RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

34 Years Ago


By RON MALY

It was 34 years ago today--Dec. 19, 1981--that I flew to California to cover Iowa's Jan. 1, 1982 Rose Bowl football game against Washington.


It doesn't seem like yesterday, but it doesn't seem like it was 34 years ago that coach Hayden Fry and his Hawkeyes were preparing for Iowa's first Rose Bowl game since Forest Evashevski's fantastic 1958 squad thrashed California, 38-12, at Pasadena.

How time flies, especially when a guy is having fun.

I was the first of three Des Moines Register sportswriters to make the trip to Pasadena for the 1982 Rose Bowl.

Buck Turnbull and Maury White followed me to California after Christmas.

I went to Pasadena on Dec. 19 because that's when Fry and his Hawkeyes made the trip.


I flew from Des Moines to the Los Angeles International Airport and met them at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana/Orange County. That's where the Hawkeye charter plane landed.

Fry held a press conference at the airport, and it was one of many sessions ol' Hayden had with reporters.

He didn't meet a microphone or a tape recorder he didn't like on that trip.

He was proud to take the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl, and the Rose Bowl was happy to have him.

Fry's 1981 team had an 8-3 regular-season record and won the Big Ten championship, climaxing a season that ended a horrible run of 19 consecutive non-winning years of Hawkeye football.

Fry and his players enjoyed themselves in the days leading up to the Rose Bowl.

They did it all--going to all of the places the Big Ten's representative in the Rose Bowl were supposed to go, such as Disneyland, the beaches, the movie studios in Hollywood, the Beef Bowl at Lawry's Restaurant.

I followed right along, covering the coaches and the players at most of the places they went.

We all had a great time.

Until game day.

As Fry says, Iowa didn't fire a shot.

In other words, the Hawkeyes didn't score a point.

Sadly, they were outplayed and outcoached.

It was Washington 28, Iowa 0.

The next day, it was back to the cold and snow of our state.

Back to reality.