Flying to the Rose Bowl

A plane ticket for a California fan flying from the Bay Area to Los Angeles for the 1938 Rose Bowl. One way fare: $18.95.

1935 Rissman Trophy Presentation

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.

Alabama's 1926 Bowl Bid: Mixing A Lemon and A Rose

In November 1925, after Alabama's undefeated season captured the Southern Conference crown, the likelihood of participating in the sport's one postseason contest was slim. While the Washington Huskies' 9-1 record earned their way to play in the The Tournament of Roses New Year's Day contest the opponent was far from decided.

Dartmouth, who had also gone undefeated that season, was the intial choice of the Rose Bowl committee but that option was squelched when the players objected to the long trip to the West coast it would require. Pittsburgh, Colegate and Wisconsin were all subsequently considered.

Tulane's Clark Shaughnessy

In early December, a University of Oregon graduate manager, Jack Benefield, was sent by the Pacific Coast Conference to Chicago to meet with Tulane Coach Clark Shaughnessy to see if the Green Wave would play in the New Year's Day Game. Shaughnessy declined on instructions from the school's administration but then recommended Alabama.

"I've never heard of Alabama as a football team," Benefield replied. "And I can't take a chance on mixing a lemon and a rose."

Shaughnessy persisted and went so far as phoning Alabama Coach Wallace Wade from the hotel the men were meeting at. Asked if the Crimson Tide would be interested in playing in Pasadena, Wade replied, "Definitely."

Benefield then traveled to Alabama to make the arrangements but before they could be finalized Wade insisted on getting the approval of his players.

"Going to the Coast was a big thing," Wade later said. "It would take us five days on a train from Tuscaloosa. I told them it would deprive them of their Christmas vacation and that they would have to stay in training another three weeks."

"It took them about two minutes to make up their minds."

The 1946 Rose Bowl

Amateur film of the 1946 Rose Bowl pitting the Alabama Crimson Tide against the USC Trojans. The film, available through the WPA Film Library, shows snippets of the action as well as part of the halftime show and celebration by cadets during the fourth quarter. The final score of the game was Alabama 34, USC 14.

1935 Tournament of Roses program

Paul W. Bryant & Bob Morrow

A photo of Alabama's Bob Morrow (right guard) and Paul W. Bryant (end) who both played in the 1935 Rose Bowl that saw the Crimson Tide defeat Stanford 29-13.

Pulp Fiction and the Rose Bowl

A sports magazine from 1940.

The 1930s and 1940s were the heyday of sports magazines and comics. As college football grew in popularity during this era, stories featuring characters who played the sport abounded. And the Rose Bowl game was a common setting for the climax of the stories with titles such as "Rose Bowl Express," "Rose Bowl All-American," and "Rose Bowl Outcast."

At least one, a novelette by Arthur Grahame titled "Alabama"  appearing in the Oct. 8, 1927 issue of Sport Story Magazine, featured a protagonist who played for the Crimson Tide in the New Years Day classic.