Penn State’s First Rose Bowl
The LA Times has a neat article about Penn State’s first Rose Bowl appearance, which was incidentally against USC.
That first squad left for California on December 19, 1922, and was led by Hugo Bezdek. Heading into the Rose Bowl, they were 6-4-1 (ties were still allowed back then).
“They wanted to make it an enjoyable trip,” Penn State football historian Lou Prato said. “At long stops, they apparently got out and worked out a little, ran up and down and around the train station, did some exercises to get in shape.
It took them five days of travel to reach California.
When they got there, the team got its picture taken with Harold Lloyd, a picture that made it to the newspaper’s front page the following day.
The game started late because Penn State got stuck in traffic. The Nittany Lions did eventually lose the game 3-14 though.
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