The presentation of the Rissman Trophy to the Alabama Crimson Tide following their victory in the 1935 Rose Bowl. The award was presented during the football banquet in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 10, 1935. Pictured are (from left to right) Alabama Head Coach Frank Thomas, Alabama Team Captain Bill Lee, O. Elmer Anderson, acting president of the Tournament of Roses, President of the University of Alabama Dr. George Denny and Jack Rissman, a Chicago clothing manufacturer and the donor of the trophy.
Rissman's award had been presented annually to college football's national champion as determined by the Dickinson System, developed in the early 1920s by Frank Dickinson, a professor of economics at the University of Illinois. In 1930, that award was renamed the Knute K. Rockne Intercollegiate Memorial Trophy following the death Notre Dame coach. The arrival of the AP poll pushed the Dickinson System into obsolescence and the championship selector went defunct in 1940.
After the introduction of the Knute Rockne award, Rissman associated his namesake trophy with the Rose Bowl. A school was granted permanent possession of the award if its team had successfully won the New Year's Day game three times. Alabama's 29-13 win over Stanford in 1935 marked the Crimson Tide's third victory in the Pasadena classic.
