1918 Rose Bowl

1918 Tournament East-West football game
4th Rose Bowl Game
Mare Island Marines Camp Lewis Army
(5–0) (5–1–1)
Independent Independent
19 7
Head coach: 
Hugo Bezdek		 Head coach: 
Fox Stanton
1234 Total
Mare Island 09010 19
Camp Lewis 0700 7
DateJanuary 1, 1918
Season1917
StadiumTournament Park
LocationPasadena, California
MVPHollis Huntington (B) – USMC
Attendance25,000
Tournament East-West football game
 < 1917 1919 > 

The 1918 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was a bowl game played on January 1, 1918, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California. It was the 4th Rose Bowl Game. With America at war, the game was played with players from the Mare Island Marines of California and the Camp Lewis Army from American Lake, Washington.[1]

Game summary

Since the Rose Bowl game became so popular and most of the college football players were fighting overseas during World War I, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses decided to stage the game with military units, with the approval from President Woodrow Wilson. The Camp Lewis football team represented the US Army.

Scoring

1 2 3 4 Total
Mare Island 0 9 0 10 19
Camp Lewis 0 7 0 0 7
Qtr. Team Scoring play Score
2 MARE Ambrose 31 yard FG MARE 3–0
LEW Romney 6 yard rush, Sharpe kick LEW 7–3
MARE Brown 5 yard rush, kick failed MARE 9–7
4 MARE Huntington 1 yard rush, Ambrose kick MARE 16–7
MARE Ambrose 33 yard FG MARE 19–7
Source:[2]

Game notes

According to the Tournament of Roses, "Within weeks of the 1918 Rose Bowl Game, the majority of the players from both teams were scheduled to go overseas. John Beckett, left tackle for Mare Island, acknowledged this fact and said that “this would be the last battle that we would fight in the name of sports."

Hugo Bezdek was the coach to lead two separate schools (Oregon in 1917 and Mare Island in 1918) to victories. He also led Penn State to an appearance in the 1923 Rose Bowl.

Dick Romney, who had been a football star at Utah, played halfback for the Camp Lewis team, scoring the team's only touchdown.[3]

References

  1. ^ Rose Bowl Game Timeline Archived 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Pasadena Tournament of Roses
  2. ^ MacCambridge, Michael (2005). ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. New York, N.Y.: ESPN Books. p. 1440. ISBN 1-4013-3703-1.
  3. ^ "Camp Lewis 91st Division football team plays the Mare Island Marines in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1918". HistoryLink. Retrieved January 16, 2016.