Who Started the College Football Bowl System?

College football fans hate James Wagner and they don't even know it. In 1901 Wagner was just starting a new job as the head of a fledgling organization that was quickly losing interest in its annual festival around the New Year Holiday. Wagner suggested that the group offer to stage a football game and pay each of the participants $3,500 to take part. When California declined an invitation to play in the game, Stanford University stepped up and accepted a challenge to play Michigan in the game. Stanford should have stayed home.

Michigan rolled Stanford that day 49-0 in front of 8,000 fans in Pasadena's Tournament Park. The Organization Wagner was a part of made a good deal of money, but felt that fans wouldn't return in 1903 to watch another. The group staged Chariot Races instead and realized 12 years later that they were wrong. The game returned in 1916 and gave birth to the only sport that doesn't end the season with a playoff. The game is now referred to as the "Grand Daddy of them all", the Rose Bowl.

That initial game in 1902 featured one of the classic characters in the history of college football, Fielding "Hurry Up" Yost. His nickname was spawned from the fact he was always looking to move a little faster. On the field, off the field, or wherever he went. Richard Whittingham gives a great description of Yost in his book, Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football. Whittingham tells us that Yost's team outscored their opponents in 1901-02, 501-0, influencing California to decline to play Michigan in this first bowl game. However, it didn't take long for Stanford Head Coach C.M. Fickert to realize his mistake in accepting the challenge.

"Yost's Wolverines responded immediately, all but destroying their opponents, ending the season with a crushing victory over Stanford on New Year's Day 1902 in what was the first Rose Bowl Game. When C.M. Fickert, the overwhelmed Stanford coach asked that the game be stopped. Yost replied, 'No sirree, let's get on with it.' But the Michigan captain finally agreed to end the rout with nearly 10 minutes left to play, the score standing at 49-0."

While Fielding Yost would never coach at Oklahoma or coach his Michigan boys against the Sooners, he would leave a rather large mark on the future of the University.

As 1902 pressed on the Oklahoma University Football team finally took the field on October 1st against the Guthrie Oklahoma Town Team and promptly trashed them 62-0. The Fred Roberts era had come and gone, but President Boyd and Professor Parrington had neglected to find a replacement and the team cruised through this game without a coach. Team Captain Bogle and Manager Tribbey would handle the practices and game situations. This setup worked well for the opening game, but turned disastrous the next week.

OU took a nightmare road trip to Texas, dropping two contests to the University of Texas 22-6 and the Dallas Athletic Club 11-6. Neither game seemed to be much of a battle, especially the game against the Longhorns. Oklahoma was lacking leadership and it showed against the Texas and Pacific Railroad team of Dallas. The team was completely baffled by some Dallas chicanery and despite their comeback efforts the loss was impossible to overcome.

After the game the interim leaders Bogle and Tribbey had a knock on their hotel door. Mike McMahon was a guard on the Dallas team that beat Oklahoma that day and he was looking for a job to repay his Law School debts to the University of Texas, where he played football. This fact alone would have been enough to get him the job as Texas was a powerhouse in this day, but Bogle and Tribbey had another stipulation. They made McMahon promise that if he got the job he would teach them the trickery he had used on them that day. He agreed and the rest was history.

McMahon was hired on the spot for the sum of $250 for the remainder of the season. This hiring was a great step forward for the program. Though Harts, Parrington, and Roberts knew about the field of play and had the passion for the game, McMahon was a CEO before his time. He followed closely the gate receipts and he was a true, tough leader. The new head man and some key players held a rally with students to create a new athletic fund based on partial returned fees from the library.

Sources

1. Oklahoma Kickoff by Harold Keith
2. The Daily Oklahoman Archives
3. Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football by Richard Whittingham