1918 Rose Bowl

The 1918 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was a college football bowl game played on Jan 1, 1918. 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 fighting overseas, 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

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

• MI – Ambrose, 31-yard drop-kick field goal
• CL – E.L. Romney, 6-yard run (Sharpe kick good)
• MI – Jap Brown, 5-yard run (Ambrose drop kick failed)

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

• MI – Hollis Huntington, 1-yard run (Ambrose drop kick good)
• MI – Ambrose, 33-yard field goal

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."

References