Ed Tunnicliff
January 1, 1949: The football team at Northwestern University wins the Rose Bowl.
Stop laughing. Yes, NU, the only private school in the Big Ten Conference, by far the smallest school in the league, and the Big 10 school most identified with football ineptitude, won the Rose Bowl. At the time, it wasn't thought of as especially shocking.
Ed Tunnicliff served under General George Patton, earning a Purple Heart, before attending Northwestern, where he distinguished himself on the track and field team. But he is best known for scoring the winning touchdown for Northwestern in the Rose Bowl.
The Wildcats were ranked Number 7, and the University of California were ranked Number 4. In a trick strategy that coach Bob Voigts had the team practiced many times but had never previously played on the field, the ball was surreptitiously snapped to Tunnicliff, who ran 45 yards and was almost stopped by Cal's much larger Frank Brunk en route to the end zone. At the 7-yard line, Brunk grabbed Tunnicliff and tried to bring him to the ground, but Tunnicliff’s momentum pushed him forward enough to score the touchdown. Northwestern won, 20-14.
When interviewed about the game-winning play, Tunnicliff recalled thinking, "I'm going to get to that goal line if I have to carry the whole stadium."
Jackie Jensen played in this game for Cal. He had previously played in the 1st 2 College World Series, in 1947 and 1948. In 1950, he played for the New York Yankees in the World Series. He remains the only person to play in all 3. Chuck Essegian, of Stanford's 1950 team and the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers, is the only other man to play in both the Rose Bowl and the World Series.
Jackie Jensen
Although he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 18th round of the 1950 National Football League draft, Tunnicliff opted to coach high school football instead. He coached at Pekin High School in Pekin, Illinois, for 2 years, followed by 5 years at Reavis High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois. He went on to become a life insurance salesman for the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1957, and was promoted to District Manager in 1966. He lived until 2021.
Northwestern won the title in the league now known as the Big Ten Conference in 1903, 1926, 1930, 1931 and 1936. They finished 2nd to Michigan in 1948, and because of the Big Ten's rule that stood until 1974, Michigan couldn't go to the Rose Bowl in back-to-back seasons, Northwestern went instead.
Northwestern is the only private school in the Big Ten (UPDATE: That changed when USC joined in 2024), and easily the smallest by enrollment. Since 1948, they have struggled against the league's big State schools.
They finished 3rd in 1962, earning coach Ara Parseghian the job at Notre Dame. They finished 2nd in 1970 and 1971, under coach Alex Agase, but a loss to Ohio State in '70 cost them the title, while they beat Ohio State but lost to Michigan in '71. And the Big Ten's dumb rule, in place until 1974, that only the League Champion could go to a bowl game, cost them a late December or New Year's Day visit to a warm-weather city. From 1979 to 1982, they lost 34 straight games, which remains a record in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division I-A).
Finally, in 1995, coach Gary Barnett led them to another Big Ten title. They received the accompanying bid to the Rose Bowl, where they lost to USC. In 1996, they tied for the title, but, not having played Co-Champions Ohio State head-to-head, the Big Ten's rule was that the team that had waited longer got the Rose Bowl bid, and, for once, Ohio State had waited longer than Northwestern, who were sent to the Citrus Bowl, which they lost. Again in 2000, they tied for the title, but were sent to the Alamo Bowl instead.
They didn't win another bowl game until the 2012 Gator Bowl, also winning the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl, the 2017 Music City Bowl, the 2018 Holiday Bowl, and the 2020 Citrus Bowl. (UPDATE: They've added the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl.) They won the Big Ten West Division in 2018 and 2020, but lost the Conference Championship Game both times.
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January 1, 1949 was a Saturday. As I said, Number 1 Michigan did not play. Nor did Number 2 Notre Dame. These other college football bowl games were played that day:
* Sugar Bowl, at Tulane Stadium, New Orleans: Number 3 North Carolina were upset by Number 5 Oklahoma, 14-6.
* Orange Bowl, at Burdine Stadium (later renamed the Orange Bowl) in Miami: Number 8 Georgia were upset by Texas, 41-28.
* Cotton Bowl, at the stadium of the same name, Dallas: Number 9 Oregon were upset by Number 10 Southern Methodist University, 21-13. It was SMU star Doak Walker's last college game.
* Gator Bowl, at the stadium of the same name, Jacksonville, Florida: Number 11 Clemson beat Missouri, 24-23.
* Tangerine Bowl, at the stadium of the same name (now Camping World Stadium), Orlando, Florida: Sul Ross State and Murray Stadium played to a 21-21.
* Delta Bowl, at Crump Stadium in Memphis: Number 17 William & Mary beat Oklahoma State, 20-0.
* Dixie Bowl, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama: Baylor beat Wake Forest, 20-7.
* Sun Bowl, at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas: West Virginia beat Texas West (later Texas-El Paso), 21-12.
* Salad Bowl, at Montgomery Stadium in Phoenix: Drake University beat Arizona, 14-13.
* Harbor Bowl, Balboa Stadium in San Diego: Villanova beat Nevada, 27-7.
* Raisin Bowl, at Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno, California: Occidental College beat Colorado A&M (later Colorado State), 21-20.
* Pineapple Bowl (yes, fans of the TV show Coach, there actually was one once), at Honolulu Stadium: Oregon State beat Hawaii, 47-27.
Baseball was out of season. There were 6 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 88-80 at the old Madison Square Garden.
* The Indianapolis Jets beat the Providence Steam Rollers, 78-77 at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence.
* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 72-67 at the Baltimore Coliseum.
* The Washington Capitols beat the Chicago Stags, 92-90 at the Uline Arena (later the Washington Coliseum).
* The Rochester Royals beat the St. Louis Bombers, 106-83 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York.
* And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 92-72 at the Minneapolis Auditorium.
The NHL's entire "Original Six" was in action:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Boston Garden.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
And in English soccer, Manchester United beat North London team Arsenal, 2-0 at Old Trafford in Salford, outside Manchester.
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