January 1, 1934, 90 years ago: The football team of Columbia University wins the Rose Bowl.
Stop laughing. It happened.
When the Ivy League was founded as an official college football league in 1954, its teams agreed not to participate in postseason play. That choice still stands. But before that, the teams were permitted to do so. This included the Rose Bowl. Brown played in it in 1916, and lost to Washington State. The University of Pennsylvania lost to Oregon in 1917. Harvard beat Oregon in 1920.
But then, it didn't happen again until the 1933 season. Coached by Lou Little, Columbia were 7-1, having beaten Lehigh, Virginia, Penn State, Navy, Lafayette and Syracuse at home at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan; and Cornell away. Their only loss had been 20-0, away to undefeated Princeton, coached by Fritz Crisler, who did not accept a bowl bid. (Crisler gave Princeton a "winged" design on their helmets, and took it with him to Michigan, who are now the first team fans think of when they think of the design.) The Rose Bowl not yet being automatic between the Champions of the league known today as the Pac-12 and the Champions of the Big 10, they were invited to play in it, and they accepted.
Stanford's teams were called the Indians until 1972, then the Cardinals until 1981, and finally just the Cardinal, after the shade of red they wore, rather than the bird known for the color. In 1933, they were 8-1-1: They beat San Jose State, UCLA, Santa Clara, the University of San Francisco, the Olympic Club of San Francisco, Montana and arch-rivals the University of California at home at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto; and USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum. They lost away to the University of Washington, and tied Northwestern away. Among their players was David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.
It had rained for 3 days before the New Year, and the field at the Rose Bowl stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California was described by a Columbia historian as a lake. Attendance was 35,000, the lowest at the game since 1920.
Stanford were heavily favored, having allowed just 5 touchdowns all season. And it rained again, so the field was even worse. The 1st quarter ended scoreless. Early in the 2nd quarter, Columbia quarterback Cliff Montgomery called a trick play: He handed off to Al Barabas, and faked a handoff to Ed Brominski, and he and Barabas ran in opposite directions. The Indians were fooled, going after Brominski, while Barabas ran 83 yards for a touchdown.
That was the game, right there: The muddy field prevented Stanford from getting anything going, and the 7-0 lead held. Columbia had pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, and became the last Ivy League team, and the last college football team from New York City, to win a bowl game.
Whether this remains the greatest win in Columbia history is debatable: On October 25, 1947, they dealt Army their 1st loss in 4 years, in a game known as the Miracle of Morningside Heights.
It would take until the next year for the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl to be first played, and 2 more years for the Cotton Bowl.