The 1944 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1944, was a college football bowl game, the 30th Rose Bowl Game. The game featured two teams from the Pacific Coast Conference, due to the travel restrictions imposed by the war effort. This game determines the champion of the Pacific Coast Conference for the 1943 college football season. The USC Trojans defeated the Washington Huskies 29-0 in a one-sided game.
The favored Washington Huskies team had a record of four wins and no losses in its abbreviated season, without any Pacific Conference games. Their opponents were Whitman College, the Spokane Air Command, the March Field Flyers, and again against the Spokane Air Command.
The USC quarterback, Jim Hardy, threw three touchdown passes to lead the Trojans. This victory was the Trojan's seventh Rose Bowl victory and also gave them their Pacific Coast Conference Championship. For the first time, the Rose Bowl was broadcast on the radio abroad to all American servicemen, with General Eisenhower in Western Europe allowing all troops who were not on the front lines to tune in and listen.
Famous quotes containing the words rose and/or bowl:
“And one rose in a tent of sea and gave
A darkening shudder; water fell away;
The whale stood shining, and then sank in spray.”
—Yvor Winters (1900–1968)
“It seemed a long way from 143rd Street. Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Dancing with the Duke of Devonshire was a long way from not being allowed to bowl in Jefferson City, Missouri, because the white customers complained about it.”
—Althea Gibson (b. 1927)