W&J celebrates 100th anniversary of Rose Bowl appearance
An overflow crowd was on hand in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 2, 1922, to watch Washington & Jefferson play the University of California in the Tournament of Roses game. The two teams battled to a 0-0 tie.
This W&J float appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., in January 1922.
W&J Rose Bowl team
The 1921 football team at Washington & Jefferson College is one of the most fabled in school history. The Presidents battled the University of California to a 0-0 tie in the Tournament of Roses game, which is now called the Rose Bowl. The game was played Jan. 2, 1922. The Presidents went 10-0 with six shutouts to earn the matchup with California.
Courtesy of Washington & Jefferson College
Courtesy of Washington & Jefferson College
Ken Turner, commissioner for the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission; Linda West Nickens, daughter of Dr. Charles Fremont West; W&J President John C. Knapp; and Kenneth Clark, Charles West Scholarship recipient, unveil the marker honoring West in September.
Game coverage of the 1922 Tournament of Roses game in the Washington Reporter
Courtesy of Nancy Kostal
The 1922 Washington & Jefferson College football team’s train schedule for the Rose Bowl
Courtesy of Nancy Kostal
The 1922 Washington & Jefferson College football team’s train schedule for the Rose Bowl
Earle “Greasy” Neale is best remembered as the football coach of Washington & Jefferson College’s 1921 football team that battled the University of California to a scoreless tie in the Tournament of Roses game. Not many recall that Neale was a college head coach and professional baseball player at the same time. He was an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in the infamous “Black Sox” World Series of 1919.
Courtesy of Barbara S. Miller
A postcard from the 1922 Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, Calif.
”The power of this Eastern eleven lay in its ability to rip through and smear opposing plays. Its uncanny faculty in this department was pronounced especially in a season where the attack was featured, and the offensive often given no great attention. Any attack in the country, including that bewildering onslaught launched by Notre Dame, would have found great trouble in hammering out any extensive distance against Neale’s machine.”
– Famed sportswriter Grantland Rice about the 1921 Washington & Jefferson Presidents football team
There have been many underdog stories throughout the annals of sports, but very near the top of that list has to be the Rose Bowl game played Jan. 2, 1922.
The Tournament of Roses football game, as it was called then, pitted the powerhouse from the west, California University, against a small school from the east, Washington & Jefferson College.
No, Washington & Jefferson didn’t win, but the Presidents did play a memorable game.
The final score was 0-0, the only scoreless tie in Rose Bowl history, giving the Presidents a share of the “mythical national championship.”
“It’s just a story of David and Goliath in a way,” said Linda Nickens, of Alexandria, Va., whose father, Charles West, was the Washington & Jefferson quarterback. “It’s remarkable. It was amazing that a little school with a small enrollment could put together a fantastic team like that.”
To this day, W&J, which had just 450 students at the time, is the smallest school to play in the game called, “The Granddaddy of Them All.”
California had steamrolled opponents by a cumulative score of 312-33. In the prior year’s Rose Bowl, California’s “Wonder Team” thrashed Ohio State 28-0.
But Washington & Jefferson was no slouch, posting seven shutouts in its 11 games, outscoring the opposition 222-33 throughout the season and beating powerhouses like Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia and Detroit along the way.
Still, the Golden Bears were 14-point favorites, and a big California win was expected. Writer Jack James of the San Francisco Examiner even said, “The only thing I know about Washington & Jefferson is that they are both dead.”
Washington & Jefferson used just 11 players the entire game – not one substitution was made.
“It’s obviously a point of pride for a storied football program that has been an important part of our history,” said John Knapp, president of W&J. “We’ve been an important part of the college football scene for the better part of a century. The tenacity and scrappy nature of that group is pretty legendary.”
The Presidents stymied the California juggernaut, holding the Golden Bears to just 49 yards of offense, only two first downs and no pass completions.
“It’s a moment in our history that we’re just really proud of,” said Scott McGuinness, W&J athletic director. “We’re proud of the accomplishments of this team and how daunting it must have been 100 years ago for a small school to go from one coast to the other to play a mighty power like this.”
The trek to Pasadena is just one legendary portion of the story. The team rode by train for several days to reach its destination with a small number of players (the total varies by account of the story) and a few coaches.
According to E. Lee North’s book, “Battling the Indians, Panthers and Nittany Lions …The Story of Washington & Jefferson College’s First Century of Football, 1890-1990, R.M. “Mother” Murphy, W&J’s athletic administrator, didn’t want to spend college funds on his own ticket and mortgaged his house to afford the trip.
One of the players, C.L. Spillers, contacted pneumonia on the trip and was admitted into a hospital in Kansas City. Legend has it that a reserve, J. Ross “Bucky” Buchanan, stowed away on the train and was given Spillers’ ticket.
Nancy Kostal’s grandfather, Russ Stein, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. A cousin gave her a scrapbook of memorabilia from her grandfather’s playing days. Included are Western Union telegrams.
