Washington & Jefferson College, Washington PA
A scoreless tie may not seem like much of an accomplishment at a bowl game, the smallest school ever to compete at the Rose Bowl, shocked sports fans in 1922 when they were able to hold the University of California scoreless.
In 1922, the Rose Bowl was known as the Tournament East-West football game, as it fittingly featured teams from the West Coast and East Coast. The selection committee for the game looked for undefeated teams, and Washington & Jefferson's 10-0 record caught their attention over other possible East Coast champions such as Cornell, Lafayette and Penn State.
The Cal Golden Bears were picked to represent the West, and were heavily favored against W&J, which had a minuscule enrollment of 450 students at the time. Despite regular season victories over teams such as Pittsburgh and West Virginia, one reporter quipped that all he knew about Washington & Jefferson was that they were both dead.
The teams met on Jan. 2 in the last Rose Bowl ever played at Tournament Park in Pasadena, Calif. Washington & Jefferson could only afford to send 11 players and became the last team in Rose Bowl history to have its starters play the entire game. The team also made history with two Rose Bowl firsts: Herb Kopf was the first freshman to play, and Charlie West was the first African-American quarterback to appear in the game.
W&J now has grown from 450 students to about 1400. Org Jr. is a W&J graduate.
