The 1935 Catholic University football team opened with four consecutive victories and rolled to a regular-season record of 7-1. The defense recorded three shutouts, allowed just 34 points and did not give up a rushing touchdown.

Impressed by the Cardinals’ performance, the Orange Bowl Committee invited Coach Dutch Bergman’s team to represent the North in the second annual Orange Bowl Classic. The battle lines were drawn when Mississippi was selected to represent the South.

With Bill Munday of CBS handling the play-by-play, the game was the first Orange Bowl to be broadcast on radio. Legendary sports writer Grantland Rice was also in the press box. It was the first Orange Bowl to be preceded by a parade in tribute to Florida’s citrus industry. Consisting of 30 floats that cost about $40,000, the inaugural King Orange Jamboree was born with Babs Beckwith chosen as the first Orange Bowl queen.

With pregame festivities complete and 10,000 cheering fans in attendance, CUA struck first on a one-yard scoring pass from quarterback Pete Dranginis to Bill Adamaitis. The Cardinals extended the lead to 13-0 when Adamaitis hit Stuart Foley on a 52-yard TD pass. This made Adamaitis the first of only three players to catch and throw a TD pass in the same Orange Bowl. After the Rebels’ Ned Peters scored on a 67-yard scamper, the Cards held a 13-6 halftime advantage.

The CUA special teams scored the Cardinals’ final TD when the entire right side of the line surged in and blocked a third-quarter punt attempt by Dave Bernard. Backup end Ferdie Rydzewski picked up the ball and ran 20 yards into the end zone to increase the CUA lead to 20-6. The Cardinals then withstood a late 13-point rally by Ole Miss for its 20-19 triumph. The margin of victory was a missed extra point on Mississippi’s next-to-last TD.

“I said (we had) a great ball club before we left home,” Bergman told The Washington Post, “and I think the boys proved it out there on the field this afternoon. I’m darned proud of every last one of them.”

About 3,000 fans jammed Washington’s Union Station to greet the Orange Bowl champions upon their return. Their victory parade went down Pennsylvania Avenue, where, as the Post reported, “President (Franklin) Roosevelt, on his way to church, became an unwitting parader, when the march de triumph jammed traffic in front of the White House.”

Any questions or comments? Email cua-athletics@cua.edu.