University of Georgia Athletics
A Special Return To Pasadena
December 31, 2017 | Football, The Frierson Files
b>By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — When the Georgia Bulldogs arrived here 75 years ago for the 1943 Rose Bowl, after a long cross-country journey by train, they weren't greeted by the Hollywood sign that we all know today. Back then the sign still read "HOLLYWOODLAND" just as it did when it went up in 1923.
But that world-famous sign is the least of the differences between the Bulldogs' original appearance in the Rose Bowl and No. 3 Georgia's appearance this time around, in the College Football Playoff.
The 2017 Bulldogs traveled out here by plane on Dec. 26, in first-class accommodations so comfy that even a large man like senior defensive lineman John Atkins — listed at 6-foot-4, 305 pounds — could recline and relax on the flight.
"We came down here in style," Atkins said this week.
Speaking of style, the Bulldogs in 1943 took the field in Pasadena against UCLA wearing red jerseys, silver britches and silver helmets. It wasn't the prettiest game ever played, scoreless going into the fourth quarter. In the final period the Bulldogs' Willard "Red" Boyd blocked a punt through the back of the end zone for a safety and later Frank Sinkwich scored on a 1-yard run for the 9-0 victory.
Sinkwich was the Heisman Trophy winner that season, the first from the SEC, and played that day on two injured ankles. There was no MVP award handed out after the game, but in 1953 the Rose Bowl started naming a Player of the Game and Charley Trippi, who ran for 130 yards that day, received the honor retroactively.
Sinkwich and Trippi were a very potent and productive backfield tandem, just like the Bulldogs currently have in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. And just like 75 years ago, there will be a Sinkwich in uniform for Monday's game.
Frank Sinkwich IV is a freshman walk-on fullback from Athens, who has helped Georgia prepare for No. 2 Oklahoma on the scout team. He never knew his great-grandfather, but he said Saturday he has the Bulldog legend's "NFL contract and a bunch of pictures of him and stuff like that."
When it was announced that Georgia and Oklahoma would meet in the Rose Bowl, the youngest Frank Sinkwich and his dad couldn't believe it. Really, what were the odds that when Georgia returned to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 75 years, another Sinkwich would be on the roster?
"We only dreamed about this, honestly, because I remember a few years ago when the Rose Bowl was introduced in the playoff and we realized it could be easier for an SEC team to show up," Frank Sinkwich IV said. "My dad was like, if Georgia ever goes, the whole family's going to fly out there and we're all going to go to the game. But now, I'm already here."
Fourteen members of the Sinkwich family will be in attendance Monday, "aunts, uncles, grandparents, everything," part of what is expected to be a massive Bulldog turnout for the biggest game Georgia's played in many, many years.
Part of the experience for the first Bulldogs to play out here was the chance to meet with some of the leading actors of the time, like Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy and Susan Hayward, a beauty that was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning in 1958. There's a great photo in the University of Georgia archives in the Russell Special Collections Library showing several players getting her autograph, all of them looking like they're suddenly in love.
The current Bulldogs experienced a different side of show business, going to an improv comedy show. Before the professionals took the stage several players gave it a shot, including Richard LeCounte, Dominick Sanders and Trenton Thompson.
The funniest? According to Atkins and senior linebacker Lorenzo Carter, LeCounte was the standout comedian.
It was a different time back in 1943, despite the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. It was a little more than a year after the U.S. suffered the attack on Pearl Harbor, declared war on Japan and joined in the fighting in World War II.
The game program, which Georgia also has in its archives, cost 25 cents. In it are the team rosters, photos and even three ads for cigarette companies.
More sobering is a section on page 28, which outlines, on the advice of the Western Defense Command and civilian defense authorities, what those in attendance should do in the event "an air raid alarm (red signal)" sounds during the game.
If the alarm sounded, the game would be halted for three minutes "to permit air wardens and others whose duties require them to be elsewhere to leave the stadium. Play would then be resumed." The notice also stated that "the red signal does not necessarily mean that enemy planes are overhead."
It might have been hard to focus on the game after reading that.
Among the Bulldogs in action that day, just barely, was tackle Bobby Poss. His son, Bobby Poss, Jr. (1969-71), also played for the Bulldogs.
The younger Poss has told the story of his father's appearance in the Rose Bowl often. Young Bobby has the gift of gab as good as anyone ever — he's the one calling the action from the field during the annual alumni flag-football game on G-Day — and the story about his dad he relates may be apocryphal at this point, but it's a good one.
With Georgia leading 9-0 in the closing seconds of the game, Poss, Sr. was about to enter the game for the first time:
"The official was getting ready to fire the pistol at the end of the game and my daddy says, 'Please, I want to be able to tell my family that I played in the Rose Bowl.' The man lowered the pistol and my daddy got to play in the Rose Bowl.
"He told people about that for the rest of his life."
Win or lose Monday, the current Bulldogs will also be able to share the stories of their Rose Bowl experience for the rest of the lives.
"Between Disneyland and just being able to Uber around and check out all the different things, like Hollywood and Beverly Hills and all that kind of stuff, just knocking off bucket-list things, I think that's been the coolest part," senior tight end Jeb Blazevich said.
Even cooler would be a great win over a super Sooners squad and the chance to play for a national championship on Jan. 8, close to home at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Talk about a Hollywood ending.
