1934 Rose Bowl

20th Rose Bowl Game

Columbia Lions	Stanford Indians
(7–1)	(8–1–1)
7	0
Head coach: Lou Little	Head coach: Claude E. Thornhill

	1	2	3	4	Total
Columbia	0	7	0	0	7
Stanford	0	0	0	0	0

Date

January 1, 1934

Stadium

Location

Cliff Montgomery (Columbia QB)

Attendance

35,000

The 1934 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1934, was an American football bowl game. It was the 20th Rose Bowl Game. The Columbia Lions defeated the Stanford Indians (now Cardinal) 7-0.^[1] Cliff Montgomery, the Columbia quarterback, was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively.^[2] At 35,000, it has the lowest attendance in the Rose Bowl game since the Rose Bowl Stadium was built in 1922. This was one of the few rainy New Year's Day celebrations in Pasadena, California.^[3] Rain three days before had turned the Rose Bowl stadium into a small lake.^[3]

Teams

Columbia University Lions

Columbia had lost only one game, to Princeton.

Stanford University Indians

In the previous 1932 season, the "Thundering Herd" of the USC Trojans, led by Howard Jones, defeated Stanford 13-0 on the way to a second consecutive national championship and victory in the 1933 Rose Bowl. Stanford player Frank Alustiza proclaimed “They Will never do that to our team. We will never lose to the Trojans.” A few minutes later, another member of the team proclaimed, “Let’s make that a vow.” The press reported on the vow, but it was forgotten until the next fall when facing USC, they were suddenly called upon to make good upon it.^[4] On November 11, in Los Angeles, USC (6-0-1) hosted Stanford (5-1-1). The Trojans suffered their first defeat in 27 games, losing 13-7, in a game that ultimately decided the Pacific Coast Conference championship. Thus, the Stanford class of 1936 became the "Vow Boys".

Game summary

For the three days before the game, torrential rains soaked the field. “When we arrived the day before the game [after traveling from New York by train], the Rose Bowl looked like a lake,” Montgomery, the team captain, recalled in a 1981 article in The New York Times.^[3] The Pasadena fire department pumped out the stadium. Game day itself, though, was also uncharacteristically rainy for Southern California, and the muddy field rendered the game scoreless going into the second quarter. At that time, and with the ball on the Stanford 17-yard line, Columbia quarterback Cliff Montgomery '34 executed a trick play called KF-79. During the play, he spun and slipped the ball to Al Barabas '36, then faked a hand-off to Ed Brominski '35, who ran in the opposite direction. While the Indians went for Montgomery and Brominski, Barabas successfully ran around the defense to score for the Lions. Stanford "Vow Boys" Bobby Grayson (152 yards on 28 carries), end Monk Moscript, lineman Bob Reynolds and other stars could not overcome the margin as mishaps ruined Stanford's chances. Columbia ended up winning the game, 7-0, capping one of the biggest upsets in Rose Bowl history. The win also cemented Lou Little's reputation at Columbia as the Lions' greatest coach thus far.

Aftermath

Winning the 1934 Rose Bowl has, to date, been the greatest accomplishment in Columbia football history. The Columbia Lions would have a notable losing streak from 1983 through 1988. Columbia lost 44 games in a row during these years, the second-longest in major college football history. Cliff Montgomery died on April 21, 2005.

The "Vow Boys", the Stanford class of 1936, never did lose to USC, defeating them again in 1934 16-0, and in 1935 3-0. The 1933 Michigan Wolverines team, who tied for first in the Big Ten conference with Minnesota on a 0-0 tie between the two teams, was voted the 1933 national champion. USC, who had won the previous two years, and who finished the season 10-1-1 was denied a third consecutive national championship.

References

↑ "Tournament of Roses - Rose Bowl Game Photo Timeline". Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
↑ 2008 Rose Bowl Program, 2008 Rose Bowl. Accessed January 26, 2008.
1 2 3 Palladino, Lisa - OBITUARIES: Cliff Montgomery ’34, Rose Bowl Quarterback. Columbia College Today, July 2005
↑ Tradition: Great Moments in the First Fifty Years of Cardinal Football. The Stanford Review, December 1, 2006, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8

Rose Bowl Game

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Games	1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Notes	No Rose Bowl Games were held from 1903 to 1915 The 1942 game was played at Duke Stadium in Durham, NC after Pearl Harbor attacks Bolded years indicate the game was also the BCS National Championship Game

Columbia Lions bowl games

1934 Rose Bowl

Stanford Cardinal bowl games

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