1934 Rose Bowl

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
Date	January 1, 1934
Season	1933
Stadium	Rose Bowl
Location	Pasadena, California
MVP	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

On New Year's Day, 1934, the Lions traveled to Pasadena, California to play the heavily favored Stanford Indians. Stanford had only been scored on four times the entire season, but the Light Blue had performed well, going 7–1 for the season.

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 16–0 in 1934, and 3–0 in 1935. 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 May 20, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
2008 Rose Bowl Program Archived March 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, 2008 Rose Bowl. Accessed January 26, 2008.
Palladino, Lisa - OBITUARIES: Cliff Montgomery ’34, Rose Bowl Quarterback Archived September 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Columbia College Today, July 2005
Tradition: Great Moments in the First Fifty Years of Cardinal Football Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The Stanford Review, December 1, 2006, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8

Rose Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Rose Bowl Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Big Ten Conference Pac-12 Conference
Games	1902 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 2018 2019 2020 2021
Notes	No games were held from 1903 to 1915. The 1942 game was played at Duke Stadium in Durham, NC, due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The 2021 game was played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The game was also the national title game for the Bowl Championship Series in 2002 and 2006. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its 2015, 2018, and 2021 editions.

Columbia Lions football
Venues	Manhattan Field (1899) Brotherhood Park (1890) Columbia Grounds (1891) Columbia Field (1900) Polo Grounds (1901–1903) American League Park (1904–1905) South Field (1915–1923) Baker Field (1923–1982) Giants Stadium (1983) Wien Stadium (1984–present)
Bowls & rivalries	1934 Rose Bowl Cornell The Liberty Cup (Fordham)
Culture & lore	Roaree the Lion "Roar, Lion, Roar" The Union Club
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885–1888 1889 1890 1891 1892–1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1914 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 2018 2019 2020
National championship seasons in bold