| 1902 Tournament East–West football game | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1st Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1902 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1901 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tournament Park | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Neil Snow (Michigan FB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | David Brown | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 8,500 (estimated)[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Originally titled the "Tournament East–West football game", what is now known as the Rose Bowl Game was first played on January 1, 1902, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games.
The inaugural game featured Fielding H. Yost's dominating 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team, representing the East, who crushed a 3–1–2 team from Stanford University, representing the West, by a score of 49–0 after Stanford captain Ralph Fisher requested to quit with eight minutes remaining. Michigan finished the season 11–0 and was considered a national champion. Yost had been Stanford's coach the previous year.
- ^ 1902 Rose Bowl - University of Michigan
- ^ University of Michigan football media guide - PDF copy available at mgoblue.com