Outback Bowl Prologue
Outback Bowl Prologue
third quarter, there was not much thought of making the game an annual event.
After a more satisfying result in 1916, Washington State defeated Brown 14-0,
the game has been held every year since. Officially named the Rose Bowl in
1923, and commonly referred to as "the granddaddy of the bowl games," it was
the only bowl game until the 1930s.
The first Orange and Sugar Bowls were played in 1935, the Sun Bowl started up a year later and the first Cotton Bowl was held in 1937. Bowl games are often seen as a way to promote the community, and in some cases raise money for charity, and there has been a proliferation of games over the years. Some games have survived the test of time and there are always new venues replacing those that fall by the wayside. There have been discussions for decades on instituting a playoff system to determine a national champion, however, the negative effect on the bowl games has been the biggest obstacle. The bowl tradition continues and so does the controversy on who is the national collegiate football champion.
The Outback Bowl, formerly known as the Hall of Fame Bowl, was not the first college bowl game in the Tampa Bay area. From 1947-54, the Egypt Temple Shrine sponsored the Cigar Bowl in Tampa. The net profits went to the Shriner’s children’s hospital. The game featured small college teams and was played at Phillips Field. On November 6, 1946, when the bowl name had not yet been decided, it was announced that the first game would be held on New Year’s Day and Rollins College would be one of the participants.
Delaware was on a 30 game winning streak heading into the first Cigar Bowl. The Blue Hens actually had the choice of several bowl bids, but the players decided on Tampa because it would not interfere with school work. The game against Rollins saw Delaware fullback Paul Hart pass for two scores and run for a third. Hart accounted for 118 of the Hens 231 yards rushing and was used so much that he wore out three jerseys, donning numbers 42, 50 and 34 in the 80-degree heat. Delaware defeated Rollins 21-7 and won the national small college title.
The second Cigar Bowl saw Missouri Valley College, another team on roll, defeat West Chester for their 32nd consecutive victory in that season’s only New Year’s Day battle of unbeaten teams. Missouri Valley College returned for the 1949 game and it had lost just once in its last 42 games. The Vikings jumped to 13-0 halftime lead over St. Thomas College. The Tommies would rally in the second half and the game finished in 13-13 tie.
Perhaps, the most notable Cigar Bowl was a January 2, 1950 game where Florida State, in just the football program's third season, played in the school's first bowl. Wofford College was on a 23 game winning streak and favored by several touchdowns over the Seminoles. The Terriers scored quickly on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone to make it 6-0. It was all FSU after that, as Red Parrish scored twice and Buddy Strauss rushed for 132 yards with a score. Florida State upset Wofford 19-6. FSU would end up rejecting a bid for the following year’s game.
The January 1951 Cigar Bowl is the only post season bowl game in the history of Valparaiso University. The Crusaders were undefeated coming into the game, however, undefeated Wisconsin-La Crosse won in a 47-14 rout. Due to all the competition on New Year’s Day, the next rendition was held in December, 1951 and featured military teams. Brooke Army Medical Center, from Fort Sam Houston in Texas, defeated a team of Marines from North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune 20-0.
Coach Clarence Stasavich brought undefeated Lenoir Rhyne to the 1952 game against a 7-3-1 University of Tampa team. The Spartans under first year head coach Marcelino Huerta won 21-12. In an attempt to generate local interest, UT was named to the game in September and was pretty much allowed to select its own opponent. The January 1954 game featured Wisconsin-La Crosse, on a sixteen game winning streak, and Missouri Valley. There was no scoring until 50 second remained in the third quarter. Each team scored two touchdowns, however, they both missed two extra points in a 12-12 draw.
The last Cigar Bowl featured the University of Tampa and Morris Harvey College. The Spartans scored three TDS within three minutes of playing time. As the first half ended, Freshman running back Bob Gambell ran 2 yards for the first TD. Fullback Al Leathers recovered a fumble and ran for another score, as UT shutout the Golden Eagles 21-0.
