Top 50 Cal Sports Moments -- No. 34: Rosy Fumble, 1938

Cal dominated the 1938 Rose Bowl, but it took a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter to nail down the win over Alabama

As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to a close after more than a century, we count down the Top 50 moments involving Cal athletics.

THE MOMENT: Late in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl game played on Saturday, January 1, 1938, in front of a record crowd of 90,000, Cal held a 13-0 lead on Alabama. But the Tide was threatening to get back in the game, having possession at the Cal 4-yard line.  On the defining play Alabama’s Herschel Moseley was hit hard by Cal’s Vic Bottari and Dave Anderson, causing a fumble that was recovered by the Bears’ Bob Herwig at the 2-yard line. That moment clinched the Rose Bowl victory for the Bears, who have not won a Rose Bowl since.

THE STORY: Cal was coming off a mediocre 6-5 season in 1938, when the Bears went 9-0-1 under head coach Stub Allison in the 1937 regular season. Do-it-all backs Vic Bottari and Sam Chapman were the stars of this Golden Bears squad, which was ranked No. 2 in the country in the final AP poll on November 29, behind No. 1 Pittsburgh.

Pitt was invited to the Rose Bowl to face Cal, but the Panthers players voted not to play in any bowl game that year after claiming grievances from the previous postseason, when the Panthers beat Washington 21-0 in the 1937 Rose Bowl. Their demands for the 1938 Rose Bowl reportedly included a cash bonus and vacation time, but those demands were not met and players refused to play.

So Alabama, which was 9-0 and ranked No. 4, was chosen as Cal’s Rose Bowl opponent instead.

Cal controlled the game against the Tide, with Bottari rushing for 146 yards and both touchdowns. Famed sports writer Grantland Rice covered the game and referred to Bottari in his game story as “the California eel.” He also said the passing was “poor.” Cal was 2-for-9 in passing with four interceptions, and Alabama was 5-for-21 with three interceptions.  The Tide also fumbled five times, all of which were recovered by Cal.

However, the Tide still had a chance to steal the game when it pushed deep into Cal territory in the fourth quarter trailing 13-0. That’s when the fifth and final Tide fumble ended Alabama’s hopes as Moseley, starting from the Cal 4-yard line, coughed up the ball as a result of the combined big hits of Bottari and Anderson. When Herwig recovered at the 2-yard line, Cal was assured of victory.

The headline on the front page of the January 2 San Francisco Chronicle read in huge capital letters “BEARS WHIP TIDE 13-0.” The secondary story on the front page dealt with Franklin Roosevelt’s plans for his State of the Union address.

The Chronicle opened its report of the game with this particularly long sentence: “With a display of precision that amazed 90,000 cheering observers and utterly confounded one of the toughest teams that ever came out of the South, California twice sent the great Victor Bottari slashing into the end zone for two touchdowns and one of the most decisive victories the West has scored in the history of the Rose Bowl competition.”

The final score of 13-0 was noted in the next paragraph.

The Oakland Tribune wrote, “It was a slaughter. Alabama was not merely beaten but humiliated.”

Cal has played in four Rose Bowls since its 1938 victory, but lost all four.

* Top 50 Moment No. 35: Working Overtime, 1977

* Top 50 Moment No. 36: Forfeit Email, 2001

Only specific acts that occurred while the team or athlete was at Cal were considered for the Top 50 list, and accomplishments spanning a season or a career were not included. 

Leslie Mitchell of the Cal Bears History Twitter site aided in the selection of the top 50 moments.