New book reveals the untold story of the first Rose Bowl on the 100-year anniversary

Chance for Glory is the kind of book from which great sports movies are made. It has everything a true sports fan or just a lover of a good story wants, from a compelling plot to engaging characters, a mix of story, lots of action and a healthy dose of humor. And it’s launched just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Rose Bowl game played by Washington State College against Brown University in 1916.

Since author Darin Watkins is an alumnus of what is now Washington State University, his focus, of course, is on the Washington team, and he begins the story by describing a young school struggling for survival against its bigger rival, the University of Washington, which wanted to limit what its sister school could teach.

The first chapter describes a fascinating vintage football game from 1912 played at West Point, a game that would have among its players the Olympian Jim Thorpe and the future general and president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. One of the coaches in that game was “Pop” Warner, the man who coached William Dietz and recommended him as a coach to Washington State College when he was in desperate need of a good coach.

Washington State had a long history of losing its football games, but Coach Dietz quickly turned it around. I’ll leave it to readers to explore his methods for themselves, but I will say that he was very innovative. Most notably, he was a Native American at a time when racism was rampant. In 1915, when he became coach of the Washington State Cougars, only twenty-five years had passed since the massacre at Wounded Knee. But it wasn’t long before Dietz gained the trust of his players and led them to believe that they could succeed not only as a team but as a powerful rival to other teams throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The events that follow are like a continuous cinematic montage of one successive victory after another, and yet Watkins takes the time to describe each game and each important play, and brings these historical people to life, investing feelings and emotions in them, making this book read like good historical fiction, but it is full of facts. Each of the players becomes an individual to us, and we get to know them both on and off the football field, including, in some cases, which ladies they dated. The amount of research Watkins did to put all these pieces together and gain insight into his characters is astounding, and he documents it all, yet the book reads smoothly as a novel rather than a story.

As the Cougars rack up win after win, they begin to gain national attention, and before long, they are invited to participate in the first ever Rose Bowl Tournament. Of course, the Rose Bowl is a big deal today, but in 1915 no one was sure it would succeed. Watkins describes the committee’s struggles to gain attention and sell tickets, the first Tournament of Roses parade, the publicity, and the overall results that transformed the tournament into an American institution.

One fascinating aspect of the Rose Bowl was that the Cougars, since they were going to Pasadena anyway, were invited to be in a Hollywood movie, Tom Brown Goes to Harvard, as part of a popular series of silent movies of the day, which included a soccer ball. match. Watkins’ presentation of this look at the early films is fascinating and funny.

And then it goes to the Rose Bowl. Watkins fills us in on every play, every cheer, every concern, and finally the big win. Through the written word, Watkins provides a highly visual story of an event that would make history.

Few American stories about overcoming adversity are as exciting and enjoyable to read as Chance for Glory. Watkins’s ability to bring history to life places this book alongside other great examples of storytelling like Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and his triumphant message is worthy of a movie. from Disney to feel good.

How wonderful that Watkins scheduled this book to appear at the Rose Bowl Centennial. The efforts of the Washington State Cougars breathe new life and meaning into football by reminding us that anyone with a little courage and a dream can succeed, whether in sports or anything else.