The 1942 Rose Bowl

[wilson]

We've long known that Duke hosted the 1942 Rose Bowl, but if you're like me, you always knew a few general parameters of the event with not much of the details or context. Enter Sports Illustrated, with a lengthy, fantastic feature about the game and the circumstances surrounding its move to Bull City:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mag...942-rose-bowl/

[devil84]

Fascinating read. Thanks for posting, Wilson! Lots of information I never knew about the Rose Bowl game in Durham.

[Atlanta Duke]

We've long known that Duke hosted the 1942 Rose Bowl, but if you're like me, you always knew a few general parameters of the event with not much of the details or context. Enter Sports Illustrated, with a lengthy, fantastic feature about the game and the circumstances surrounding its move to Bull City:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mag...942-rose-bowl/

Thanks for the post - wonderful article.

Gives an appreciation for what hard times really are. Great to read Coach Wade re-upped up and saw action in western Europe

Wade, who was 49, reenlisted shortly after the Rose Bowl loss. "My boys were going in, and I felt like we should stay together as a team," he told his biographer, Lewis Bowling. "We were just participating in a different battle."

The aerial photo shows most of the Gothic infrastructure on West Campus (Card Gym, Cameron, apparently even the tennis courts) was in place by 1942. About all that appears to be missing is Wannamaker, which I now have learned was named after then Dean Wannamaker.

[sagegrouse]

Thanks for the post - wonderful article.

Gives an appreciation for what hard times really are. Great to read Coach Wade re-upped up and saw action in western Europe

Wade, who was 49, reenlisted shortly after the Rose Bowl loss. "My boys were going in, and I felt like we should stay together as a team," he told his biographer, Lewis Bowling. "We were just participating in a different battle."

The aerial photo shows most of the Gothic infrastructure on West Campus (Card Gym, Cameron, apparently even the tennis courts) was in place by 1942. About all that appears to be missing is Wannamaker, which I now have learned was named after then Dean Wannamaker.

Wannamaker was built in 1958. The "new building" on the Main Quad is Allen Building, which was built a few years earlier. Prior to Allen, the Duke Administration was in Flowers.

sagegrouse

[Indoor66]

In the opening paragraph the article speaks of Charles Haynes, Jr. Anybody remember the same Charlie Haynes who ran The Saddle Club (later The Saddle and Fox) on Hillsborough Blvd. in West Durham? Charlie was always there to meet and greet. The dining room had a wonderful fireplace and there would be a roaring fire when it was cold outside. It was a fun place for a beverage or two and a good dinner.

[Reilly]

Here's more on The Saddle Club ...

http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/durham-saddle-club

[Greg_Newton]

I found a program from this in my grandpa's old stuff in my folks' attic a year or so, it's pretty cool. I especially like the strategy breakdowns from 70 years ago:

Rose Bowl.jpg

[bqkdevil]

My father-in-law (Duke '42) had a class mug that stated "Duke '42: the best of times, the worst of times Jan 1 1942, Dec 7, 1941." He immediately deployed to the South Pacific after graduation. His and my mother-in-law's first date was at the Duke Chapel on Dec 7 1941 for a performance of Handel's Messiah. Only afterward did the news of Pearl Harbor arrive

[matt1]

The story is so remarkable that I almost do not even care that we lost the game, and that is saying something! The game must have been special to those involved.

[Atldukie79]

I love seeing this article in the national press. Much of this story is known to those of us who are (somewhat) older and have been around the program for years. I did not know the details from the Oregon State perspective as well as the Duke perspective, so this was a new twist.

If you want to know even more about this game and the events leading up to it, I shamelessly recommend "Wallace Wade" by Lewis Bowling. In addition to being my brother-in-law, Lewis was intereviewed several times by the SI author for background material. In fact, the article leads you to believe that Lewis personally interviewed Wallace Wade, which did not happen. Wade died in 1986, well before Lewis wrote the book. BUt Lewis, who also writes for various Duke publications, did extensive research on his own for the book he wrote.

In any case, it was an exciting event that has been a longstanding trivia question of mine to ask people about...until now!

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I love seeing this article in the national press. Much of this story is known to those of us who are (somewhat) older and have been around the program for years. I did not know the details from the Oregon State perspective as well as the Duke perspective, so this was a new twist.

