Their Bowl of Roses Is a Place in the Hall

Curt Gowdy is telling a Lou Holtz story about O.J. Simpson. A peppy band has been playing “Everything Is Coming Up Roses” under a glorious mid-morning sun at a ceremony presenting statuettes to the newest members of the Rose Bowl’s Hall of Fame. And now the master of Thursday’s ceremonies, Gowdy, is flashing back to an 80-yard run against Ohio State on New Year’s Day 1969 by one of the 10 men being inducted.

“You all know Lou Holtz as the coach at Notre Dame, but back then Holtz was the defensive backfield coach for Ohio State. Before that Rose Bowl game against USC, the head coach of Ohio State, Woody Hayes, made a point of going up to Holtz and saying: ‘Look, we know Simpson is going to get his 100 yards. We can’t prevent that. I just do not want him breaking a long one at any time in this game. You hear?’

“Well, the game begins, and sure enough, O.J. cuts loose 80 yards for a USC touchdown. And now Holtz is standing there on the sideline thinking: ‘I hate having to go back into the locker room to face Woody.’ Well, when he finally heads to the locker room, there’s Woody standing there by the tunnel, waiting for him. And he grabs Holtz by the throat.

“Woody shakes him and yells: ‘Why did Simpson gain 80 yards? Why did Simpson gain 80 yards?’

“And Holtz says:

“ ‘Because that’s all he needed.’ ”

That was the play of the day as Rose Bowl reminiscences highlighted the fifth annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the stadium. Accepting their awards in person were Simpson, former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler and former players Frank Aschenbrenner of Northwestern, Fred (Curly) Morrison of Ohio State and Bob Stiles of UCLA, who ebulliently remembered his own play of the day--a tackle one foot from the goal line that saved his team’s 1966 victory over Michigan State.

Record-breaking receiver Don Hutson could not be present for his induction. His 1935 University of Alabama teammate and quarterback, Millard (Dixie) Howell, was honored posthumously, as were 1921-22 Rose Bowl hero Harold (Brick) Muller of California and two of Illinois’ leaders from the 1940s, halfbacks Julius Rykovich and Claude (Buddy) Young.

All had their moments in what Morrison summed up succinctly as “the greatest postseason game there is.”

Simpson had his place in the sun many times, on many fields, but reflections on his many great runs for the roses brightened the morning of his former USC coach, John McKay, who made the trip from Florida especially for Thursday’s occasion.

“I think back 25 years to my days on the USC campus, where, if you saw the coach coming toward you, you’d probably jump behind the bushes,” Simpson said. “I’d always be thinking: ‘Is my hair combed? Is my shirt tucked in? Do I have a spot on my pants?’ Because you always wanted to be at your best around John McKay. And that’s what he did--he brought out the best in you.

“When I was choosing which school to attend, I didn’t come to USC so that I could win the Heisman Trophy, because that would have been presumptuous on my part. And it wasn’t even to play on a national championship team. The single, determining factor was that I thought it would give me the best opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl, which is something I always dreamed of doing.”

Oh, and for O.J., a day without needling an old rival would be like a day without sunshine.

“And a big thanks today to UCLA,” Simpson said. “Because I would never have been in two Rose Bowls if it wasn’t for UCLA.”

A counterpoint was scored by Stiles, who played but one season of UCLA football but left his mark indelibly by leading a 20-16 upset of USC that put the Bruins into the ’66 Rose Bowl game.

Spotting familiar faces in the crowd, Stiles said: “I’d like to thank McKay and (Mike) Garrett for letting us beat them in ’65. My kind of guys.”

Although the 10 tackles Stiles made in the 14-12 upset of No. 1-ranked Michigan State were what got him voted player of the game, Gowdy recounted the single exploit that immortalized Stiles in the minds of some UCLA fans. With seconds remaining in the game and the Spartans going for a game-tying conversion, the diminutive defensive back sacrificed his body to stop MSU’s Bob Apisa inches from paydirt.

“Stiles got knocked cold for his trouble,” Gowdy said. “He was unconscious for a while and didn’t even know what he had done.”

Said Simpson: “Those of us who play golf with Stiles still think he’s unconscious.”

Dramatic conquests and courageous plays brought glory to most of the Hall of Fame inductees, but not specifically to Schembechler, whose longevity was more of a factor. No coach ever made more Rose Bowl appearances than his 10, and none endured more defeats, a fact that he can joke about in his retirement.

