59 Fun Facts About Rose Bowl

In which city is the Rose Bowl Game traditionally played?

Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium sits in the Arroyo Seco, about 10 miles north-northeast of downtown Los Angeles; the city owns the stadium while the Tournament of Roses runs the game.

Which broadcaster gave the Rose Bowl its nickname, "The Granddaddy of Them All"?

Keith Jackson, ABC's voice of college football for decades, popularised the nickname and called his last game at the 2006 Rose Bowl before retiring.

In what year was the very first Rose Bowl game played?

The first game was played on 1 January 1902 as the Tournament East–West football game; football then vanished from the festivities until 1916, when it returned for good.

After the 1902 blowout, what did the Tournament of Roses stage instead of football for 13 years?

Chariot and ostrich races filled the gap from 1903 until football returned; the festivities once even pitted a camel against an elephant, and the elephant won.

Which school beat Brown 14–0 in the 1916 game, football's return to the Tournament?

Washington State beat Brown 14–0 on a muddy field on 1 January 1916, the game that brought football back to the Tournament of Roses for good.

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

To help pay for the Rose Parade, which had begun in 1890, the Tournament of Roses added a football game to its New Year's programme to draw crowds and cover the growing costs.

The trophy given to the winning team is named for which family of Tournament of Roses presidents?

It is named for William L. and Lathrop K. Leishman, two former Tournament of Roses presidents.

Where were Rose Bowl games played before the stadium opened, near the Caltech campus?

Tournament Park, beside the Caltech campus, hosted the games until the stadium opened; its temporary wooden stands could not safely hold the crowds of more than 40,000 the game was drawing.

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

The Yale Bowl in New Haven, opened in 1914, was the model for the stadium's design, and even the name 'Rose Bowl' was a nod to the then-unusual name of the New Haven venue.

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

North Carolina hosted the wartime game: Duke invited Oregon State to its home stadium in Durham, where the Beavers won 20–16, and the game returned home the next year.

Where was the 2021 Rose Bowl, a Playoff semifinal, 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 matched the Big Ten champion against which conference's champion?

Pac-12 champions (earlier the Pacific Coast Conference, AAWU, Pac-8 and Pac-10) met the Big Ten's under a deal first honoured in the 1947 game, a 45–14 Illinois win.

In which year did the Rose Bowl join other bowls to form the Bowl Championship Series?

In 1998 the Rose Bowl joined the three Bowl Alliance games to form the Bowl Championship Series, agreeing for the first time to release a Big Ten or Pac-10 champion ranked No. 1 or No. 2.

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

Miami and Nebraska met, the Hurricanes winning 37–14; Nebraska's selection was controversial because Oregon was ranked No. 2 in both polls and the Cornhuskers had not even played in their conference title game.

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 team was the first from a non-automatic-qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl in the BCS era, in 2011?

TCU, then a 12–0 Mountain West team, beat No. 5 Wisconsin 21–19 after a one-time BCS clause sent the highest-ranked non-automatic-qualifying team to the Rose Bowl.

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

Michigan State and Stanford met in the centennial game, and the Spartans won 24–20 behind Connor Cook's touchdown pass to Tony Lippett and a late goal-line stand.

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

Florida State, the defending national champion, saw its 29-game winning streak end in a 59–20 rout by Oregon, with Heisman winner Marcus Mariota at quarterback for the Ducks.

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 in the fourth quarter before USC scored the last 17 points, Matt Boermeester's 46-yard field goal as time expired sealing the 52–49 shootout.

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

In overtime — the second period of it — Sony Michel's 27-yard touchdown run settled the 54–48 semifinal; the 2024 semifinal was the next Rose Bowl to need extra time.

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

Griffin's Ohio State went from 1973 to 1976 under Woody Hayes; Cushing's USC went from 2006 to 2009 under Pete Carroll.

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

USC vs Michigan has been played eight times, from 1948 to 2007, with USC leading the series 6–2; USC–Ohio State is next with seven meetings.

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

Maryland and Rutgers, the East Coast additions of 2014, had no Rose Bowl appearances; Nebraska had played twice, in 1941 and 2002, but both came before it joined the Big Ten.

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

NBC carried the Rose Bowl for 37 straight years, from 1952 through the 1988 game, before ABC took over the rights in 1989.

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

The 1952 game had been the first nationally televised bowl; high definition did not arrive until the 2005 edition.

Which company became the Rose Bowl's first 'presenting' sponsor in 1999?

AT&T became the first presenting sponsor in 1999, its name tacked on as 'presented by' rather than folded into the game's title as other bowls did; Sony's PlayStation 2 followed in 2002.

Which company became the first to sponsor two New Year's Six bowls at once with the 2021 Rose Bowl?

Capital One already held the Orange Bowl's title sponsorship when it became the Rose Bowl's presenting sponsor in 2021, and the 2022 game was branded for its Venture X travel card.

Which sight is a celebrated part of the Rose Bowl's traditional 2 p.m. kickoff?

The sun setting on the San Gabriel Mountains behind the stadium, caught by the traditional 2 p.m. Pacific kickoff, is the game's signature televised image.

