Rose Bowl memories: How Alabama built its football tradition in Pasadena
The University of Alabama's association with the Rose Bowl dates back nearly 100 years and another chapter in that association will soon been written.
More: The Bear's Hollywood tale
A reference to the Pasadena, California, bowl pops up in "Yea Alabama!," UA's fight song, and the Tide will return to the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 to face the University of Michigan Wolverines in the College Football Playoff semifinal game. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. with ESPN televising.
Here's a look at UA's Rose Bowl ties:
Why should Alabama fans 'Remember the Rose Bowl'?
UA's win over the University of Washington Huskies in the 1926 Rose Bowl was a watershed moment for football in the South.
At the time, the best college teams were in the North and the West, so Alabama was given little chance to win.
After winning the Rose Bowl 20-19, the Crimson Tide team was met by cheering crowds all along the train route home from California and received a champions’ welcome in Tuscaloosa.
The lyrics of "Yea Alabama!" call for all Alabama fans to always remember that Rose Bowl victory, which brought Southern football and the University of Alabama to national prominence.
UA went on to play in the Rose Bowl game in 1927, 1931, 1935, 1938 and 1946, but the following year the bowl became a matchup between the champions of the Pac 10 and Big Ten conferences.
In 2000, UA played its regular season opener at the Rose Bowl against UCLA.
Nick Saban won his first title at UA in the Bowl Championship Series game played at the Rose Bowl after the 2009 season. After the 2020 season, UA played in the Rose Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the game was played in Arlington, Texas.
Who wrote Alabama's fight song?
After UA's football team won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship in 1925, the Crimson White, the school's newspaper, began advocating for a fight song.
UA had a cheerleading squad and a Million Dollar Band, but the school was still missing a fight song.
“Along with a championship team we should have a championship song," the Crimson White wrote. "… We want a new song and we want it now!”
In October 1925, the campus humor magazine, Rammer Jammer, offered $50 for anyone who could write the best fight song.
The desire for a fight song became “a mania” after UA won its first national championship on Jan. 1, 1926, in the Rose Bowl, according to author David Battles, who wrote a book about "Yea, Alabama!"
Ethelred “Epp” Sykes, the Crimson White editor who had written the editorials urging for a fight song, won the contest by writing the lyrics to "Yea Alabama!" Sykes donated his prize money to pay for a musical arrangement to be written so the Million Dollar Band could play the new fight song.
What are the lyrics to Alabama's fight song?
Yea, Alabama! Drown ’em Tide!
Every ‘Bama man’s behind you,
Hit your stride.
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave.
And if a man starts to weaken,
That’s a shame!
For Bama’s pluck and grit have
Writ her name in Crimson flame.
Fight on, fight on, fight on men!
Remember the Rose Bowl, we’ll win then.
Go, roll to victory,
Hit your stride,
You’re Dixie’s football pride,
Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, Roll Tide!!
Reach Ken Roberts at ken.roberts@tuscaloosanews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: How the Rose Bowl helped Alabama build its football legacy