Schembechler thanked the emcee for not mentioning his won-lost record, saying: “The Rose Bowl has been good and bad to me.”

Once scheduled to coach against USC on New Year’s Day, Schembechler was felled by a heart attack.

“I think John McKay intimidated me so much, that’s why I ended up in the hospital and missed the game,” he said.

Now out of football and as physically fit as he has been in years, Schembechler retains his loyalty to the Big Ten Conference and predicted that in time the Pacific 10’s dominance would be overcome. He said: “Except for my record, I think you’ll find that the games will end up about 50-50.”

There was a time when the Big Ten was not automatically involved. In 1935, player-of-the-game Howell rushed, punted, returned kicks and passed for two touchdowns to Hutson in undefeated Alabama’s 29-13 victory over Stanford, when the winning team traveled 5,000 miles to and from Pasadena by train.

Howell ended up playing baseball in 1935-41 for the Detroit Tigers, the club for which Schembechler served as president a half-century later. Howell died in 1971.

Accepting on behalf of Hutson, who was expected but unable to attend, and Howell was “Hootie” Ingram, Alabama’s athletic director, who joked that the defending national champion Crimson Tide was willing to negotiate to return to the Rose Bowl, “depending on your relationship with the Pac-10 and Big Eleven.” (Penn State joins the Big Ten’s football competition this season and is eligible for the Rose Bowl.)

When Northwestern made an unprecedented appearance in the 1949 game and won it over California, 20-14, halfback Frank (Ash) Aschenbrenner set a Rose Bowl record with a 73-yard touchdown run.

As any good Northwestern man might, Aschenbrenner said upon his Hall of Fame induction: “I never could have dreamed that I would play in a Rose Bowl some day, any more than I could have dreamed that I’d be standing here today.”

Cal also was on the losing end, 17-14, in 1950 when Morrison, a tight end turned running back, rushed for 113 yards in Ohio State’s first Rose Bowl victory. “I’d like to turn back the hands of time and play it all over again,” Morrison said.

Back in 1921, in its first Rose Bowl appearance, Cal got the better of Ohio State, 28-0, thanks to Muller, who caught a touchdown pass and threw one. Said current Athletic Director Bob Bockrath: “You could not have chosen anyone better than Brick Muller.”

In 1947, with UCLA unbeaten and disappointed at not being able to play a powerhouse Army team on New Year’s Day, twice-beaten Illinois came to Pasadena instead and routed the Bruins, 45-14, with Rykovich and Young each rushing for more than 100 yards. Rykovich died in 1974, Young nine years later.

The favored team hasn’t always won, as UCLA learned again in 1965. Underdogs and then some to top-ranked Michigan State, the Bruins came up big, as did Stiles, who said: “If you had the heart, it didn’t matter about the stature.”

He was no O.J., but, like others before him and others to come, the Rose Bowl brought out his best.

Rose Bowl Hall of Fame

Members of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame (with year of induction):

1989--C.W. (Bump) Elliott, Michigan; W.W. (Woody) Hayes, Ohio State; Howard Jones, USC; Jim Plunkett, Stanford.

1990--Archie Griffin, Ohio State; Bob Reynolds, Stanford; Neil Snow, Michigan; Wallace Wade, Brown, Alabama and Duke.

1991--Rex Kern, Ohio State; John McKay, USC; Ernie Nevers, Stanford; Roy Riegels, California; Bob Schloredt, Washington; John Sciarra, UCLA; Russell Stein, Washington & Jefferson; Charley Trippi, Georgia; Ron Vander Kelen, Wisconsin; George Wilson, Washington.

1992--Frankie Albert, Stanford; Bob Chappuis, Michigan; Sam Cunningham, USC; Bill Daddio, Pittsburgh; Bob Griese, Purdue; Hollis Huntington, Oregon and Mare Island Marines; Shy Huntington, Oregon; Elmer Layden, Notre Dame; Jim Owens, Washington.

1993--Frank (Ash) Aschenbrenner, Northwestern; Millard (Dixie) Howell, Alabama; Don Hutson, Alabama; Fred (Curly) Morrison, Ohio State; Harold (Brick) Muller, California; Julius Rykovich, Illinois; Glenn (Bo) Schembechler, Michigan; O.J. Simpson, USC; Bob Stiles, UCLA; Claude (Buddy) Young, Illinois.