James Franklin Post-Rose Bowl Interview
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - It"s the only time the Rose Bowl was not played in Pasadena. Monday is the 75th anniversary of that game, and the lone survivor from both teams that played in it lives in Louisville.
Jim Smith was a member of the 1941 Duke football team. After finishing the regular season undefeated, they knew they were likely to get a bowl bid.
"We continued practice and continued having our meetings with the coaches and so forth and one of these meetings in the early part of December when they told us we had the opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl," he said.
In just a few short days, that opportunity would be threatened by the date that will live in infamy.
"And it came over the radio and the loudspeakers and everything else that the United States had been attacked at Pearl Harbor."
A week later, the leader of the Western Defense Command, Gen. John DeWitt, recommended that the Tournament of Roses committee cancel the parade and the game. They did the next day, concerned about a Japanese attack on the West Coast. But Duke"s legendary coach, Wallace Wade, had an alternate plan.
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"Monday, or Tuesday of the next week where we had a team meeting where we found out that things had been in the works to bring the rose Bowl out to Durham," Smith said.
Smith said the team was disappointed not to be making the trip to California. "That"s what we were looking forward to, the nice weather," he said.
Duke would play the Oregon State Beavers, who endured a cross-country train ride with practice stops in Chicago and Washington. When they arrived in Durham on Christmas Eve, Smith and his teammates were ready. But Mother Nature wasn"t.
"it was a downpour, really bad," he said. "As we came out of the dressing room it said, "G*d, we should"ve worn boots."
The heavily favored Blue Devils lost 20-16. In the months and years that followed, football, and the country, were changed forever. But, Smith says everyone involved was glad they played.
"I think it showed the world that we weren"t laying down, we weren"t ready to be moved away or anything of the sort, we were there, we were going to stay there, and we were going to fight for our rights and our country."
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Source: http://www.wave3.com/story/34168008/75-years-later-former-player-remembers-rose-bowl-moved-by-pearl-harbor-attack
