The 1952 Rose Bowl was the 38th

edition Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. Held on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the

1951 college football season The 1951 college football season finished with seven unbeaten major college teams, of which five were unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, the Tennessee Volunteers were voted the best team by the Associated Press, followed by the Michigan State Sparta ...

, it was the first nationally televised college football game. The fourth-ranked

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

defeated the #7

Stanford Indians The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

of the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

, 40–7. Since the two conferences agreed to match up in Pasadena, starting with the

1947 Rose Bowl The 1947 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game. It was the 33rd Rose Bowl Game. The Illinois Fighting Illini defeated the UCLA Bruins, 45–14. Illinois halfbacks Buddy Young and Jules Rykovich shared the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game awa ...

, the Big Ten had won all six games.

Game summary

Stanford led 7 to 6 on a Harry Hugasian touchdown until late in the third quarter. Illinois then scored 34 unanswered points, 27 in the fourth quarter. Illinois

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Bill Tate rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and was named Player of the Game. All-American

Johnny Karras John J. Karras (January 29, 1928 – November 6, 2008) was an American football halfback who played one season with the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the second round of the 1952 NFL ...

rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown for Illinois, which had 434 yards of total offense. It was the second Rose Bowl win for Illinois head coach

Ray Eliot Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at th ...

, the first was in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. Stanford head coach Chuck Taylor became the first to play and coach in the Rose Bowl, having played as one of Stanford's undefeated Wow Boys eleven years earlier, in

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

References

Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Illinois Fighting Illini football bowl games Stanford Cardinal football bowl games Rose Bowl January 1952 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub