In Last Trip to Pasadena, They Got Deal on Early Reservations

Penn State earned its spot in the Rose Bowl this year by winning the Big Ten championship, but it wasn’t that way the last time the Nittany Lions came West for the 1923 game.

After the team went undefeated in 1920 and 1921, Penn State officials signed a contract with the Tournament of Roses for the 1923 game in the spring of 1922--six months before the season. The pact looked good when the Nittany Lions won their first five games, but they won only one of their final five to finish 6-3-1, one of the poorest records in Rose Bowl history.

Add Rose Bowl: California’s Wonder Team, champions of the West and undefeated for the third consecutive season, turned down a bid to play Penn State in 1923 because of its weak record. USC, which had lost only to Cal, gladly accepted its first Rose Bowl invitation and defeated the Nittany Lions, 14-3.

Trivia time: Penn State Coach Joe Paterno is a graduate of Brown University. What other well-known Brown graduate--who played in a Rose Bowl game--also coached in the game?

Not really: The late Duffy Daugherty, when he coached at Michigan State, never believed in the importance of spring practice. “It doesn’t tell you anything,” he said. “It’s like having your daughter coming in at four o’clock in the morning holding a Gideon Bible.”

Riding in style: Washington running back Napoleon Kaufman lost his chance to play in the Rose Bowl when the Huskies were placed on probation, but the Pacific 10 offensive player of the year will be in Pasadena on game day. Kaufman will represent the East-West Shrine Game on the Masonic float during the Tournament of Roses parade.

Rock bottom: Bob Glauber, writing in the Sporting News, lists the 28 NFL teams in order of their fans’ devotion. The Rams are No. 28. Glauber’s comment on their basement status:

“How bad are Rams fans? Bet you we don’t get one letter or phone call about their last-place rating.”

Like his quarterbacks: Sam Wyche, the Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach, is an incurable optimist. After he was bombarded with trash thrown from the stands--including a pair of binoculars--as he trotted off the field after a loss, his reaction was, “The good news is we didn’t have anybody with very good aim.”

Did you know?A National Hot Rod Assn. top fuel dragster leaves the starting line with a force nearly five times that of gravity, the same force a space shuttle has when it leaves the launching pad.

The right genes: Bruk Vandeweghe of the Miller Lite Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is the son of former Miss America Colleen Hutchins and former NBA star Ernie Vandeweghe. Bruk’s siblings include brother Kiki, a former UCLA and NBA player; and sisters Taune, a 1984 Olympic swimmer, and Heather, captain of the national women’s polo team.

Trivia answer: Wallace Wade, who played for Brown in 1916, coached Alabama in 1926, 1927 and 1931 and Duke in 1939 and 1942.

Quotebook: Tennis great Jimmy Connors, on the media: “I never care what they say about me in the papers, as long as it isn’t true.”