Cal dominated the 1938 Rose Bowl, but it took a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter to nail down the win over Alabama
As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to a close after more than a century, we count down the Top 50 moments involving Cal athletics.Late in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl game played on Saturday, January 1, 1938, in front of a record crowd of 90,000, Cal held a 13-0 lead on Alabama. But the Tide was threatening to get back in the game, having possession at the Cal 4-yard line.
Pitt was invited to the Rose Bowl to face Cal, but the Panthers players voted not to play in any bowl game that year after claiming grievances from the previous postseason, when the Panthers beat Washington 21-0 in the 1937 Rose Bowl. Their demands for the 1938 Rose Bowl reportedly included a cash bonus and vacation time, but those demands were not met and players refused to play.Cal controlled the game against the Tide, with Bottari rushing for 146 yards and both touchdowns.
However, the Tide still had a chance to steal the game when it pushed deep into Cal territory in the fourth quarter trailing 13-0. That’s when the fifth and final Tide fumble ended Alabama’s hopes as Moseley, starting from the Cal 4-yard line, coughed up the ball as a result of the combined big hits of Bottari and Anderson. When Herwig recovered at the 2-yard line, Cal was assured of victory.
The headline on the front page of the January 2 San Francisco Chronicle read in huge capital letters “BEARS WHIP TIDE 13-0.” The secondary story on the front page dealt with Franklin Roosevelt’s plans for his State of the Union address. The Chronicle opened its report of the game with this particularly long sentence: “With a display of precision that amazed 90,000 cheering observers and utterly confounded one of the toughest teams that ever came out of the South, California twice sent the great Victor Bottari slashing into the end zone for two touchdowns and one of the most decisive victories the West has scored in the history of the Rose Bowl competition.”The Oakland Tribune wrote, “It was a slaughter.
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