football. But the history of Rose Bowl football is
well-chronicled, to say the least.

The Rose Bowl before the Rose Bowl

1890: The first Rose Bowl parade was attended on New Year’s Day
by many of Pasadena’s 4,882 citizens. Except that it wasn’t called
the Rose Bowl Parade, but rather the Tournament of Roses. The event
included burro races, a game called "tilting at the rings" and a
small parade. It did not, however, include a football game.

1902: As new president of the Tournament of Roses Association,
James Wagner paid out $3,500 of the association’s money to bring
two college football teams to Pasadena for the first ever
Tournament of the Roses football game.

Michigan beat Stanford so badly that Western teams were deemed
inadequate competition for midwestern ones, and the football game
was scrapped in the next thirteen Tournaments. Chariot races were
the substitute method of entertainment, although in 1913, ostrich
races and elephant-camel races were held.

1916: Football games returned to Tournament Park as the main
attraction at the annual festivity; and they have remained ever
since. But the last football game at Tournament Park was held in
1922.

The Rose Bowl game until 1947

1922: The Rose Bowl was built on the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena,
previously a "tangled, unattractive mass of debris and boulders,"
according to Samuelsen. The name "Bowl" was chosen – despite the
stadium’s horseshoe shape – by Tournament publicist Harlan Hall;
the name apparently derived from the Yale Bowl.

1942: World War II caused the Rose Bowl parade to be cancelled,
and the game to be moved to Duke Stadium in North Carolina. It
returned to Pasadena the following year.

1947: A Big Nine (precursor of the Big Ten) representative
played in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1921.

In 1921, Ohio St. had lost 28-0 to Cal, and at the time the Big
Nine was embarrassed enough to disallow its teams to play in the
game. By 1947, the Big Nine abruptly agreed not only to allow its
teams to play in the Rose Bowl, but to agree to a five-year
contract with the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten has sent a representative
to every Rose Bowl since then.

The Pacific Coast Conference (precursor to Pac-10) has sent a
representative to every Rose Bowl since 1920, but until the 1947
agreement with the Big Nine, the PCC’s eastern opponent could have
come from any conference.

1982: UCLA plays its first fall season in the Rose Bowl; the
Bruins have played there ever since.

1984: The Los Angeles Olympics include the Rose Bowl in their
plans as the site of the soccer competition. France took the gold
medal match, 2-0, over Brazil. picture goes here

1994: The U.S. hosted the World Cup, and eight games were held
in the Rose Bowl, including Italy’s 1-0 championship victory over
Brazil in a shootout.

1996: L.A. Galaxy – picture goes here

The Galaxy began play here in 1996. It plays a 31-game season,
during which the goal posts are taken down, and the field expands
from 50 x 100 yards to 70 x 120 yards. Meanwhile, the capacity is
downsized from 100,000 to 28,000..

On the side:UCLA Football at Rose Bowl

"It’s our only option."

That’s practically the best thing UCLA athletic director Peter
Dalis will say about the Rose Bowl, UCLA’s football home since
1982. Until then, the Bruins played at the L.A. Coliseum.

The obvious disadvantage to playing in Pasadena is its distance
from the UCLA campus. Dalis acknowledges that playing in the Rose
Bowl probably costs UCLA in terms of student attendance.

An on-campus stadium, according to Dalis, would also help bring
alumni back onto campus, and would help increase fund-raising. He
estimates that out of all Division I schools, UCLA is probably
located farthest from its football stadium.

The UCLA athletic department has also had its share of problems
with Rose Bowl management, which according to Dalis has gone
through "eight or nine" different managers since the Bruins moved
in 15 years ago.

"It’s not a turn-key operation," Dalis says. "We spend far more
time than we should worrying about the stadium. The Coliseum was a
turn-key operation. We just showed up to play and everything was
ready." But the Bruins were forced out of the Coliseum when the
Raiders arrived in Los Angeles.

According to Dalis, students voted in a 1966 referendum against
building a new stadium. "We’ve paid for it a thousand fold" since
then, he says, and estimates that it would now cost 100 million
dollars to build a stadium on campus.

"There aren’t that kind of resources available," he says.

On the side: Distance from the Stadium with map

On the side:The Super Bowls 5 PICTURES GO HERE

Five Super Bowls have been held at the Rose Bowl; CALL NFL TO
SEE IF IT WILL BE BACK SOON!

Year Score MVP

Super Bowl XI 1977 Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 Fred Biletnikoff

Super Bowl XIV 1980 Pittsburgh 31, L.A. Rams 19 Terry
Bradshaw

Super Bowl XVII 1983 Washington 27, Miami 17 John Riggins

Super Bowl XXI 1987 N.Y. Giants 39, Denver 20 Phil Simms

Super Bowl XXVII 1993 Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 Troy Aikman