58 Fun Facts About Rose Bowl

In which city is the Rose Bowl Game traditionally played?

Pasadena staged its first New Year's festival in 1890 to show snowbound Easterners that flowers bloomed there in midwinter. The football game was added 12 years later.

Which broadcaster is credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl "The Granddaddy of Them All"?

Keith Jackson, ABC's voice of college football for decades, called his final game at the 2006 Rose Bowl. The stadium has since put up a statue of him outside its gates.

Which school's fight song still says "Remember the Rose Bowl" after its 20–19 upset there in 1926?

Alabama trailed 12–0 at halftime, then scored all 20 of its points in the third quarter to stun the heavily favored Huskies. A student contest for a fight song followed, and "Yea Alabama" won it.

After the 1902 blowout, what replaced football at the Tournament of Roses for 13 years?

Chariot and ostrich races filled New Year's Day until football came back in 1916. The chariot races were Roman-style, inspired by the novel Ben-Hur.

Which Pacific Northwest school beat Brown 14–0 in the 1916 Rose Bowl, when football returned for good?

Washington State won on a field that days of rain had turned to deep mud. Neither side scored before halftime, and both of its touchdowns came on the ground afterwards.

Why was a football game added to the New Year's festivities in 1902?

To help pay for the Rose Parade, organisers wanted an event they could sell tickets to. Thousands came, but the game was so one-sided that they dropped football after a single try.

Along which boulevard does the Rose Parade travel for most of its route?

Colorado Boulevard is the host city's main street, and it fills up the night before: many spectators sleep out on its sidewalks to hold a free spot for the morning.

Where were the first eight Rose Bowl games played, before the stadium was built?

Tournament Park lost the game because it drew too well: in 1920 city officials declared its wooden stands unsafe for the growing New Year's crowds, and the Rose Bowl was built to replace it.

The Rose Bowl stadium's design was modeled on the football bowl of which university?

Yale's bowl, opened in 1914, gave the stadium its shape and its name. The word then spread from this one game to every postseason "bowl game" and, in time, to the Super Bowl.

Because of fears of a Japanese attack after Pearl Harbor, the 1942 Rose Bowl was played in which state?

North Carolina got the game after the government barred large crowds on the West Coast. Duke played host in its own stadium in Durham and still lost, 20–16, to Oregon State.

Where was the 2021 Rose Bowl played after COVID-19 forced its relocation?

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, took the game after state officials would not allow even players' families to attend; it was only the second time the game had left its home.

From 1947 to 2023, the Rose Bowl traditionally matched the Big Ten champion against which conference's champion?

Pac-12 champions, under the league's earlier names, met the Big Ten's under a pact signed in 1946. It ended when ten Pac-12 schools left in 2024, four of them for the Big Ten itself.

Which band's 2009 Rose Bowl concert was streamed live around the world on YouTube?

U2 let fans in 16 countries watch the show on YouTube as it happened, with a replay posted the next day. The band then released the night as a film, U2 360° at the Rose Bowl.

Which two teams met in the 2002 Rose Bowl, the first BCS title game there?

Miami and Nebraska met, and the Hurricanes won 37–14. Nebraska got in without even playing for its conference title, while Oregon, No. 2 in the AP poll, was left out.

The 2006 Rose Bowl drew the biggest college football TV audience since which 1987 bowl game?

The 1987 Fiesta Bowl, a No. 1-versus-No. 2 title showdown, was the last college game with a bigger audience: 35.6 million watched Texas end USC's 34-game winning streak in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Which Texas quarterback was named Rose Bowl Player of the Game in both 2005 and 2006?

Vince Young took the award in consecutive years, then in the 2006 game ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns, including the winner with 19 seconds left, against USC.

Which unbeaten team from outside the major conferences beat Wisconsin 21–19 in the 2011 Rose Bowl?

TCU, 12–0 out of the Mountain West, got in under a BCS rule: with Oregon off to the title game, the Rose Bowl had to take the highest-ranked team from outside the major conferences.

Which two teams met in the 100th Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2014?

Michigan State and Stanford met in the 100th game, and the Spartans won 24–20. They sealed it by stopping a fourth-and-one run in Stanford territory with under two minutes left.

Whose 29-game winning streak did Oregon end in the 2015 Rose Bowl, the first Playoff semifinal?

Florida State, the defending champion, came apart after halftime: Jameis Winston slipped as he tried to throw, and Oregon ran his fumble back 58 yards on the way to a 59–20 rout.

Which team lost the 2017 Rose Bowl 52–49 to USC, setting the record for most points by a losing side?

