The 1st Is Always Family’s Next

SAN CLEMENTE —  Earl Harris will leave his home this morning and continue a 69-year family tradition by getting on the freeway toward L.A., then veering off to Pasadena and heading for the Rose Bowl and his cherished secret parking spot.

It all began in 1929, when 22-year-old Edward Harris attended his first Rose Bowl game. His son, Earl, 60, has continued what his dad started, seeing his first bowl game in 1949 and not missing one since.

But put an asterisk by the word “consecutive.” Harris said no one from his family, then living in Arcadia, attended the 1942 game, which was the only year the granddaddy of bowl games was held outside of Pasadena.

“It was during the war and California was under the threat of attack, so they moved the game and held it in Durham, North Carolina,” Harris said.

The family has kept each ticket stub since that first game and nearly every football program.

“One of us always went to the game, either Mom, Dad or me,” said Harris, a retired Los Angeles firefighter. “We usually would always buy two tickets and then get more from scalpers, so we wouldn’t always sit together. As for the tradition, it just evolved.”

Getting tickets (which now have a face value of $75 and are sold by scalpers for hundreds of dollars more) was easy, he said. Until 1957, the bowl’s box office sold thousands to the general public. He would arrive about 6 p.m. the night before and stay overnight to wait for the office to open. After the bowl began reserving tickets for each college, it made it difficult but not impossible.

“We had a neighbor from Pasadena who was on the Tournament of Roses committee and he would help us get tickets,” Harris said.

During an interview at his home, Harris spread his ticket stub and program collection on a dinner table. For the lifelong fan, it was like unsealing a time capsule.

Harris paged through football programs, some yellowed from age, of the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s. Although he never graduated, Harris attended UCLA and roots for the Pac-10 colleges. Harris added that with his father’s passing in 1985, the memorabilia was put in storage. Years later, he rummaged through it and discovered the treasure trove.

Old ticket stubs weren’t the glossy, four-color ducats now printed. They were intricate works of art and depicted the inside of the bowl in rich detail, “almost like engraving,” Harris said.

In fact, they were copies of engravings, said William Flinn, chief operating officer for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn. And if Harris’ early tickets were colored like greenbacks, it was because Rose Bowl tickets then were copies of an engraving made by a Los Angeles firm that also printed currency for foreign governments, Flinn said.

Harris, who doesn’t know how valuable the collection is, said he might be willing to donate it to the Tournament of Roses Assn.

Flinn expressed appreciation for Southern California residents such as Harris.

“Rather than just talking about numbers such as Thursday’s 84th Rose Bowl game or the 109th Rose Parade, it’s great to have people like [Harris] and so many others who can hold on to those memories and talk about them,” Harris said.

Harris’ recollections through the years could fill a book. Some samples:

* Funniest moment: When Cal Tech hackers got cute with the Rose Bowl scoreboard, adding the school’s name to it.

* Best game: The ’63 game pitting USC against Wisconsin. “The game seesawed back and forth with USC pulling it out, 42 to 37. A real thriller. [Ron] VanderKelen was the quarterback for the Badgers.”

* Best bowl food: None. “I never had any because I didn’t want to stand in line and miss the game.”

* Favorite Rose Bowl coach: Michigan’s Bo Schembechler, “because of his sideline tirades.”

* Best tip: “You gotta pay attention to the weather. If it’s been raining or it’s wet, they won’t let you park on the golf course and you have to go earlier.”

* Best seat: “On the 50-yard line about 50 rows up.”

* Worst seat: “Never sit in the first row--you never see anything--or in the end zone where they have lettered rows like WWA and WWC.”

How much longer will the Harris family tradition last? He isn’t sure. His second wife, Judy, has attended only a few games. His sons, David, 30, and Derik, 28, are athletic and participated in surfing and baseball, but neither has been to a Rose Bowl game.

“It’s never been a concern with me,” Harris said. “Whatever happens, it’s OK with me. But I wish they would bring the old ticket prices back. In the old days, it only cost $3 to get in.”