The 1927 Rose Bowl game program

Alabama's 2009 BCS National Championship fan poster

The Alabama Crimson Tide won the 2009 BCS National Championship with a victory over the Texas Longhorns in Rose Bowl Stadium. Although the contest was held in the venue, it was not the Rose Bowl Game for that season.

To honor the historic connections of the Alabama football program and Pasadena's iconic landmark, a fan poster was created by the University of Alabama featuring the school's fight song "Yea Alabama."

The posters were handed out to fans at the official celebration for the 2009 National Champions held at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Jan. 16, 2010 and later offered for sale through the school's athletic department.

Epp Sykes And The Composition of "Yea Alabama"

"Epp" Sykes

The phrase, "Remember the Rose Bowl" is derived from Alabama's fight song, "Yea Alabama." The song was composed as part of a contest held by the campus humor magazine the Rammer-Jammer following the Crimson Tide victory in the 1926 Rose Bowl game. Until that time the football team's fight song had been "Swing" which had been appropriated from Washington & Lee University.

A panel composed of members of the university's music department selected the composition submitted by Ethelred Lundy "Epp" Sykes  from more than a dozen songs that were submitted.

Sykes - an engineering student who was also the editor of The Crimson White -
was awarded the $50 prize provided the magazine and "Messrs. Carmer, Friedman and Pickens." The song was unveiled in the May 1926 edition of the Rammer Jammer with the admonition:

"RAMMER-JAMMER has no power to make the student body accept the song. We do ask that the song be played on every occasion in which a battle march is needed, and, if it is liked, for the students to accept it."

Sykes attended Alabama on a four year engineering scholarship from the Alabama Power Company after coming in second for a scholarship offered by the Birmingham News. After graduating in 1926, Sykes studied law for a year at UA then became an account executive with Sparrow Advertising Agency in Birmingham.

In 1940 Sykes was called into active duty by the U.S. Air Force. He served in both World War II and the Korea conflict, eventually rising to the rank of  Brigadier General. In 1947 he donated the copyright and future royalties of "Yea Alabama" to the University of Alabama. He died on July 1, 1967.

Joe Kilgrow, Alabama All-American and WWII Veteran

Joseph Flinn "Joe" Kilgrow was an All-American halfback on Alabama's 1938 Rose Bowl team. He finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting and was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989 (he died in 1967). Like many players on the 1937 squad, he was caught up in World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He led a US Army anti-aircraft squadron in New Guinea and won a battlefield commission for his actions. He was discharged as a Captain in 1945 after serving for 38 months in the South Pacific.

Parking at the 1938 Rose Bowl

Parking for the 1938 Rose Bowl was as much a challenge as it is for the modern game. A record crowd of 90,000 was on hand that New Year's Day to watch Alabama take on California.

A Moment of Silence for the Bear

On Jan. 30, 1983, Pasadena's Rose Bowl Stadium hosted Super Bowl XVII pitting the Washington Redskins against the Miami Dolphins. Prior to the singing of the National Anthem a moment of silence was observed in memory of Alabama coach Paul W. Bryant who passed away four days earlier. Bryant was a member of the Crimson Tide squad that defeated Stanford 29-13 in the 1935 Rose Bowl game.

Emile Deering Barnes

From the 1927 Rose Bowl Program.

Emile Deering Barnes, known as "Red" and "Lovely" to his teammates, was a halfback on the Alabama squad in 1925 and 1926 as well as serving as captain of Alabama's 1927 Rose Bowl team. He went on to short career in professional baseball with stints with the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox.