College Football Bowl Games: The 5 Best Defunct Bowl Names
College Football Bowl Games: The 5 Best Defunct Bowl Names
The 2011-2012 Football Bowl Series features games with such names as the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, the GoDaddy.com Bowl and the Belk Bowl. It doesn't take well-trained ears for one to know that these names sound quite silly and inspire little emotion.
Was there ever a day when brand names did not dominate the college football bowl landscape? Was there a time when bowl names conjured up in one's mind an image of a tangible object instead of a logo?
Of course there was.
Here are the five defunct football bowl games with the best names.
No. 5: Cigar Bowl (1946-1954)
Held in Tampa, Florida and played at Phillips Field, the Cigar Bowl was named for Tampa's local cigar industry, which was responsible for much of the city's economic growth at the beginning of the 20th century.
I can only imagine how awesome it would have been to be handed a stogie as I walked through the Phillips Field gate to watch Missouri Valley play a game to a tie.
Results by Year:
1946: Southern Mississippi 55, Havana 0
1947: Delaware 21, Rollins 7
1948: Missouri Valley 26, West Chester 7
1949: Missouri Valley 13, St. Thomas 13
1950: Florida State 19, Wofford 6
Jan. 1951: Wisconsin-La Crosse 47, Valparaiso 14
Dec. 1951: Brooke Army Medical Center 20, Camp Lejeune 0
Dec. 1952: Tampa 21, Lenoir-Rhyne 12
Jan. 1954: Missouri Valley 12, Wisconsin-La Crosse 12
Dec. 1954: Tampa 21, Charleston 0
No. 4: Raisin Bowl (1946-1949)
Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno, California played host to five Raisin Bowls. This is different than the California Raisin Bowl, which is much more boring—considering it was named after a brand.
The Raisin Bowl was named after the raisin production in Fresno and the surrounding area. Each year it featured a team from California against a non-California team.
Forget hot dogs and beer at the game, I want some dehydrated grapes!
Results by Year:
1946: Drake 13, Fresno State 12
1947: San Jose State 20, Utah State Agricultural College 0
1948: California Wesleyan 28, Municipal University of Wichita 14
Jan 1949: Occidental 21, Colorado A&M 20
Dec. 1949: San Jose State 20, Texas Tech 13
No. 3: Refrigerator Bowl (1948-1956)
Evansville, Indiana hosted nine Refrigerator Bowls at Arad McCutchan Stadium. The city was, at that time, manufacturing 3,800 refrigerators a day.
Though these games were probably less than stellar, mass refrigerator production is pretty impressive, and any bowl named after a large household appliance deserves to be high on this list.
Results by Year:
1948: Evansville 13, Missouri Valley 7
1949: Evansville 22, Hillsdale 7
1950: Abilene Christian 14, Gustavus Adolphus College 7
1951: Arkansas State 46, Camp Breckinridge 12
1952: Western Kentucky State 34, Arkansas State 19
1953: Sam Houston State Teachers College 14, College of Idaho 12
1954: Delaware 19, Kent State 7
1955: Jacksonville State Teachers College 12, Rhode Island 10
1956: Sam Houston State Teachers College 27, Middle Tennessee State 13
No. 2: Salad Bowl (1948-1952)
The Salad Bowl was played at Montgomery Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. It is known as the "precursor" to the Fiesta Bowl, which is now played in Phoenix.
The 1950 version was preceded by a parade featuring 1949 Miss America, Jacque Mercer.
This name seems to have no basis in anything besides wit. Quite clever.
Results by Year:
1948: Nevada 13, North Texas State Teachers College 6
1949: Drake 14, Arizona 13
1950: Xavier 33, Arizona State 21
1951: Miami (OH) 34, Arizona State 21
1952: Houston 26, Dayton 21
No. 1: Glass Bowl (1946-1949)
The Glass Bowl, played at The University of Toledo, was named after the stadium in which it was played. The stadium was named for the city's prominence in the glass industry and still carries the name today.
Toledo was the annual host and participant, but when no contacted teams wished to take part in it after the 1949 season, the bowl became defunct. I can't imagine why no schools would accept an invitation. I'm sure the trophy was pretty functional.
You can't get any closer to a combination of the straightforward and the out-of-this-world-cool than a bowl made out of your favorite amorphous solid.
Results by Year:
1946: Toledo 21, Bates College 12
1947: Toledo 20, New Hampshire 14
1948: Toledo 27, Oklahoma City University 14
1949: Cincinnati 33, Toledo 13