LORAN SMITH: The Bulldogs return to Pasadena, part 1

This is the first of two columns by Loran Smith on the Georgia Bulldogs’ history with the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl came about to attract visitors to California, principally for real estate opportunity, after the turn of the 20th century and became a model that other cities would follow. Miami (Orange), New Orleans (Sugar), Dallas (Cotton), Jacksonville (Gator) and even El Paso (Sun) all eventually got in on the act.

Some football enthusiasts tend to forget that the second-oldest bowl is the Sun Bowl, which got underway on Jan. 1, 1935, 33 years after the Rose Bowl was first played in 1902.

Very few of today’s Georgia season ticket holders were born when the Bulldogs played in Pasadena 75 years ago, a time when the world was at war and gas rationing was a serious issue for travelers. The players in the ’43 Rose Bowl would return to their respective campuses and embark on military assignments. Some of them never came home.

To put things in perspective, otherwise, the Rose Bowl became a morale boost for the little town of Athens, which then had a population of 20,650, and UGA, with its student body of 3,150. Earning an invitation to the Rose Bowl was the objective of teams throughout college football in those years. Alabama was the first Southern school to be favored with an invitation in 1926.

Georgia Tech got to Pasadena in 1929, which was frustrating, but to make matters worse, Tech had knocked Georgia out of an invitation just two years before. The undefeated Bulldogs, playing at Grant Field every year for the larger gate, were upset 12-0 on Dec. 3, 1927, owing to heavy rains and the partisan suspicion that Tech, nonetheless, added water to the playing surface, ensuring a quagmire for Georgia’s stable of fast, but lightweight backs. (Still, Georgia managed to win the national championship that year.)

There would be a wait of 14 years before the Bulldogs could experience another opportunity to exclaim, “California, here we come.” It came about after Pearl Harbor, and while men were dying and sacrifices were being made across the globe, the mood in Athens and Los Angeles had a celebratory edge. The year before, to bring the war into perspective, the Rose Bowl was moved to Durham, N.C., for fear of a West Coast invasion by Japanese forces. On Jan. 1, 1942, Oregon State defeated the host Blue Devils, 20-16.

It’s not clear how many living Georgians were in attendance at the 1943 Rose Bowl, but there are at least three: Charley Trippi, the star of the game; E.W. Daniel of Claxton; and Frank Troutman, who grew up in Atlanta and became a resident of Augusta before moving back to his family home in Buckhead. Frank was eight years old when his father, Frank Sr., a trademark lawyer for Coca-Cola, took his son and wife, Mary, to the West Coast for the big game.

It was the trip of a lifetime at one of the critical turning points in U.S. history. The team traveled to California via Chicago, a fun and frolic adventure that was as memorable as driving the family car on your first date.

The sidebars and stories that have been handed down are now made fuzzy by the scarcity of reference for fact-checking. One popular tale had to do with actress Rita Hayworth boarding the train in Chicago. Word soon reached the players that the nation’s most recognizable beauties might be traveling west with them.

George Poschner, a high school cheerleader and friend of the team’s big star, Frank Sinkwich, had gotten a contingent offer by the coaching staff: make the team and you’re on scholarship. These were post-Depression times, and America was still the land of opportunity. That was all Poschner needed. Three square meals for this growing boy, and he was soon a man. He would become a battery mate with Sinkwich and earned All-America honors at end in 1942.

Poschner was bold and audacious, so on the train ride from Chicago to Pasadena, the aforementioned Hayworth, Ginger Rogers and Spencer Tracy were also passengers. Poschner found the movie star’s compartment, knocked on her door and introduced himself. According to legend, she screamed, and Poschner stealthily became incognito.

One of those making the trip was Athens photographer Kenny Kaye, who brought an 8mm movie camera along. Old scenes of the trip, one in particular at dusk, showed a touching interlude between Sinkwich, the Heisman Trophy winner, and his young wife, Adelaide. When I learned about Kaye’s handiwork in the 1970s, as I recall, I interviewed him about the trip and got copies made of his Rose Bowl movies for the UGA archives. You can go online and see this treasured old footage of movie personalities of Hayworth, Rogers and Tracy, as well as Susan Hayward, Bob Hope and others.

For years, I interviewed Georgia’s Rose Bowl participants about the trip, which was revealing and fascinating. One particular story had to do with Bob Poss, the longtime barbecue and hash entrepreneur who played guard on the team. “Possey,” as he was nicknamed, was a colorful and clever character, fun loving and mischievous. In defining the greatness of that team, Possey always said, “I was third team and I was good.” More Possey: “Whenever we played poker on the train, I made sure Sinkwich was in the game. I knew Coach Butts wouldn’t kick me off the team if Sinkwich was playing, since he sure as hell wasn’t going to kick Frankie off.”

As the game wound down in the final quarter, the coaches sent the court-jester reserve onto the field. Poss recalled that he saw the referee looking at his watch with his arm raised in the air, ready to fire the final gun. “Hey, ref,” Poss yelled. “Don’t fire that damn gun yet. I’m gonna play in the Rose Bowl.”

PART 2 will appear Wednesday.