1956 Rose Bowl
The 1956 Rose Bowl was the 42nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 2. The Michigan State Spartans of the Big Ten Conference defeated the UCLA Bruins of the Pacific Coast Conference, 17–14. Michigan State halfback Walt Kowalczyk was named the Player of the Game.
| 1956 Rose Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 42nd Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1956 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1955 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Rose Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Walt Kowalczyk (Michigan State HB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Michigan State by 7 points | ||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | UCLA Band and Michigan State Marching Band combined | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Ross Dean (Big Ten; split crew: Big Ten, AAWU) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | UCLA Band, Michigan State Marching Band | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 100,809 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mel Allen, Sam Balter | ||||||||||||||||||||
The game featured two of the most racially integrated college football teams of the day, with six African American players for the Bruins and seven for the Spartans. This stood in stark contrast to the Sugar Bowl, where there was controversy over whether Bobby Grier from Pitt should be allowed to play and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all, due to Georgia governor Marvin Griffin's opposition to integration. Only one month previous, Rosa Parks made her famous protest in the Montgomery bus boycott. The 1956 Rose Bowl has the highest TV rating of all college bowl games, watched by 41.1% of all people in the US with TV sets.
As New Year's Day fell on a Sunday in 1956, the bowl games were played the following day.