“What was really interesting to me, looking through the telegrams, was the amount of community support for this team that went west, whether it was fraternities, the chief of police, doctors, all sending words of support,” the Avon, Conn., woman said. “It was really pretty amazing.”
The support for the team was, indeed, amazing. A 7-0 victory over Pitt was celebrated with a day of canceled classes and a bonfire with inspirational speeches in front of the Washington County Courthouse.
However, quarterback Ray McLaughlin was injured against Pitt. This set the stage for another piece of history. His replacement was Charles Fremont “Pruner” West, the first African American quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl.
“Daddy was a halfback, but they picked him to take over,” Nickens said. “He stepped in and did his job.”
West was born in Washington County and moved from Burgettstown to Washington in 1911. He was an outstanding athlete at Washington High School and was even scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Also, a track and field star, he was a two-time National Collegiate Pentathlon Champion and was named to the 1924 Olympic team, though he did not participate due to an injury.
“The experience in the Rose Bowl stands as a reminder of our long history of racial inclusion which goes back to the early 19th century,” Knapp said. “Knowing that Dr. Charles West was the first black quarterback to play in a bowl game is a testament to the college’s long history of being welcoming and inclusive of all races and backgrounds.”
Going back to the train ride, West was told by the conductor that he would have to ride in “the colored car.” His teammates weren’t going to leave him there alone.
“The rest of the team opted to join him and ride in the colored car,” Knapp said.
“When you think about the times. Blacks were not included,” Nickens added. “If they were, there was friction. (His teammates) supported him and he supported them.”
Even though the Presidents faced large odds, they did not go into the game intimidated.
Harold Powers “Brick” Muller was the star of the California football team. Kostal said her grandfather had an interesting meeting with Muller before the game.
“He said to him, ‘So you’re the famous Brick Muller; let me shake your hand,'” Kostal said. “My grandfather wiped his hand on Muller’s uniform and proceeded to shake his hand.”
Kostal said newspaper articles she’s read about the game showed the Presidents played some mind games with their opponent.
“They really didn’t take the California team seriously,” she said. “They wanted to burst their bubble. W&J played a psychological, mental game and was able to match California because of that.”
That’s for sure.
Coach Earle “Greasy” Neale even made this prediction. “We’re going to win by at least one touchdown, and you can tell that to the whole U.S.A.,” he said in a published report Jan. 2, 1922.
That almost happened.
The Presidents did reach the end zone on their first possession on a 35-yard run by halfback Wayne Brenkert, but the play was called back on a controversial offside call against Stein. It is called one of the most disputed plays in Rose Bowl history
“You wonder if they were as impartial as they should have been,” Nickens said of the refs with a bit of a laugh.
“To this day, people think it was rigged,” Knapp added with a chuckle himself, further stating it was thought that a California team playing in California might have been getting preferential treatment.
On another play, Hal “Swede” Erickson slipped and fell on his way to scoring a touchdown. Stein attempted two field goals, one was blocked, another was wide and the 0-0 score stood.
Washington & Jefferson did take time this season to honor the 1921 Presidents grid squad.
Descendants of those affiliated with that team were invited.
Memorabilia is on display throughout the college, marking this piece of history in the story of college football. The grandson of Alfred Crook, a member of that Rose Bowl team, donated a scrapbook from Crook’s career to the college in 2013.
Actually, Nickens said she really wasn’t made aware of her father’s role in history until the college began to honor him. She knew him as the man who became a prominent physician in the Alexandria, Va., area.
“He was a very modest person,” she said. “He never turned any patients away. He was committed to the poor in Alexandria. He was always looking out for the little guy. He came from modest means. He was always thinking of those who had less. He carried that through his practice all through his life. He was always trying to help out someone who was a little less fortunate. He never forgot where he came from. “
West was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2018. The college and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a state marker to West in September that sits at the corner of Beau and College streets.
Stein was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991 and went on to play in the NFL for the Toledo Maroons, Canton Bulldogs, Frankfort Yellow Jackets and Pottsville Maroons over a four-year career.
Kostal said she enjoyed meeting Nickens at the celebration earlier this year and hearing stories connected with this game.
“It emphasizes the type of man we knew my grandfather to be,” Kostal said. “My mom was raised to view people as human beings and treat them with equality. The stories validated what I heard growing up about his participation.”
Kostal said she will be attending the upcoming Rose Bowl with a group of family members. Knapp said he will be attending as well.
“We have a group of alumni gathering out there,” Knapp said. “I think this anniversary represents different things to different people. It’s emblematic of the long, proud football history of this college. For many people this anniversary is a reminder that Washington & Jefferson was admitting and educating Black students long before any of the Ivy League schools and many other institutions of the time.”
It’s just more of a celebration of the accomplishments of this special team from a small school in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“It’s a moment in our history that we’re just really proud of,” McGuinness said. “There’s so many stories from that team that is one of the best, if not the best, in program history. These are stories that we like to tell our students about how this team did it with integrity. It’s exciting for us to be able to tell that story with so many good components about a team that had the characteristics of what you’d want from a student at W&J.”