This silent film made by NBC shows the 1948 Rose Parade with General Omar Bradley serving as Grand Marshall, and part of the game between the Michigan Wolverines and the U.S.C. Trojans. 1948 represented the first local telecast of a college football game in the nation’s history.

The reason the film is silent, we’re not sure. Possibly this was made to be shown on TV while a commentator spoke over it…

The 1947 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1947 college football season. In its tenth year under head coach Fritz Crisler (you will see placards in the stands forming his face and saying “Fritz”), Michigan compiled a perfect 10–0 record, won the Big Ten Conference championship, and defeated the USC Trojans by a score of 49–0 in the 1948 Rose Bowl game. Although ranked second in the AP Poll at the end of the regular season, the Wolverines were selected as the nation’s No. 1 team by a 226–119 margin over Notre Dame in an unprecedented AP Poll taken after the bowl games. The 1947 team outscored its opponents, 394–53, and has been selected as the best team in the history of Michigan football.

The first Tournament of Roses football game, which was the first post-season football game in the nation, was staged at Tournament Park on January 1, 1902. The game matched the West Coast’s Stanford against Midwestern Michigan. (The teams would later become members of today’s Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences, respectively.) Michigan routed Stanford, 49-0, prompting the football contest to be replaced with Roman-style chariot races inspired by the literary classic Ben-Hur. Football was permanently reinstated as part of the Tournament’s traditions in 1916.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com