Penn State led 49–35 going into the fourth quarter, then USC scored the last 17 points and won 52–49 on Matt Boermeester's field goal as time expired.

Georgia's 54–48 win in the 2018 Rose Bowl semifinal was the first Rose Bowl decided how?

In overtime, and it took two periods: Georgia blocked a field-goal try in the second, then Sony Michel ran 27 yards for the touchdown that ended the 54–48 semifinal.

Which two players are the only ones to have started in four Rose Bowl games?

Archie Griffin and Brian Cushing each started four in a row, for Ohio State (1973–76) and USC (2006–09). Griffin, the only two-time Heisman winner, won just one of his four.

Which is the most frequent Rose Bowl matchup, played for the eighth time in 2007?

USC vs Michigan has been played eight times, and USC has won six. Michigan took the first by 49–0 in 1948, then lost six of the next seven.

Which two Big Ten members had never appeared in a Rose Bowl through the 2024 season?

Maryland and Rutgers had never made the trip. Rutgers played in the very first college football game, in 1869, yet had still not reached the sport's oldest bowl.

Which network televised the Rose Bowl every year from 1952 to 1988?

NBC showed the game for 37 straight New Years, from 1952 to 1988. Then the Rose Bowl jilted it, as one headline put it, for ABC and a contract reported at $100 million.

The 1962 Rose Bowl marked what broadcasting milestone for college football?

First coast-to-coast color telecast of a college football game, to be exact. The parade had beaten the game to it: its 1954 broadcast was the first national program shown in color.

Which Major League Soccer club played its home games at the Rose Bowl from 1996 to 2002?

LA Galaxy spent its first seven seasons in a stadium that held more than 90,000. In 2003 it left for a 27,000-seat ground in Carson built for soccer.

Which company, already the Orange Bowl's title sponsor, became the Rose Bowl's presenting sponsor for 2021?

Capital One's first Rose Bowl had to be moved out of state because of the pandemic. For its second, in 2022, the game carried the name of its Venture X card.

Which sight is a celebrated part of the Rose Bowl's traditional mid-afternoon kickoff?

The sun setting on the San Gabriel Mountains lights the second half of a mid-afternoon kickoff. The game guarded that time slot so closely that playoff schedules were built around it.

Who traditionally takes part in the Rose Bowl coin toss?

The parade's grand marshal, chosen by the Tournament's president, also joins the coin toss. In 2015 the honour stayed with Louis Zamperini, who had died months earlier, and his children stood in.

Unlike most big games, the Rose Bowl halftime features only what?

The two schools' marching bands have the field to themselves at halftime. It is their second show of the day: both are also invited to march in the Rose Parade that morning.

Which star headlined the halftime show of Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl in 1993?

Michael Jackson shot up onto the stage, then stood frozen and silent for more than a minute before a note was played. It was the last of five Super Bowls the stadium has hosted.

Which two teams met in Super Bowl XI, the first played at the Rose Bowl?

Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings met in January 1977, and the Raiders won 32–14. They ran for 266 yards, then a Super Bowl record, and Willie Brown returned an interception 75 yards to finish it.

Which two teams contested the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final at the Rose Bowl?

Brazil and Italy played out a 0–0 draw after extra time, and Brazil won the shootout 3–2 when Roberto Baggio skied the final penalty — the first World Cup final decided on penalties.

Which US player's 1999 World Cup penalty celebration is shown in a statue outside the Rose Bowl?

Brandi Chastain scored the winning penalty in the 1999 final at the Rose Bowl, then pulled off her jersey and celebrated in her sports bra. The statue of that moment was unveiled in 2019.

Which college football team has used the Rose Bowl as its home stadium since 1982?

UCLA had shared the Los Angeles Coliseum with USC for decades. It moved out in 1982, the year a newly arrived NFL team made that building home to three teams.

Which sport was contested at the Rose Bowl during the 1932 Summer Olympics?

Track cycling was held on a temporary wooden velodrome laid inside the Rose Bowl for the 1932 Los Angeles Games; the stadium returned to the Olympics for soccer in 1984.

Which country, already European champion that summer, beat Brazil 2–0 at the Rose Bowl for 1984 Olympic soccer gold?

France won before 101,799, the biggest soccer crowd the United States would see for 30 years. Turnouts like that helped bring the 1994 World Cup to the country.

Whose mansion became the Tournament of Roses headquarters, Tournament House, after 1958?