In early 1955, the Egypt Temple Shrine decided not to continue sponsorship of the Cigar Bowl. The attendance and profits were not enough to meet the NCAA requirement that a definite percentage of the gate be split among teams. That year the Tampa Junior Chamber of Commerce failed in an effort to get the local cigar industry to sponsor the game. In 1957, the NCAA granted approval for a new Cigar Bowl featuring major college teams. The previous games were considered charity games and did not need NCAA approval for inviting small college teams. A game was scheduled for December 28, 1957 and tickets went on sale in late November. Names mentioned for the game included Penn State, Mississippi State, TCU and Miami. Things began to fall apart when major programs could not be attracted with the seating limitations at Phillips Field part of the problem. On the day the announcement of the Cigar Bowl opponents was expected, Morton Annis, head of the Cigar Bowl Selection Committee, had a different announcement. “We have called off this year’s game because we were unable to attract two major college elevens and didn’t want to put on a game with small college teams.”
Before the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame moved the Hall of Fame Bowl to Tampa, it was played in Birmingham, Alabama and known as the  Hall of Fame Classic. Legion Field hosted the game nine times (1977-85). After the game moved to Tampa, the All-American Bowl was held for five seasons (1986-90) and the stadium hosted the SEC Championship Game for two years (1992-93). The next postseason college game to be played at Legion Field was the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl.
|
On the other side of the Bay, St. Petersburg hosted the Holiday Bowl from 1957- 60. That bowl served as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national title game, so the four games featured small schools, such as Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hillsdale College and Humboldt State University.
The first attempt to bring a major bowl game to Tampa Stadium took place on January 9, 1966. The newly formed West Coast Bowl Association sent a delegation to Washington D.C. to meet with an NCAA committee, however, they were unsuccessful in the attempt to land a new bowl game. In 1967, the group tried to lure the Liberty Bowl away from Memphis. After being rejected again 1969, James Kynes, former Attorney General of Florida and president of the bowl association, said “You’d better get the wheelchairs ready, because we’re going to keep coming back here as long as it takes to get a bowl game for Tampa Stadium.”
Tampa did begin hosting some college all-star games. The American Bowl was played in Tampa from 1969-77. That all-star game was sponsored by the Lions Club and featured a North versus South configuration with the north winning seven of the nine games. Paul “Bear” Bryant coached the South team in the first version. In 1975, University of Tampa quarterback Freddie Solomon tossed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Florida wide receiver Lee McGriff with 15 seconds left to lead the South to a 28-22 victory. In his last collegiate game, Solomon earned MVP honors with two TD runs to go with the winning touchdown pass. Another tidbit is that while in Tampa to coach the 1976 game, Bobby Bowden was contacted for the head coaching job at Florida State. While he was not that interested, he reluctantly agreed to stop in Tallahassee on his way back to West Virginia. When Bowden got back to snowy West Virginia he decided FSU was the job for him.
The Can-Am Bowl, which matched up collegiate players from the United States against Canadian college players, was held from 1978-79. The game was played using Canadian rules, including the larger field, three downs to make a first down, twelve players on each side and the one-point for kicks not returned out the end zone called a “rouge.” While the U.S. all-stars won both of those contests, there were some notable connections to the history of Tampa Bay football. Sam Bailey, former University of Tampa head football coach and athletic director, was the Can-Am Bowl’s executive director. Jim Leavitt, who would go on to become the first head coach at the University of South Florida, was a linebacker from the University of Missouri in the 1977 game. Bruce Allen, who went on to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager, was a University of Richmond place kicker who booted two field goals in the 1977 game. Former University of Tampa head coach Fred Pancoast coached the 1978 U.S. squad.
Early in 1985, word came that the Hall of Fame Bowl was looking to relocate. The game had taken place at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama since 1977. A Tampa group acted quickly and committees were formed to bring the game to Tampa Stadium. One of the first hurdles was to come up with the money to stage the game. More than one hundred local individuals and corporations made donations to help the group obtain a letter of credit for $1 million, which would be required to make the $500,000 NCAA minimum payout to each team. The group put on a presentation highlighted by a specially prepared video, however, the move to Tampa was put on hold because of an NCAA one-year waiting period rule.
On April 16, 1986, an agreement was reached with the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame to bring the game to Tampa Bay. The next day, the NCAA certified the game and Tampa Bay had finally landed its major bowl game. To let people know about the new game, bowl officials sent out hundreds of stuffed teddy bears. College coaches and athletic directors around the country received the bears with a name tag stating "You may 'bearly' know us but we're 'sunplace' special!"
| Related Links |
| Outback Bowl Results |
| Past Tampa Bay Bowl Games |
| Back to Outback Bowl History Page |
| Back to Outback Bowl Main Menu |
| Back to Home Page |
