Mr. Rose Bowl

Roger Carlson

When he and his grandfather walked up to the ticket window at the

Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day in 1944, the price of the ticket was

$4.40 and, since the famed saucer attracted only 68,000, they were

pretty decent seats, as well.

It was in the midst of WWII and because of travel restrictions,

the Washington Huskies brought a 4-0 record to Pasadena and were

thoroughly trounced by USC, 29-0.

“Now the tickets are $125 each,” said Robert Matthews, 74, who has

seen every game since, with Wednesday’s kickoff between Washington

State and Oklahoma marking his 60th straight game.

Sometimes he saw the game solo, but for the most part, wife Anita,

son Lyle and, for the last 38 games, his son Wayne, have accompanied

him.

A one-time Colton High student who went on to San Bernardino

Valley College, the retired banker and 20-year resident of Corona del

Mar is just a fan of the West Coast with no affiliation to any team.

It was not long after that first game that the Pacific Coast

Conference and the Big Ten signed a pact to send each conference’s

champion to the Rose Bowl (except no one could repeat), and Matthews

was among the majority who hated the pact, which began with the 1947

game.

“We wanted Army (9-0-1) with Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard,” said

Matthews. Instead, they got Illinois (8-2) and Buddy Young, which

took UCLA apart, 45-14.

Among the moments that stick with Matthews is the ’72 game

(Stanford defeated Michigan, 13-12, in a thriller with quarterback

Jim Plunkett at the helm).

Also, USC’s 42-37 victory over Wisconsin in 1963. “My wife went

with me to that one,” Matthews said. “Ron VanderKelen, Pete Beathard,

a very exciting game.”

And, the 17-14 Michigan State victory over UCLA in 1956. “It was

right at the last,” recalls Matthews, who can run off a number of

other momentous occasions, among them involving USC’s Charlie White

and Anthony Munoz, Sam Cunningham and Shelton Diggs, a product of San

Bernardino.

Also, when Woody Hayes brought his Buckeyes of Ohio State west. “I

did not like Woody Hayes, one bit,” said Matthews.

On Wednesday it’s Washington State and Oklahoma and Matthews makes

no bones about it: he doesn’t care for the meddling of the BCS, which

allows the Orange Bowl to pluck Iowa away for its game with USC.

Time-honored tradition dictates Iowa should be playing Washington

State, but, as he admits, he didn’t like the Big Ten deal, either,

when it began.

Over the years, Matthews has had to work at it to get tickets,

settling for scalpers on many occasions, but said he generally only

had to pay $10 or so above the cost of the tickets.

He has the game programs and ticket stubs from all of the Rose

Bowl games and among his treasures is an autograph from sportscaster

Bill Stern, one of the all-time golden voices of sports in the radio

days of the ‘40s and ‘50s.

The Rose Bowl is not his only vice. He and Anita are season ticket

holders for UC Irvine basketball and baseball. But he finds himself

wavering a little on baseball because of last spring’s weather, which

was cold, to say the least.

As for the future?

New Year’s Day is on a Thursday when No. 61 rolls around.