PASADENA, Calif. — Vince Evans began his football career in Greensboro. Evans graduated from Ben L. Smith High School in 1973 and is quite possibly one of the best athletes to come through the school.
After his career at Smith was finished, Evans' dream was to play at the University of Southern California (USC). However, he wasn't offered a scholarship by then-head coach John McKay and Evans' test scores did not meet the qualifications to be accepted at USC.
Evans didn't let either of those things stop him from chasing his dream. He made his way to Los Angeles City College where he played for one year.
That one year in Los Angeles gave Evans the notoriety he was looking for. He was then brought in to be a part of the USC football season the next year.
After a rocky Junior season under center, his senior year, Evans led the Trojans to a Pac-8 championship (now the Pac-12), and an appearance in the 1977 Rose Bowl against #2 ranked Michigan.
"I got really lonely at times, that was the first time I ever had been away from home. In this huge city of Los Angeles, it was so much and so big, but fortunately, my focus and my aim were to get an education and play football", is how Evans described trying to adjust to moving from Greensboro to Los Angeles.
In that game, Evans scored a touchdown on a 1-yard bootleg run. He also completed 14 of 20 passes for 181 yards against the Wolverines' fifth-rated defense.
"It didn't get much better than that for a college athlete. Playing in front of 106,000 ppl in a nationally televised game against Michigan. It didn't get much better than that", is how Evans described his experience in the Rose Bowl.
Evans was named the Most Valuable Player of the game and went on to start his 18-year NFL career after being drafted in the 6th round of the 1977 draft.
Fast forward to 2022, and Evans will now be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, becoming the 27th Trojan player, coach, or administrator to be elected to this illustrious group.
Earlier this week, Evans was inducted in a private event held in Pasadena. He will also be honored in the annual Parade of Roses on Monday, Jan. 2, at 11 a.m. eastern standard time.