Hundreds of supporters — including family members, fans, and former players — huddled outside the Rose Bowl Stadium Friday, Oct. 27, to celebrate a gent who outshone so many inside the iconic stadium. It was a day to honor legendary UCLA football coach Terry Donahue, one of the game’s greats on the gridiron and the sideline.
The Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation held a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil a 7-foot tall bronze statue of Donahue, the winningest coach in UCLA and Pac-12 Conference history.
“As I look around today there are so many familiar faces that have been part of our family’s lives for as long as I can remember,” Michelle Donahue, the coach’s daughter who remembers growing up in the stadium, said during the unveiling ceremony. “Being here in the Rose Bowl today, it feels like home.”
Over 20 years, Coach Donahue notched more wins than any football coach in the school’s history, becoming the face of UCLA football after snagging seven consecutive bowl championships — including Rose Bowl Game victories in 1983, ’84, and ’86.
Overall, he won 151 of the 233 games he coached, 98 of those victories in the Pac-10, as the conference was known before adding two teams in 2011. Donahue was also the first person to appear in the Rose Bowl Game as a player, an assistant coach and a coach.
“He wasn’t just a great football coach, he was a man of great character who made a positive and personal impact on so many student athletes,” said John Sciarra, College Football Hall of Fame quarterback for UCLA under Donahue in the ’70s. “We love you, Terry.”
Donahue passed away in 2021.
Donahue’s statue on the Rose Bowl grounds joins other greats who made their name at the stadium such as boundary-busting baseball legend Jackie Robinson (dedicated in 2017), Brandi Chastain of the 1999 Team USA FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions (dedicated 2019) and beloved sportscaster Keith Jackson (dedicated 2019).
However, Donahue’s is the…
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