10 minutes of exuberant bedlam follow Illini win
Thursday January 2, 1964
PASADENA, Calif. &mdash Exuberant Illinois fans leaped into the air, jumped into each other's arms and rushed the goal posts here. Wednesday after their Fighting Illini roared back in the second half to capture the Rose Bowl Classic.
Bedlam reigned for nearly 10 minutes after gun sounded the end of Illinois' third Rose Bowl victory.
A wave of fans flooded onto the field, trailing pennants and banners as they rushed for the joyful Illinois team Team members get spontaneous kisses from co-eds; Coach Pete Elliott narrowly escaped being overturned by the mob of delirious Illini, and squads of policemen were simply overrun by goal-post minded celebrants.
The post-game celebration actually began nearly a minute before the game officially ended. Inspired by members of the Illinois marching band, which was getting in position on the sidelines for a victory concert, hundreds of fans began edging toward the field.
With 30 seconds left on the clock the Illinois cheering section was all but empty. The crowd actually overran the north end-zone for a time but were shooed back by California State Policemen.
Then the fans set up a chant:
"Goal posts. Goal posts."
The troopers faced them sternly except for one officer with a sense of humor. As the Illini, now numbering more than a thousand began approaching the goal posts, the policeman turned and began to count the handful of his fellows with a smile on his face.
The police were outnumbered 100-to-1, and the goal posts fell. Dozens of fans will bring souvenirs home (including one co-ed whose souvnir splinter is in her thumb.)
The Illini victory came on a bright, sunny day which, if anything, was a bit too warm. Temperture on the playing field at kickoff was 85 degrees.
New Year's Day, which ended in victory, began on a dreary note at 6:30 a.m. for most of the students here.
Their chartered buses were scheduled to leave from the Biltmore Hotel at 6:30 a.m. and for many of the undergraduate Illini the hour of rising came all too soon after the completion of New Year's Eve festivities. Illinois fans, confident of victory, had marched through Los Angeles street at a few minutes past midnight, chanting: "Illini, Illini" at the top of their lungs and drawing friendly attention from holiday celebrants.
The students and other fans began pouring into Pasadena by the thousands around 9 a.m. and most were in their grandstand seats in time for the opening of the spectacular Tournament of Roses
After box lunches, the fans began filling the enormous Rose Bowl. Vendors did a land-office business in pennants and Illini hats, and soon the giant arena was sprinkled with the familiar colors orange and blue.
When the team raced onto the field for the start of the game the Marching Illini were in their familiar funnel-shaped lane to welcome the players.
Then the band marched to the sidelines — where, unfortunately about two dozen of the 175 members could not find seats.
There was a card section of sorts &mdash in the Washington cheering section, but the Huskie card-holders could take lessons from Illinois' original block I. The Washington card stunts were sometimes ragged and uncoordinated, with wrong-colored cards frequently flipping up.
Guests of honor at Wednesday's contest were former President and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike was a grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses in the morning.
The former chief executive's visit recalled Illinois' 1951 Rose Bowl appearance. At that time, much of the nation's attention was centered around the move to draft Eisenhower for the Republican nomination.
Among the waves of fans pouring onto the field after the game were two students who bore an enormous banner reading: "Northern Illinois University." They were apparently trying to get their school's name on network television and capture some of the University of Illinois glory.
Bumper stickers and buttons from the University of Washington all read: "Mush, you Huskies."
At least, they all did until an Illni fan with an artist's flair doctored one of the big signs outside the Rose Bowl.
When fans left after the game, the sign read:
"Hush, you Muskies."
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