Wednesday, September 16, 2026

PUSD Working on Year-End Homecoming Game After Turkey Tussle Cancellation

With a 28–20 win over Pasadena, Muir players celebrated by ringing the bell at the Rose Bowl during Friday night’s Turkey Tussle showdown on Oct. 31, 2025. [Eddie Rivera / Pasadena Now]

Superintendent’s statement follows Pasadena High’s decision to end its varsity football season after player injuries and offseason transfers

Pasadena Unified School District is working to create a year-end football game to celebrate the homecoming tradition shared by John Muir and Pasadena high schools, PUSD Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said in an email to the school community Tuesday. Blanco’s email follows Pasadena High School’s decision to finish its season as a junior varsity team, which ended prospects for the cherished Turkey Tussle tradition this year.

“However, we are working to create a year-end game that celebrates the annual homecoming that means so much to our students, families, and alumni,” Blanco wrote.

Blanco acknowledged a difficult moment for the Muir and Pasadena High School communities. She wrote that the tradition has brought the community together since 1947 and that she knows the community will rally around the students to ensure it remains a memorable celebration.

Blanco did not give a date, location or format for the game. She wrote that the Turkey Tussle “as we know it” will not take place this year.

“It’s 100% confirmed there is no Turkey Tussle,” Muir Athletic Director Alfredo Resendiz told Pasadena Now earlier this week.

Pasadena High canceled its varsity season on Sept. 11, citing safety concerns for its players. It forfeited its remaining varsity games and will play the rest of the season on a junior varsity schedule.

Injuries were a factor. PUSD spokesperson Hilda Ramirez Horvath confirmed that two Pasadena High players were hurt during the team’s first three games.

“Definitely, that played a part in the decision,” she told Pasadena Now.

The Valley Sports Telegram reported that an ambulance was called for a Pasadena High player during the Bulldogs’ Aug. 28 game against top-ranked Kennedy High School. The game was delayed for a half hour while both teams gathered in prayer on their sidelines. A reporter with that publication confirmed to Pasadena Now that the player was taken to a local hospital. Two emergency medical technicians were at the game, but the nature of the injury led to the call to transport the player by ambulance.

The player’s name and the nature of the injury were not released.

“During the off-season, ten potential starters transferred to schools outside the district,” Ramirez Horvath said in a statement. “These transfers affected the team’s collective skill and experience level.”

Players left for Baldwin Park, Charter Oak and St. Francis high schools. Between transfers and graduation, the team lost 21 seniors from a squad that went 6-5 in 2025.

The Bulldogs won the 2024 CIF Southern Section football championship, the school’s first since 1933.

Opponents outscored Pasadena High 133-14 over the first three games, and the combined halftime score was 105-0. In its most recent game, the team lost to Norwalk 42-6.

The school first decided the players deserved a chance to compete at the varsity level.

“Now, after three games, listening to coaches’ concerns, and considering how to provide a positive experience for the players, we have decided to complete the remainder of the season as a junior varsity team,” Ramirez Horvath said.

“We recognize that this decision is difficult for seniors,” Ramirez Horvath said.

She said the CIF has permitted one-time options for seniors to either stay on the Pasadena High JV team or work with Principal Eric Barba and district staff if they want to pursue a transfer to another school to play varsity football.

Pasadena High’s first junior varsity game will be at home against Burroughs High School on Sept. 24 or 25.

“We appreciate our student-athletes’ hard work, commitment, and enthusiasm throughout the season,” Ramirez Horvath wrote.

The Turkey Tussle is named for the first game in 1947, a Thanksgiving Day meeting between Pasadena Community College and John Muir Junior College. The colleges played each other through 1953. Pasadena High and Muir took over the rivalry in 1954 and have played it at the Rose Bowl since then. The winner is awarded the Victory Bell, a former locomotive bell the Santa Fe Railroad gave to the schools in 1955.

The cancellation reaches beyond football. Turkey Tussle proceeds pay game officials for basketball, soccer and other sports, and fund student government at both schools.

“It’s just beyond disappointing,” Resendiz said. “It’s heartbreaking. The greater community is deeply affected by it.”

Muir is now the only Pasadena Unified high school with a varsity football team. Football programs at Marshall Fundamental and Blair High School have been eliminated, largely because of budget cuts.

“We’re grateful to the players and families who have shown up, worked hard, and represented their schools with courage and spirit,” Blanco wrote.