Michigan sports memorabilia dealer Ken Magee recently called his friend Mark Schlanderer, and said, “I’ve found the Holy Grail!” Without missing a beat, Schlanderer replied, “The 1902 Rose Bowl program?”
That’s right. Knowing Magee collects big-ticket, one-of-a-kind items, a friend in Connecticut had called to ask if he’d be interested in paying a five-figure sum for the program to the first-ever Rose Bowl, where Michigan beat Stanford 49-0.
The answer was a resounding yes. Magee says he’s sure no one else in Ann Arbor owns a copy of the program, and he thinks there are only five in the world.
“It touches so many things,” Magee says. “The Michigan dynasty, Fielding Yost … that game really put Michigan on the map. Michigan thumped [Stanford] so bad they didn’t have another [Rose Bowl] for fourteen years!”
