Rose Bowl Legends

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Thank you very much to Barrys Ticket Service for helping us out to get Rose Bowl tickets. It was our first trip to Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl and getting to watch the USC Trojans take on the Fighting Illini. The seats were great and also a great price. Thank you guys very much for helping a dream come true.

ROSE BOWL LEGENDS

The taste of bile on your lips as the crowd reaches a crescendo. You grip the ole' pigskin tightly not wanting to let go - not wanting to let your team down. You gun it as you see an opposing defensive wall advancing on you.

It is during these tense moments that a Rose Bowl legend is born.

Come join us as we look into the lives of the great people who have made it in the Rose Bowl games, the great people who made the Rose Bowl game great, and those who became great because of the Rose Bowl.

We have the most comprehensive collection of info, bios and much more of your Rose Bowl Legends - the legendary people of the Rose Bowl games.

Feel free to click on underlined names to explore and learn how a legend is born.

Background of the Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the stadium of the same name in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday the game is then played on the following Monday. In 2002 and 2006, the Rose Bowl game was also the BCS National Championship Game. In the BCS alignment the bowl will host the Big Ten and Pacific 10 conference champion unless they are involved in the national championship game.

As a member of the Bowl Championship Series, the Rose Bowl Game once again hosted the National Championship Game between the top two teams in the nation on Wednesday, January 4, 2006.

The Rose Bowl Game National Championship featured undefeated teams USC and Texas battling for the National Championship, with the Longhorns defeating the Trojans 41-38 in an exciting fourth quarter finish.

Sometimes nicknamed The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl is the oldest and most prestigious bowl game, and part of the annual Tournament of Roses event.

When did the Rose Bowl Game begin?

The Tournament of Roses Association was started in 1890 by the Valley Hunt Club and became a separate organization just five years later.
The Rose Bowl Game is known as "The Granddaddy of Them All"® because the 1902 event was the first national, post-season, collegiate football game.
In 1916, the second Game was played, and football has been an integral part of America's New Year's festivities ever since.
The Rose Bowl Game has been a sell-out every year since 1947 - the first game under the Tournament's exclusive agreement with the Big Ten and Pacific Coast, now the Pac-10 conference.
Today the Rose Bowl is part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) which guarantees a match up between college football's top two teams in a true national championship game.

How can I watch the festivities?

The Rose Bowl Game is a contractual sellout with the majority of tickets going to the two participating universities. Excellent network television coverage, however, makes the Rose Bowl Game available for all to enjoy.

How is the Rose Bowl Game revenue distributed?

Rose Bowl Game revenue sources produce the largest single payout of any post season collegiate football game - $14.5 million to each conference in 2005.
This revenue source is a direct benefit to all universities within the two conferences whether they play in the Game or not.
The 2005 Rose Bowl had a total payout of more than $30 million which directly benefits all the universities within the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences. Each school receives more than one million dollars each year regardless of whether they play in the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl Game also pays $1.6 million to the BCS, which supports 100 other universities.

Frequent participants

USC has played the most times in the Rose Bowl, with 32 appearances, followed by Michigan (20), Washington (14), and Ohio State (13). Alabama, 4-1-1 in Rose Bowls, has made the most appearances of any team outside the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences, and even references the game in its fight song.

USC has won the most Rose Bowls (23), followed by Michigan (8), Washington (7), and Ohio State (6). Michigan has lost the most (12), followed by USC (9), UCLA and Ohio State (7 each). Of teams appearing at the Rose Bowl at least 4 times, Alabama and Michigan St. have the greatest winning percentage (0.75), followed by USC (0.72) and Illinois (0.60).

The most frequent Rose Bowl matchup is USC-Michigan, occurring for the eighth time in 2007, with USC holding a 6-2 advantage. (Including rare meetings outside the Rose Bowl, USC leads this series 6-4.) The next most frequent matchup is USC-Ohio State, occurring for the seventh time in 1985, with USC holding a 4-3 advantage.

From the 1946 season (1947 Rose Bowl), when the Big Ten-Rose Bowl agreement began, through the 1971 season (1972 Rose Bowl), the Big Ten did not allow its teams to appear in the Rose Bowl in consecutive years. There was one exception: Minnesota played in the 1961 Rose Bowl and 1962 Rose Bowl games. (Several unusual circumstances occurred in the 1961 season: the Big Ten-Rose Bowl contract had been allowed to lapse, Big Ten champion Ohio State was invited anyway, and the Ohio State faculty turned down the bid.)

Also of note, during this era Big Ten and Pac-8 teams could play only in the Rose Bowl; this restriction was not lifted until the 1975 season.

Archie Griffin of Ohio State is the only player to ever start in four Rose Bowl games. Legendary coach Woody Hayes led Ohio State to the Rose Bowl from 1973-1976.

The only current member of the Pac-10 or the Big Ten to have never appeared in the Rose Bowl is the University of Arizona.[4] Idaho and Montana, who were members of the Pacific Coast Conference from 1922 until 1958 and 1950 respectively, never finished near the top in the PCC football standings. The University of Chicago discontinued football in 1939, and had their best years in the first decade of the 20th century.

The Rose Bowl was exclusively a Big Ten-Pac-10 affair for 52 years, from 1946 (1947 Rose Bowl) through 1997 (1998 Rose Bowl). While the Big Ten dominated the game in the late 1940s and 1950s, and the Pac-10 dominated during the 1970s and early 1980s, over the entire 52-year span, each conference won 26 games.

The BCS era now covers the past nine seasons, starting with 1998 (1999 Rose Bowl). Of the five games featuring the traditional Big Ten-Pac-10 matchup, the Pac-10 leads 4-2. The 2007 Rose Bowl and 2008 Rose Bowl did not feature the Big Ten champion, since Ohio State played in each seasons' BCS National Championship Game and USC, the PAC-10 champion, played in the 2004 BCS National Championship game.