The Washington Huskies were the first conference champions of the newly-formed Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), commonly referred to as the "Big Five" at the time (and now as the Pac-12). The conference formed in the wake of the "pay for play" scandal and collapse of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) after the 1958 season. As a result of the demise of the PCC, the Rose Bowl had no contractual agreement with either the Big Five or Big Ten to send their champions to the game: both teams received "at-large" invitations and accepted.
Washington, USC, and UCLA all finished with 3–1 conference records. Washington had defeated UCLA, which had defeated USC, which had defeated Washington. The USC loss was the only one for Washington, and the Huskies had the best record in the AAWU. Washington entered the game as the West representative, the first champions of the newly-formed AAWU conference. They were led by quarterbackBob Schloredt, a 20-year-old junior who "conspicuously lacked his trade's traditional egotism," stating "I consider myself just adequate." Remarkably, he was also 90% blind in his left eye.[1]
Wisconsin, the Big Ten Conference champion, had a 7–2 regular season record, with losses to Purdue and Illinois. Despite the similarity in the poll rankings, Wisconsin entered the game as a 6½-point favorite,[2] due in part to recent dominance of the Big Ten in recent Rose Bowl games, winning twelve of thirteen.[1]
Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt and halfbackGeorge Fleming were named co-Players of the Game. Schloredt was subsequently named the Player of the Game the following year, the first in the history of the Rose Bowl to be twice-honored. In 1970, Fleming became the first African-American to be elected to the Washington state senate.