Who traditionally presents the Rose Bowl coin toss?

The parade's grand marshal, chosen each year by the Tournament of Roses president to lead the morning parade, traditionally tosses the coin at midfield before kickoff.

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

The two schools' marching bands alone fill the halftime, a tradition the game has kept while other bowls and the Super Bowl turned to headline pop acts.

How many Super Bowls have been played at the Rose Bowl stadium?

Five Super Bowls were staged there — XI, XIV, XVII, XXI and XXVII, between 1977 and 1993 — even though the stadium has never been an NFL team's full-time home.

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

Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings met on 9 January 1977, the Raiders winning 32–14 for their first title; Super Bowl XIV at the same stadium in 1980 drew a record 103,985.

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 decisive penalty against China in the 1999 final at the Rose Bowl, and the statue, unveiled in 2019, captures her kneeling in her sports bra in celebration.

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

UCLA moved its home games to the Rose Bowl in 1982 after sharing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with USC and, from that year, the newly arrived Raiders.

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 beat Brazil 2–0 at the Rose Bowl to win 1984 Olympic soccer gold before 101,799 fans?

France beat Brazil 2–0 in the 1984 gold-medal match, the 101,799 crowd standing as the largest for a soccer game in the United States for three decades.

Whose Italian Renaissance-style 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 local society of transplanted Easterners staged the first Rose Parade in 1890?

The Valley Hunt Club, a society of well-off émigrés from the East, staged the first parade on 1 January 1890 to show off the region's mild winter, with flower-decked carriages and afternoon games.

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 is the rule for what may cover the outside of every Rose Parade float?

Only natural materials such as flowers, seeds and bark may cover a float's surface — seaweed, vegetables and nuts all qualify — so volunteers spend the final days gluing on petals and seeds.

A flyover by which aircraft traditionally opens the Rose Parade?

The Northrop B-2 Spirit, the flying-wing stealth bomber flown from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, makes the pass over Colorado Boulevard that opens the parade.

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 was controversially passed over for the 2005 Rose Bowl in favour of Texas on BCS computer rankings?

It was only the second time a West Coast team missed the game. Texas then beat the Wolverines behind four touchdowns from its quarterback.

Which school made its first Rose Bowl appearance in 2003 against the Cougars because the Orange Bowl grabbed Iowa first?

Oklahoma, the Big 12 champion, beat the Cougars 34–14 in its Rose Bowl debut; Ohio State had gone to the BCS title game, and the Orange Bowl then took the Big Ten's next team.

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 team was the exception to the 'no repeat' rule, playing in both the 1961 and 1962 Rose Bowls?

Minnesota, the Big Ten runner-up, returned after Ohio State's faculty council voted to decline the 1962 bid, and the Gophers won 21–3 a year after losing 17–7.

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

Iowa, the Big Ten West champion, trailed 35–0 at halftime as Christian McCaffrey piled up 368 all-purpose yards, a Rose Bowl record, in Stanford's 45–16 win.

Which HDTV maker sponsored the Rose Bowl under a four-year deal from 2010 to 2014?

Vizio, the Irvine-based television maker, presented the game from the 2011 edition through 2014 under a deal struck in 2010 after Citi bowed out; Northwestern Mutual followed from 2015 to 2020.

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

Stanford, coached by Pop Warner and led by Ernie Nevers, lost 27–10 to Knute Rockne's Notre Dame in the 1925 game, Notre Dame's first bowl appearance.

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

Roy Riegels, a center, picked up a Georgia Tech fumble and ran about 65 yards toward his own goal line; the safety Georgia Tech scored after the mistake decided an 8–7 game.

Which organisation created the Rose Bowl Player of the Game award in the 1940s?

Executive director Bill Schroeder polled a board of sportswriters, and honours were awarded retroactively back to 1902.

Which Washington quarterback was Rose Bowl Player of the Game in both 1960 and 1961?

Bob Schloredt, blind in one eye since a childhood accident, quarterbacked Washington to consecutive Rose Bowl wins, 44–8 in 1960 and 17–7 in 1961, sharing the first award with halfback George Fleming.

Which architect designed the Rose Bowl stadium in 1921?

Myron Hunt, the architect also behind the Huntington Library buildings and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, designed the stadium, which opened in the Arroyo Seco in October 1922.

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

California and USC met on 28 October 1922 in the stadium's first game, a 12–0 California win; the official dedication came with the Rose Bowl game on 1 January 1923.

What is the record attendance for a Rose Bowl Game, set in 1973 when USC met Ohio State?

106,869 packed the stadium on 1 January 1973 to see USC beat Ohio State 42–17; the smallest Rose Bowl crowd, 35,000, watched Columbia upset Stanford in a 1934 downpour.

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

Its sections cover the stadium's construction, the Rose Bowl games, UCLA football and the Super Bowls played there.

On which day each month is the Rose Bowl Flea Market, claimed as the West Coast's largest, held?

The second Sunday of every month brings promoter R.G. Canning's flea market, its vendors spread across the stadium's parking lots and the adjoining grounds.