January 1, 1902: The 1st College Football Bowl Game

January 1, 1902: The Tournament of Roses Association, operator of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, outside Los Angeles, every New Year's Day since 1890, hosts a college football game. Although not immediately, it becomes an annual tradition.

By the dawn of the 20th Century, football had become a big business at a few American colleges, especially in the East. The schools that would eventually form the Ivy League led the way: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. A few other Northeastern schools were already playing, including Rutgers and Penn State.

In the South, schools such as the Universities of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, and Auburn University, had already begun play. And in the Midwest, some of the schools that would eventually form the Big Ten Conference had done so, including the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and the University of Chicago -- a school that would be a national power into the 1930s, but end its program in 1940, over the accusation that it was taking up too much of the school's attention.

On the West Coast, every one of the schools that are now part of what is currently named Pacific-12 Conference had begun playing, except for the University of California at Los Angeles: UCLA wasn't founded until 1919.

At the time, the best football program on the West Coast was one of the newest schools: Stanford. In full, the Leland Stanford Junior University had only been founded in 1885, and had only admitted its first students in 1891. Among these was a future President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, who served as student manager of its sports teams, including its 1st football team.

In his memoirs, Hoover told a story that is confirmed by the staff at the home of President Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis: The school's founder, Senator Leland Stanford Sr. of California, had invited Harrison, by this point out of office, to give lectures on government at the school. Hoover attended. Harrison also attended one of the University's baseball games, but had apparently not paid. Hoover was asked to ask Harrison for the 25 cents' admission. The former President paid the future President.

In 1900, Stanford's football team went 7-2-1 under head coach Fielding Yost, a native of West Virginia. He had played at West Virginia University and Lehigh University, and had been head coach at Ohio Wesleyan in the 1897 season, Nebraska in 1898, and Kansas in 1899. In 1901, Michigan hired him, making it 5 schools in 5 years. At the time, this was not considered unusual.

Fielding Yost

What was unusual is that, at the school that liked to call itself "The Harvard of the West" -- and, on occasion, has called Harvard "The Michigan of the East" -- Yost stayed for 26 years, and built what arguably remains the finest college football program in what is now generally called the Midwest. During his tenure, the school's fight song would be written: "Hail to the Victors," with its line, "Hail, hail to Michigan, the Champions of the West."

In that 1st season, 1901, Yost built what became known as "The Point-a-Minute Team." With halfback Willie Heston and fullback Neil Snow, they didn't quite average 60 points per game. They did top 60 points in a game twice. But they did put out an offensive explosion unlike any football had ever seen.

They beat Albion College of Albion, Michigan, 50-0. They beat the Case School of Applied Science, of Cleveland, 57-0. That school became Case Western Reserve University. They beat Indiana University 33-0. They beat Northwestern University 29-0.

Then they played the University of Buffalo, and beat them 128-0. That is not a typographical error: One hundred twenty-eight to nothing. Over two points a minute. It was more points than they had scored in the entire previous season.

They played the Carlisle Indian School, and, with Jim Thorpe still being a few years away from being able to help them, the Wolverines beat them, 22-0, before 8,000 fans at the Detroit Tigers' Bennett Park.

They beat Ohio State, 21-0. Next up was the University of Chicago, coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had beaten Michigan in their last 3 meetings. "I knew long before I came to Michigan of the great rivalry existing between this University and the University of Chicago," Yost wrote in his memoir. "It was my desire to win this game above all others." Final score: Michigan Wolverines 22, Chicago Maroons 0.

They walloped Beloit College of Wisconsin, 89-0. And, on Thanksgiving Day, they beat the University of Iowa, 50-0, before 10,000 fans at the Chicago Cubs' West Side Park. A reporter covering the game for The New York Times wrote, "Michigan scored almost at will," as they "outclassed" an Iowa team he called "sturdy, plucky."

Carlisle went out of business during World War I. Chicago, as I said, stopped playing football in 1940. Albion, Case and Beloit all now compete in NCAA Division III. But Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana and Northwestern are all now fellow Big Ten teams.

