Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 50 years ago

Stirring emotions swept the state on Jan. 2, 1961, captured by The Spokesman-Review’s longtime sports columnist Harry Missildine:

“The big bowl in the Arroyo Seco is empty. The gloom and wisps of smog have the San Gabriel Mountains silhouetted in an almost midnight blue. Sounds like a gloomy scene. Not so. It is a most joyous one for a football writer from the state of Washington who sits and reflects briefly on what he watched this fine, warm day.”

The Washington Huskies had defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 17-7, in the Rose Bowl.

This was an especially sweet victory for Washington, because the Rose Bowl had not exactly been a happy place for West Coast teams. The Big Ten team had won 12 of the previous 15 Rose Bowls. Of the three West Coast victories, Washington now had two. And Minnesota came into the game ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“It should give Northwest football fans a genuine feeling of pride,” said Missildine.

Was the Rose Bowl a big deal in those days? Oh, yeah. The game drew a crowd of 97,314 and the Rose Parade drew a mind-boggling 1.7 million.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1900: Secretary of State John Hay announced the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China.