Ex-Players Remember Durham's Rose Bowl

DURHAM, N.C. - It has been 50 years since Duke and Oregon State picked up the Rose Bowl game and moved it 2,600 miles east to the Duke campus.

But many of the surviving members of both teams came to Durham last month to remember Jan. 1, 1942, the day Oregon State defeated the Blue Devils 20-16 in a chilly rain in the only Rose Bowl game played away from Pasadena, Calif.

"It was a moment in history that we felt we couldn't ignore," said Jill Mixon of the Duke Varsity Club, which organized the reunion.

It comes as a surprise to many that the 1942 Rose Bowl was played in what is now known as Wallace Wade Stadium. Back then it was Duke Stadium and it became a temporary home to the Rose Bowl in the frenzied days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and threw the country in turmoil.

Oregon State won the Pacific Coast championship and, under the Rose Bowl rules of the day, the Ducks were allowed to select their opponent. They chose Coach Wallace Wade's Blue Devils, who were 9-0 in the regular season, outscoring the opposition 311-41.

The Rose Bowl meant excitement to the Blue Devils. There would be a cross-country train ride, then a few days around Los Angeles and Hollywood. It was the perfect Christmas present to the football team.

Then came Dec. 7, 1941, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fearing for the safety of such a large crowd gathered near the California coast, government officials decided not to play the game in Pasadena.

"We were really disappointed but everyone was shocked by Pearl Harbor," said Norris Crigler of Charlotte, a reserve quarterback for the Blue Devils.

Wade offered Duke Stadium as an alternate site but, surprisingly, the Duke players didn't like the idea.

"I had a meeting with the fellas and they didn't want to do it because it would mean missing Christmas," team captain Bob Barnett said. "It wasn't like going out West. It was going to be like another game. We'd have to practice through Christmas. Coach Wade said we were going to do it anyway but he'd let us have time off for Christmas."

Wade later regretted letting his players go home for Christmas, blaming poor preparation for the loss that spoiled what could have been an unbeaten season.

More than 56,000 fans crowded into the stadium despite the rain. Portable bleachers were set up around the top ring of the stadium to squeeze in more people.

The game capped what was called the most hectic week ever in Durham. Even the North Carolina ticket manager was called in to sell tickets, which were priced at $4.40 apiece.

No one could forget what had happened to the country less than a month earlier. Many of the players would join the service soon after the Rose Bowl. Some didn't attend the reunion because they didn't return from the war.

"It was just three weeks after Pearl Harbor and we were getting clobbered in the Pacific," Barnett said. "Football just wasn't that important anymore at that time."

Duke fumbled the opening kickoff and the Beavers turned it into an early 7-0 lead. Duke gambled with a new offensive scheme by using a running back as a pass receiver downfield. It disrupted Duke's blocking and Wade scrapped the plan in the second half.

Though Oregon State led 20-16 late in the game, Duke seemed poised to steal a victory with six minutes remaining. The Blue Devils were marching on the ground but a late interception, thrown by quarterback Tommy Prothro, who later coached UCLA in the Rose Bowl, ended Duke's hopes.