In their 10 games, the Wolverines scored 501 points, and allowed none. So, that's 50 points a game -- or, a point every 1 minute and 12 seconds.

They thought the season was over. They were wrong: The Tournament of Roses Association invited them to play Stanford in a game in Pasadena. The Association's president, James Wagner, wanted to increase attendance at the Parade, and also to bring tourists to the area in general. Bringing them in from the San Francisco Bay Area and from Michigan would certainly do it. He guaranteed each school $3,500 to cover their expenses.

Admission was 50 cents -- about $16.20 in today's money. A crowd of 8,000 paid it. An additional $1.00 was charged to admit a horse and buggy to Tournament Park, at California Street and Wilson Avenue. Temporary stands were built. There were 5 officials, all but one a Stanford graduate. Would that help Stanford? As it turned out, no.

Kickoff for "The Tournament East-West Football Game" was at 2:30 PM Pacific Time -- 5:30 Eastern, including in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Under the rules of the time, the game was divided into 2 30-minute halves (it was further divided into 4 15-minute quarters in 1910), a touchdown was 5 points (it was changed to 6 in 1912), so was a field goal (it was changed to 3 in 1909), and a conversion after a touchdown one point. The field was 110 yards long, a team had to make 5 yards in 3 downs to gain a 1st down (it became 10 yards in 4 downs in 1912), and forward passes were not allowed.

It wouldn't have helped Stanford if they were allowed. Michigan took a 17-0 lead by halftime, and ran away with it from there. Snow scored 4 touchdowns. With 8 minutes left on the clock, and Michigan leading 49-0 -- it would have been 52-0 under the current scoring system -- Stanford Captain Ralph Fisher walked up to Michigan Captain Hugh White, and said they'd had enough. Game over. Michigan could now, beyond any doubt, say they were "the Champions of the West."

From September 28, 1901 to November 25, 1905, Yost's Michigan Wolverines went 55-0-1, outscoring their opponents 2,821 to 40 -- an average of 50-1. The only blemish in that stretch was a 6-6 tie with Minnesota in 1903, which started the Little Brown Jug tradition. On Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1905, they finally lost a game coached by Yost for the 1st time, 2-0 at Marshall Field in Chicago (named for department store founder Marshall Field).

But after the 1902 Tournament East-West Football Game, the Tournament Association decided not to risk another blowout. They tried several accompanying events, from chariot races to ostrich races. Finally, in 1915, they gave in, and went back to football: They invited Washington State University and Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island to play the Tournament of Roses Football Game. On January 1, 1916, at Tournament Park, Washington State won, 14-0.

In 1922, a new Rose Bowl stadium opened. On January 1, 1923, it hosted the Rose Bowl game for the 1st time, and USC beat Penn State, 14-3. Stanford next appeared in 1925, led by Ernie Nevers, but lost 27-10 to Notre Dame, coached by Knute Rockne and led by "The Four Horsemen." Michigan didn't accept another bowl bid until the 1948 Rose Bowl, and walloped USC -- again, by a score of 49-0.

Cities in what we would now call the Sun Belt used parades and college football games to generate tourism, following Pasadena's tradition. In 1933, Miami started the Orange Bowl. In 1935, New Orleans started the Sugar Bowl. In 1937, Dallas started the Cotton Bowl. And so on.

But, as ABC Sports' Keith Jackson named it, the Rose Bowl was, and remains, "The Granddaddy of Them All." It has been played in Pasadena every year since 1916, with 2 exceptions: 1942, moved to Durham, North Carolina (because Duke University was one of the participants) due to concerns over the Pacific Coast being attacked following the attack on Pearl Harbor; and 2021, moved to the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas due to COVID restrictions.

USC have played in it the most times, 34, going 25-9. The next-most-frequent team, and the leading Big 10 team, is Michigan: 20, 8-12.

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January 1, 1902 was a Wednesday. Due to the facts that this was the original bowl game, that baseball was out of season, and that basketball and hockey were not yet played on a professional level, there were no other scores on this historic day.