If you want to know even more about this game and the events leading up to it, I shamelessly recommend "Wallace Wade" by Lewis Bowling. In addition to being my brother-in-law, Lewis was intereviewed several times by the SI author for background material. In fact, the article leads you to believe that Lewis personally interviewed Wallace Wade, which did not happen. Wade died in 1986, well before Lewis wrote the book. BUt Lewis, who also writes for various Duke publications, did extensive research on his own for the book he wrote.

In any case, it was an exciting event that has been a longstanding trivia question of mine to ask people about...until now!

I second this recommendation for Lewis's book about Wallace Wade. The second edition has comments from Coach Cutcliffe not included in the first edition.

As I recall, Anita Caldwell, Coach Hershel Caldwell's widow, was one of the people who was very helpful in the research for this book. She missed only 2 games in 67 years of attending. She was a part of the contingent who came up from Tuscaloosa in 1931 to change Duke football forever.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/jdn...43#fbLoggedOut

[SmartDevil]

Great article ! So glad to have it called to our attention.

[jjasper0729]

I was reading the article linked to from the home page in the Duke Archives. I saw this picture and, as a big history/geography buff, was hoping someone that either was there or knows, is there what could be considered an intra-mural building behind Card and next to what I'm assuming is the tennis courts? It's crazy that all the streets that are there now aren't there then. I also have to say that that's a LOT of foul territory at Jack Coombs field.

http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/im...rosebowl42.jpg

[Indoor66]

I was reading the article linked to from the home page in the Duke Archives. I saw this picture and, as a big history/geography buff, was hoping someone that either was there or knows, is there what could be considered an intra-mural building behind Card and next to what I'm assuming is the tennis courts? It's crazy that all the streets that are there now aren't there then. I also have to say that that's a LOT of foul territory at Jack Coombs field.

http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/im...rosebowl42.jpg

That "foul territory" existed into the late 70's - prior to the Sanford Public Policy building and the expansions of Cameron related facilities. There used to be a great parking area on a dead end road across from what is now the Law School. Handy to games at the Indoor Stadium. A short walk through the woods.

[Atlanta Duke]

The article linked on today's home page cited suggestions that were being made to young men about to go off to war

To those tempted to party away their last semester before the draft, the admonition was to have a good record when one returned to graduate after the war.

One editorialist looked the "grim dance of death" in the face and went to the heart of the matter. Instead of the urge to enjoy the present to the fullest, he urged that that intensity be directed towards genuine things. "Indifference and sensual escapism make a poor philosophy with which to face a bayonet," he cautioned. He thought "nothing better could be done than to utilize the remaining days in the ivory tower in finding a true faith."

http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/hi.../rosebowl.html

I fortunately cannot imagine being in the position of the Duke students at that time, but my guess is I would have taken the path of seeking sensual escapism and enjoying the present to the fullest.

[jjasper0729]

That "foul territory" existed into the late 70's - prior to the Sanford Public Policy building and the expansions of Cameron related facilities. There used to be a great parking area on a dead end road across from what is now the Law School. Handy to games at the Indoor Stadium. A short walk through the woods.

I was there in the first half of the 90s. Thatwas when the Sanford Public Policy was being built. They put in the current dugouts during those four years as well. The fraternities of the baseball players would drive up from wannamaker through were the K building and Schwartz-Butters are now and park at the top of the hill on th efirst base side and grill and it would be a blast.

[dpslaw]

Both my mother and father attended the 1942 Rose Bowl, but they did not meet until after the war.

[-jk]

Both my mother and father attended the 1942 Rose Bowl, but they did not meet until after the war.

Probably not that unusual - Der'm was a small town way back when. My parents also went. And my grandmother had several dozen rose bushes in her yard from the bowl game.

-jk

[brevity]

We've long known that Duke hosted the 1942 Rose Bowl, but if you're like me, you always knew a few general parameters of the event with not much of the details or context. Enter Sports Illustrated, with a lengthy, fantastic feature about the game and the circumstances surrounding its move to Bull City:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mag...942-rose-bowl/

I linked to this thread for the 2018 UNC-Duke football pregame, and I noticed the link to the Sports Illustrated article no longer works. Time to fix that.

SI Vault

War and Roses: The 1942 Rose Bowl Rallied a Rattled Country and Brought Together Men Who Soon Would Become Brothers on Far-Flung Battlefields
by Brian Curtis