1961 Rose Bowl The 1961 Rose Bowl game , played on Monday , January 2 , 1961 , was the 47th Rose Bowl game . The # 6 Washington Huskies defeated the top - ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers , 17 – 7 . Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt was named the Player Of The Game . The game was played on Monday , January 2 since New Year ' s Day 1961 fell on a Sunday . This was the first season of the new agreement with the AAWU to send their champion ; its predecessor , the Pacific Coast Conference ( PCC ) , had dissolved after the 1958 season . The Big Ten was no longer in a formal agreement with the Rose Bowl following the demise of the PCC : Big Ten champion Minnesota received and accepted an " at - large " invitation . The Great Rose Bowl Hoax occurred during halftime . As seen by an estimated 30 million television viewers , students from nearby Caltech altered the plans for the Washington card stunts , which spelled " CALTECH " instead of " HUSKIES " and showed the Caltech Beaver mascot instead of the Washington Husky . Teams . The Pacific Coast Conference ( PCC ) , from which the " West " representative was historically selected , dissolved in early 1959 following a pay - for - play scandal . A new conference , the AAWU , commonly referred to as the " Big Five " , formed in 1959 with the four California schools ( Cal , Stanford , USC , and UCLA ) and Washington . For scheduling , former PCC members Oregon , Oregon State , and Washington State dropped UCLA and USC , with the exception of Oregon State at USC . Idaho , who was not part of the scandal but had become uncompetitive , was dropped from the schedules of all the AAWU members . The PCC agreement with the Rose bowl was dissolved for the 1959 season , but former member Washington was invited , playing in the 1960 Rose Bowl . For the 1960 season , the AAWU contracted a new agreement which went into effect with this game . The Big Ten agreement also was dissolved , but the Big Ten had authorized its members to accept Rose Bowl invitations at their discretion . A new agreement with the Big Ten would not be reached until 1962 , which became effective with the 1963 Rose Bowl . 1960 Washington Huskies . The 1960 Huskies defeated the College of the Pacific 55 – 6 and former PCC member 23 – 0 to open the season . Washington lost 15 – 14 to Navy at Husky Stadium , ending a seven game winning streak . The Midshipmen finished the regular season at 8 – 1 , but lost to Missouri in the 1961 Orange Bowl . The Huskies won at Stanford and beat 10 – 8 . The Huskies continued on with a PCC schedule , playing Oregon State in Portland and at home , winning both games by a single point . An early November game at the L . A . Coliseum against USC was the deciding factor in the Rose Bowl race , with the Huskies blanking the Trojans 34 – 0 . The Huskies beat the 27 – 7 at home to win the AAWU championship outright . The final game of the regular season was the Apple Cup , where the Huskies narrowly escaped with an 8 – 7 win in Spokane over cross - state rival to finish the regular season at 9 – 1 and undefeated in conference play . Ranked # 6 by the AP writers poll , the defending Rose Bowl champions were unranked by the UPI coaches poll . 1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers . The 1960 Gophers came to the Rose Bowl as the # 1 team in the nation . The Gophers were led by Sandy Stephens , the first African - American All - American starting quarterback at the school ( but not in the history of the Rose Bowl , which would have been the 1922 Rose Bowl ) . The Gophers had an early 26 – 14 non - conference win at # 12 Nebraska . They shut out both and , then also blanked Michigan 10 – 0 at Michigan Stadium to win the Little Brown Jug . A win over non - conference Kansas State put Minnesota at # 3 . The next game at # 1 Iowa was one of the most notable games in the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry . Minnesota won 27 – 10 ( and the pig ) and were ranked # 1 , but then lost to Purdue the next week . A 26 – 14 win over Wisconsin on NCAA television put them back at # 1 to finish the season . The Gophers were tied with Iowa in the Big Ten standings , each with a loss . The final AP poll of November 29 was one of the closest ever : Minnesota with 17 . 5 first - place votes , Mississippi 16 , and Iowa 12 . 5 . Game summary . The weather in Pasadena on January 2 was clear and sunny . Washington wore their home purple jerseys " ( actually deep blue ) " , gold pants and gold helmets . Minnesota wore white away jerseys with maroon and gold shoulder stripes and white helmets . The ceremonial pregame coin toss to determine first possession employed a souvenir gold dollar minted for Alaska ' s statehood in 1959 . The Huskies dominated the first half , scoring all 17 points . Minnesota lead in all the final statistics , but the most telling one was its passing game : Gopher quarterback Sandy Stephens completed only 2 of 10 passes for 21 yards and was intercepted three times . MVP Bob Schloredt completed only 2 of 4 passes for 16 yards ( no interceptions ) , but was the game ' s leading rusher with 68 yards on five carries . The most enduring story of the game was the Caltech card stunt at halftime . Halftime . The Minnesota marching band performed first , followed by UW band , when the card stunts began . The Washington card section was on the east side of the Rose Bowl stadium , facing the press box and television cameras . The NBC national television broadcast was trained on the band and card stunts . The 14th card stunt design displayed " CALTECH " instead of " HUSKIES " in big block letters on a white background . The announcers and the stadium fell silent for several moments before breaking into laughter . Aftermath . Minnesota was still the AP and UPI national champion , as those final polls were released in late November and did not consider the bowl results . Iowa , Ole Miss , and Washington have all been recognized as national champions for the 1960 season by various organizations . Bob Schloret was named Player of the Game for the second time , becoming the first player in Rose Bowl history to repeat as Player of the Game . He was previously named a co - Player of the Game in the 1960 Rose Bowl . Three other players have subsequently repeated as Rose Bowl Players of the Game : Charles White ( USC ) , Ron Dayne ( Wisconsin ) , and Vince Young ( Texas ) .