With Illinois set to face UCLA at the Rose Bowl again, for the first time ever in a Big Ten conference game on Friday night, it’s time to once again revisit this. And by this, we mean the infamous Playboy mansion tale from the 1984 Rose Bowl (1983 Big Ten championship season). And at this point it almost goes without saying that the Illini Playboy Mansion New Year’s Eve party story we’re about to re-examine again is either
A.) the worst kept secret in Illini football history
B.) the biggest widespread lie ever told in the history of the program
C.) an “urban legend” from 42 years ago with some elements of truth, but also lots of embellishment.
Flash back to 1983- with a record of 10-1, Illinois was ranked in the top 5 nationally, when they took on an unranked 6-4-1 UCLA team in the Rose Bowl on Jan 2, 1984. And as you know, the Bruins absolutely destroyed the Illini 45-9.
In the mid-2010s, we had a conversation with Rick Neuheisel, the QB for the Bruins that day and now an Analyst for College Football on CBS.
His comments on the game and the Playboy mansion rumor are posted in a separate article linked here.
The story goes like this:
The team was out very late the previous evening, attending a wild New Year’s Eve party at the Playboy Mansion, hosted by University of Illinois alum Hugh Hefner (class of ’49). What we found, after doing hours after extensive research, is that at least one person, somewhere, isn’t telling the truth.
We found published reports from credible sources, completely discredited by other published reputable sources.
In other words, something suspicious occurred, because the facts don’t all add up, and not all the stories corroborate.
The last time that Illini football experts, let’s just call them historians, revisited this story was 2007, as Illinois was preparing to make their next and most recent Rose Bowl trip.
In his Decatur Herald-Review column on 12-3-07, Mark Tupper offered this tongue in cheek remark:
The “experts” expect the Illini to show up late for the game after a New Year’s Eve blowout at the Playboy Mansion, a party hosted by University of Illinois alum Hugh Hefner.
Mike Downey, in his Chicago Tribune op-ed on 12-30-07, referenced it too, and even asked Hef himself about it directly.
The bath-robed swinger would neither confirm nor deny this story:
As for the greatest Illini party-thrower of them all, Hefner says he has no specific memories of the 1984 party.
However: “My memories are kind of ongoing. I always keep an eye on what the Illini are doing and I’m extremely excited about what they’ve done this year.”
As the years went by, the Rose Bowl didn’t smell so sweet. Illinois won one in 1964 but hasn’t been able to since.
Hefner endeavored to inspire them, in his unique way, 20 years later when the Champaign party finally earned a return. He threw a lavish garden party for the entire squad, giving a guided tour of the Grotto, the game room, the reptile room, the lay of the land.
I thought if anything could put the Fighting back in the Illini, that would.
I thought they would feel frisky after meeting all those Bunnies, but instead, coach Mike White’s 10-1 Illini proceeded to get their ears pinned back by a truly ordinary UCLA team (5-4-1) by a truly embarrassing 45-9.
Multiple outlets reported that the Illini football team did not visit the Playboy Mansion during the 2007 Rose Bowl trip. However, the story of the 1983 visit lives on in a Ron Rapoport article from the Chicago Sun-Times on 12-22-83.
You can see from this PDF of his column, syndicated by the Spokane Chronicle, a photo of Jack Trudeau (who else would you expect?) with two Playboy bunnies.
It’s a clear picture of Trudeau, with a centerfold kissing him on each cheek:
Rapoport’s feature, provocatively titled “Illinois Squad Earns Romp Down Bunny Trail” describes in detail the players flirting with the models, and vocalizing just how much they enjoy the girls’ uhm, vocational prowess.
I suggest you read the entire piece at this link, but I’ve also taken the liberty of including a screen shot of the most interesting passage here:
While Rapoport’s story doesn’t in any way affirm the New Year’s Eve party story, it certainly makes the rumor seem much more plausible and definitely believable.
It’s also worth mentioning, because for some odd reason, no one else who wrote retrospectives on this did, that the game was actually played on January 2.
New Year’s Day, the traditional day upon which the Rose Bowl is played, fell on a Sunday and there is a non-compete agreement with the NFL in place.
Hence you had a full recovery day sandwiched between game day and a hypothetical raucous New Year’s Eve party. It is worth noting that when Hefner passed in 2017, this post was found by internet message board posters who knew this story already, for themselves, and thus spread this link around wth great alacrity.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.