American Express And The 1953 Rose Bowl

Before the 1947 Rose Bowl, the big game in Pasadena typically involved the best team from the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) and the best team east of the Rockies willing and able to make the trip. The Big Ten and some individual schools did not allow postseason play, so the best of the SEC, ACC, and independents headed West each year. However, things changed for the 1947 game after the Rose Bowl, and PCC agreed to pair up with the Big Ten champion for the annual game.

Although concerns remained about the commercialization of the college game, Midwestern fans embraced the matchup, especially when your team earned the right to play in Pasadena. Commercial organizations, including American Express, saw opportunities in the new arrangement. The company, which began as a freight forwarding service, entered the financial services business with money orders in 1857, traveler's cheques in 1891, and added a travel service in 1915 to further assist its customers looking to access and spend their money when away from home.

The good folks at American Express soon recognized that the Big Ten-PCC Rose Bowl alliance presented a money-making opportunity for their firm. Previously, the Eastern team could come from anywhere other than Big Ten territory, so arranging Rose Bowl package tours without knowing the selected team's location wasn't easy. However, with the Eastern team originating in Big Ten country, their fans would have to travel by rail through the hub of railroad traffic, Chicago.

Starting in 1950, American Express acquired a block of reserved Rose Bowl tickets and arranged an itinerary they repeated for the next dozen-plus years, carrying fans of whichever Big Ten team qualified for the Grandaddy of Them All. There may even have been a stray PCC fan or two who had been banished to the Midwest that took the trip.