The Wrigley chewing-gum family gave William Wrigley Jr.'s Orange Grove Boulevard mansion to the city after his widow's death in 1958, on condition that it serve as the Tournament of Roses' permanent headquarters.

Which private social club staged the first Rose Parade in 1890?

The Valley Hunt Club ran the festival for only five years. By 1895 it had grown too big for one club, and the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take it over.

Why is the Rose Parade never held on a Sunday?

So as not to disturb horses hitched outside churches — the reason given when the rule was set in 1893 — the parade and game shift to Monday, January 2 whenever New Year's Day falls on a Sunday.

What must cover every inch of a Rose Parade float's surface?

Flowers or other natural materials are the only covering allowed, so builders "paint" their floats with seeds, bark, leaves and even vegetables instead.

A flyover by which aircraft traditionally opens the Rose Parade?

The Northrop B-2 Spirit, the flying-wing stealth bomber based in Missouri, makes the pass that starts the parade. It had to sit out 2023: the whole fleet was grounded for months after one was damaged in an emergency landing.

Which company, presenting sponsor of the Rose Parade since 2011, gets the first float?

Honda has been the parade's presenting sponsor since 2011, and its float leads the procession down Colorado Boulevard each year, built like every other entry to the year's theme.

Which Pac-10 team lost its 2005 Rose Bowl place when Texas edged past it in the final BCS standings?

California, ranked fourth with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, expected the invitation until the final standings came out. Sent to the Holiday Bowl instead, the Bears lost it.

Which Big 12 champion played in the 2003 Rose Bowl after the Orange Bowl claimed the Big Ten's co-champion?

Oklahoma got the call because of how the picks fell: Ohio State was in the title game, and the Orange Bowl chose ahead of the Rose Bowl and took the Big Ten's other co-champion.

What shape was the Rose Bowl stadium when it opened in 1922?

A horseshoe: the stadium opened with its southern end left open, and the ring was closed in 1928 to make the complete bowl the name had promised.

Which Ohio State coach lost a 1962 Rose Bowl trip when his own university's faculty voted against going?

Woody Hayes had just won the Big Ten title when Ohio State's Faculty Council voted 28–25 against the trip. The league's runner-up went in his place, for its second Rose Bowl in a row.

Stanford set the record for most first-half points in a Rose Bowl, 35, against which team in 2016?

Iowa was behind after one snap: Christian McCaffrey turned a short pass into a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, and finished with a Rose Bowl record 368 all-purpose yards.

Which team did the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame beat in the 1925 Rose Bowl?

Stanford moved the ball better but kept giving it away. Elmer Layden, one of the Four Horsemen, scored three touchdowns for Notre Dame, two of them on interception returns.

Which player famously ran the wrong way with a fumble in the 1929 Rose Bowl?

Roy Riegels, a center, scooped up a Georgia Tech fumble and ran toward his own goal line until a teammate caught him three yards short. The safety that followed decided an 8–7 game.

Which nearby school's students rigged a 1961 Rose Bowl card stunt to spell out its name on national television?

Caltech students spent a month secretly altering one team's flip-card show. At halftime, with the game live on national television, the unwitting fans held up cards that spelled CALTECH.

Which child star led the 1939 Rose Parade at age 10, then returned to lead it in 1989 and 1999?

Shirley Temple came back fifty years on as Shirley Temple Black, a former US ambassador. Her third turn, in 1999, was an honour she shared with astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Which architect designed the Rose Bowl stadium in 1921?

Myron Hunt was the home-town choice: he lived in the host city and belonged to the Tournament association that hired him. He based the design on a famous Ivy League stadium.

Which two teams played the first game at the new Rose Bowl stadium in October 1922?

California and USC opened the stadium on 28 October 1922, California winning 12–0; USC returned on New Year's Day 1923 to win the first Rose Bowl Game played there.

Which Eastern school upset the 1934 Rose Bowl favourites 7–0 on a rain-soaked field with a trick play called KF-79?

Columbia scored the only touchdown when Cliff Montgomery slipped the ball to Al Barabas on KF-79 and the defence chased the wrong men; just 35,000 braved the weather, the stadium's smallest Rose Bowl crowd.

What was the old 1922 Rose Bowl locker room converted into in 2017?

A small museum now fills the restored 1922 locker room, which teams used for only the stadium's first six years before it was turned into a storage room.

Which monthly event takes over the Rose Bowl's parking lots on the second Sunday, drawing thousands of shoppers?

A flea market fills the lots on the second Sunday of every month, rain or shine; by 2007 it paid the stadium about $900,000 a year, as much as the Tournament of Roses' own lease.