UGAAA Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — When the Georgia Bulldogs arrived here 75 years ago for the 1943 Rose Bowl, after a long cross-country journey by train, they weren't greeted by the Hollywood sign that we all know today. Back then the sign still read "HOLLYWOODLAND" just as it did when it went up in 1923.
But that world-famous sign is the least of the differences between the Bulldogs' original appearance in the Rose Bowl and No. 3 Georgia's appearance this time around, in the College Football Playoff.
The 2017 Bulldogs traveled out here by plane on Dec. 26, in first-class accommodations so comfy that even a large man like senior defensive lineman John Atkins — listed at 6-foot-4, 305 pounds — could recline and relax on the flight.
"We came down here in style," Atkins said this week.
Speaking of style, the Bulldogs in 1943 took the field in Pasadena against UCLA wearing red jerseys, silver britches and silver helmets. It wasn't the prettiest game ever played, scoreless going into the fourth quarter. In the final period the Bulldogs' Willard "Red" Boyd blocked a punt through the back of the end zone for a safety and later Frank Sinkwich scored on a 1-yard run for the 9-0 victory.
Sinkwich was the Heisman Trophy winner that season, the first from the SEC, and played that day on two injured ankles. There was no MVP award handed out after the game, but in 1953 the Rose Bowl started naming a Player of the Game and Charley Trippi, who ran for 130 yards that day, received the honor retroactively.
Sinkwich and Trippi were a very potent and productive backfield tandem, just like the Bulldogs currently have in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. And just like 75 years ago, there will be a Sinkwich in uniform for Monday's game.
Frank Sinkwich IV is a freshman walk-on fullback from Athens, who has helped Georgia prepare for No. 2 Oklahoma on the scout team. He never knew his great-grandfather, but he said Saturday he has the Bulldog legend's "NFL contract and a bunch of pictures of him and stuff like that."
When it was announced that Georgia and Oklahoma would meet in the Rose Bowl, the youngest Frank Sinkwich and his dad couldn't believe it. Really, what were the odds that when Georgia returned to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 75 years, another Sinkwich would be on the roster?
"We only dreamed about this, honestly, because I remember a few years ago when the Rose Bowl was introduced in the playoff and we realized it could be easier for an SEC team to show up," Frank Sinkwich IV said. "My dad was like, if Georgia ever goes, the whole family's going to fly out there and we're all going to go to the game. But now, I'm already here."
Fourteen members of the Sinkwich family will be in attendance Monday, "aunts, uncles, grandparents, everything," part of what is expected to be a massive Bulldog turnout for the biggest game Georgia's played in many, many years.
Part of the experience for the first Bulldogs to play out here was the chance to meet with some of the leading actors of the time, like Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy and Susan Hayward, a beauty that was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning in 1958. There's a great photo in the University of Georgia archives in the Russell Special Collections Library showing several players getting her autograph, all of them looking like they're suddenly in love.
The current Bulldogs experienced a different side of show business, going to an improv comedy show. Before the professionals took the stage several players gave it a shot, including Richard LeCounte, Dominick Sanders and Trenton Thompson.
The funniest? According to Atkins and senior linebacker Lorenzo Carter, LeCounte was the standout comedian.
It was a different time back in 1943, despite the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. It was a little more than a year after the U.S. suffered the attack on Pearl Harbor, declared war on Japan and joined in the fighting in World War II.
The game program, which Georgia also has in its archives, cost 25 cents. In it are the team rosters, photos and even three ads for cigarette companies.
More sobering is a section on page 28, which outlines, on the advice of the Western Defense Command and civilian defense authorities, what those in attendance should do in the event "an air raid alarm (red signal)" sounds during the game.
If the alarm sounded, the game would be halted for three minutes "to permit air wardens and others whose duties require them to be elsewhere to leave the stadium. Play would then be resumed." The notice also stated that "the red signal does not necessarily mean that enemy planes are overhead."
It might have been hard to focus on the game after reading that.
Among the Bulldogs in action that day, just barely, was tackle Bobby Poss. His son, Bobby Poss, Jr. (1969-71), also played for the Bulldogs.
The younger Poss has told the story of his father's appearance in the Rose Bowl often. Young Bobby has the gift of gab as good as anyone ever — he's the one calling the action from the field during the annual alumni flag-football game on G-Day — and the story about his dad he relates may be apocryphal at this point, but it's a good one.
With Georgia leading 9-0 in the closing seconds of the game, Poss, Sr. was about to enter the game for the first time:
"The official was getting ready to fire the pistol at the end of the game and my daddy says, 'Please, I want to be able to tell my family that I played in the Rose Bowl.' The man lowered the pistol and my daddy got to play in the Rose Bowl.
"He told people about that for the rest of his life."
Win or lose Monday, the current Bulldogs will also be able to share the stories of their Rose Bowl experience for the rest of the lives.
"Between Disneyland and just being able to Uber around and check out all the different things, like Hollywood and Beverly Hills and all that kind of stuff, just knocking off bucket-list things, I think that's been the coolest part," senior tight end Jeb Blazevich said.
Even cooler would be a great win over a super Sooners squad and the chance to play for a national championship on Jan. 8, close to home at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Talk about a Hollywood ending.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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