Things Don’t Always Come Up Roses : Rose Bowl: A tardy participating team, two phantom touchdowns and Woody Hayes’ tantrums have all been a part of the New Year’s Day game.

A near fist-fight between rival coaches, phantom touchdowns, a coach’s tantrums. Is this any way to start the New Year?

Things don’t always come up roses in the Rose Bowl.

There are some thorns among the dramatic moments, upsets and spectacular plays that are part of the lore of the Rose Bowl game.

For reference, see Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler, who will be making his 10th appearance in Pasadena Jan. 1 against USC, with a record of two victories, seven losses and one disputed touchdown.

After the first Rose Bowl game in 1902 between Michigan and Stanford at Tournament Park, a polo match and then chariot races replaced the game through 1915.

There is no documentation of chariot disputes, but in the first Rose Bowl game played at its present site the grumbling began before the teams even came onto the field.

1923: GET ME TO THE GAME ON TIME

This would be USC’s first of 27 appearances in the Rose Bowl and the Trojans were the second choice to represent the West.

California, which had won the Pacific Coast Conference championship and had defeated USC, declined the invitation for unspecified reasons.

The Eastern representative, Penn State, had been invited in April of the previous year, but still the Nittany Lions couldn’t get to the game on time.

USC Coach Elmer (Gloomy Gus) Henderson and his players stewed on the field awaiting Penn State’s arrival. The game was scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., but Penn State didn’t arrive until 45 minutes later.

Penn State’s coach, Hugo Bezdek, was not a stranger to Pasadena, so he couldn’t have claimed that he was lost. He had the unusual background of having coached Oregon and the Mare Island Marines to victories in the 1917 and 1918 Rose Bowl games.

Henderson confronted Bedzek, who was standing alone on the field.

“Where have you been?” Henderson demanded.

“We got caught in a traffic jam,” Bezdek replied.

Henderson: “You tried to stall so we would get itchy.”

Bezdek: “You’re a liar.”

Henderson: “You’re a lot of bunk.”

Bezdek: “Take off your glasses and we’ll settle the whole matter right here.”

Henderson declined, saying later that he wanted no part of Bezdek, who had earned his way through the University of Chicago by fighting under an assumed name.

If Bezdek had planned to gain a psychological advantage by being late, it didn’t work as the Trojans won, 14-3.

Bezdek was hardly charitable in defeat, saying:

“The best team lost. The best team and the best coaching in the world wouldn’t have won against the luck USC had today. When at its best, my team could beat USC by 40 points. My only regret is that Elmer Henderson had left his glasses on.”

1949: RAISING CAIN WITH CAL

Instant replay: Where was it when it was needed the most?

In the category of controversial touchdowns, the 1949 Rose Bowl game between Northwestern and California still has an eminent place.

It was the third game of the series between the Pacific Coast Conference and the Big Ten (then called the Big Nine).

In the second quarter, Northwestern fullback Art Murakowski fumbled while lunging for a touchdown from the one-yard line.

A picture in The Times showed that Murakowski’s feet were not in the end zone, but referee Jimmy Cain nevertheless signaled a touchdown, ruling that Murakowski fumbled after his body had crossed the plane of the goal line.

That decision was challenged then, as it still is today, by photographic evidence, although camera angles can be deceiving.

Murakowski’s touchdown and subsequent missed extra point provided Northwestern with a 13-7 lead. The Wildcats went on to win, 20-14, getting the winning touchdown on Ed Tunnicliff’s 43-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

Although Cain made the touchdown signal, the actual decision was the responsibility of field judge Jay Berwanger.

Berwanger, as you may recall, was the first Heisman Trophy winner in 1935, from the University of Chicago.

Northwestern hasn’t played in a Rose Bowl game since 1949, and with its football program on the downgrade, it may never again.

THE WACKY WORLD OF WOODY

Woody Hayes, Ohio State’s late coach, made an indelible impression in his many trips to the Rose Bowl.

The cantankerous Hayes set a standard for boorish behavior in his first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 1955.

He complained about the bands chewing up an already muddy field and he was less than gracious after the Buckeyes beat the Trojans, 20-7.

Excerpts from Woody’s bombast:

“The bands should have been required to stay on the sidelines instead of putting on the show where we were going to play. I think bands are a fine thing but they owe their popularity to football, not the other way around.

“There are about four, possibly five teams in the Big Ten that could beat USC. Big Ten teams are better in the Rose Bowl because they are raised on tougher competition.”

Hayes was hardly a seer, though, considering that the Pac-10 has beaten the Big Ten in 18 of the last 24 Rose Bowl games.

The Ohio State coach’s ugliest display of temper occurred in the 1973 Rose Bowl game against USC.

Before the game, he shoved a camera held by The Times’ Art Rogers into the photographer’s face. Rogers required medical treatment.

After the game, which the national champion Trojans won, 42-17, Hayes was asked about the incident.

He exploded, cursing a reporter and storming out of the interview tent.

A criminal battery suit on behalf of Rogers was later dropped when Hayes sent a letter of apology.

1979: WHO NEEDS THE BALL TO SCORE?

Thirty years after Murakowski scored his disputed touchdown in the Rose Bowl, USC’s Charles White revived the play against Michigan.

Only this time television instant replay was available to show that officials botched the call.

Here was the situation:

USC had the ball on the Michigan three-yard line in the second quarter when White, the tailback, sky-dived toward the end zone.

He reached it all right, but without the ball, leaving it at the one-yard line.

One official signaled a touchdown, another ruled that Michigan had gained possession by recovering a fumble.

Referee Paul Kamanski cast the tiebreaking vote, saying that the line judge, Gilbert Marchman, was in charge of forward progress of the ball. Since the line judge was emphatic that the ball had broken the plane of the goal line, Kamanski concluded that White had scored.

Others who watched the instant replay, ardently disagreed.

In any event, White’s touchdown gave USC a 14-3 lead, and the Trojans went on to win, 17-10.

The victory provided USC with a share of the national championship with Alabama and left Schembechler with an 0-5 record in the Rose Bowl.

Bo had an opinion on the play, saying: “From what all our players say, he didn’t score. I don’t want to talk about it. If I do, I’ll sure as hell say something that will get me into trouble.

“I have some definite thoughts but I don’t want to relate them here. It’s a shame something like that had to distract from the effort of the kids, but the fact remains we didn’t play well enough to win.”

In 1982, USC scored the winning touchdown in a 17-13 victory over Notre Dame in a similar fashion, with tailback Michael Harper seemingly losing the ball while diving into the end zone.

Said Schembechler at the time: “USC has perfected that play.”