Reynolds Crutchfield likes to ask people how many Rose Bowl Games they’ve attended. It’s a nice icebreaker.

Once, during a pregame Hall of Fame luncheon outside the stadium, a man from New Mexico named Duane Schmitz saw Crutchfield sitting alone and felt bad. He walked over and introduced himself and after a while, the question arose.

“I get all puffed up,” Schmitz recalled this week to AL.com, “and I said, ‘Twenty.’”

Crutchfield calmly responded he’d been to 55 in a row. This was 25 years ago.

“I crawled under the table,” Schmitz joked.

Crutchfield, 93, returns to Pasadena, Calif., his hometown, this New Year’s Day for another Rose Bowl. It started with his parents taking him and a friend from junior high. Sitting in the lower bowl, Crutchfield thought to himself that he would like to go to 50 straight one day. Alabama and Michigan deciding one half of the College Football Playoff will mark Crutchfield’s 80th time at The Granddaddy of Them All.

The last time Alabama played in a true Rose Bowl on the first day of the year was in 1946 against Southern California. Crutchfield was there. When a global pandemic transplanted the game to Arlington, Texas, in 2021, Crutchfield heard from the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, who worked with the Cowboys to put Crutchfield at the 50-yard line. He was one of the roughly 20,000 allowed inside to watch the Tide blast Notre Dame.

For Monday’s game (which kicks off at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN), Crutchfield didn’t want to give a prediction but is leaning toward No. 4 Alabama.

“I think it’s going to be a good game,” he said. “… I may be wrong. They seem like they’ve improved so much. I thought they looked awfully good against Georgia.”

The closest he was to missing one was in 1978. A few weeks before the game, Crutchfield had yet to find a ticket when his parents met an official from the Tournament of Roses at a party. They mentioned Crutchfield’s nascent run and were told to call Tournament offices the following Monday. Crutchfield got to watch Warren Moon’s Washington beat Michigan.

How Crutchfield purchased his tickets, as well as its location, had fluctuated until a few years ago. Crutchfield was on a shuttle from the parking lot and started talking to a passenger about their first Rose Bowl game. When Crutchfield revealed his streak, a former student from Crutchfield’s time at a Menlo Park private school turned around and recognized him.

The student’s name was Tod Spieker, an alum of UCLA and part of the family that donated $10 million and had the Rose Bowl field named after them in 2017. Between that and his connections with the Legacy Foundation, Crutchfield has secured more 50-yard-line tickets for himself, Schmitz and his wife, Elizabeth.

“Our routine is pretty much the same and I can’t wait for it every year,” Schmitz said.

Crutchfield and the Schmitz’, husband Duane, 69, and Elizabeth, 67, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, clicked pretty instantly after meeting in 1998. Married for 37 years, Duane had a caveat with his proposal: he would attend the Rose Bowl each year. Monday is Duane’s 46th trip and Elizabeth’s 36th.

This week, the trio has met up for dinner and a light show. Crutchfield used to go to the Tournament of Roses parade but has stopped over the years as he’s aged. Instead, Crutchfield was able to go onto the field last Wednesday, Dec. 27, and help paint the Michigan endzone.

“When you go to so many games, I have friends that can remember, I don’t remember all the details,” Crutchfield said. “The best game I’ve seen was Texas-USC (Vince Young’s classic in 2006).”

Tomorrow, Crutchfield takes his seat underneath the San Gabriel Mountains and a setting sun and have a normal start to the year, at least for him.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].