Boardwalk Bowl (defunct)
"Little Army-Navy Game"
(1961–1967)
NCAA College Division regional final
(1968–1972)
NCAA Division II quarterfinal
(1973)
StadiumAtlantic City Convention Hall
LocationAtlantic City, New Jersey
Operated1961–1973
Atlantic City Convention Hall
Convention Hall football field, postcard image

The Boardwalk Bowl was a postseason college football game held indoors at the former Atlantic City Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from 1961 to 1973.[1][2]

History

From 1961 through 1967, the Boardwalk Bowl featured an annual matchup between Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and was known as the "Little Army–Navy Game."[3] Merchant Marine won six of the seven games in the series. The playing surface in these years consisted of natural grass sod that was grown outside and then moved indoors for the game.

In 1968, the Boardwalk Bowl succeeded the Tangerine Bowl as one of the four regional finals in the College Division (which became Division II and Division III in 1973).[4] The other three regionals were the Pecan (later Pioneer), Grantland Rice, and Camellia bowls. During these years, the bowl sought to match the two best non-major teams in a 17-state Eastern Region stretching from New England to Florida. Delaware secured a bid to the game in four consecutive years (1968 through 1971) and won all four games.

In 1973, under a new playoff system, the Boardwalk Bowl became a Division II national quarterfinal, while the other three quarterfinals were nameless and played at campus sites. The semifinals were the Pioneer and Grantland Rice bowls, and the Camellia was the championship game. Grambling defeated Delaware in the only Boardwalk Bowl played under this format. The game was discontinued after 1973, when the NCAA made all of its quarterfinals unnamed games at campus venues; after 1977 the semifinals likewise were unnamed (though the D-II championship game remained a "bowl" through 1985).

The Boardwalk Bowl, along with the Liberty Bowl (played at Convention Hall in December 1964), showed the feasibility of playing football indoors and led the promoters of football games to look seriously at developing indoor facilities primarily for this purpose.

Game results

DateWinnerLoserGame
December 2, 1961Pennsylvania Military35Merchant Marine14Little Army–Navy Game
December 1, 1962Merchant Marine9Pennsylvania Military0
November 30, 1963Merchant Marine27Pennsylvania Military13
November 28, 1964Merchant Marine20Pennsylvania Military16
November 27, 1965Merchant Marine22Pennsylvania Military12
November 26, 1966Merchant Marine46Pennsylvania Military7
November 25, 1967Merchant Marine39Pennsylvania Military6
December 14, 1968Delaware31Indiana (PA)24NCAA College Division
Regional Final
December 13, 1969Delaware31North Carolina Central13
December 12, 1970Delaware38Morgan State23
December 11, 1971Delaware72C.W. Post22
December 9, 1972UMass35UC Davis14
December 1, 1973Grambling17Delaware8NCAA Division II Quarterfinal

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mazda, Jason (December 31, 2014). "50 years ago, indoor college football debuted in Atlantic City". The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. ↑ Depp, Carson (September 15, 2020). "Top five football seasons in UMass history". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  3. ↑ Horner, Louis (2016). Who Will Water the Flowers?. Dog Ear Publishing p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4575-4505-4.
  4. ↑ Fulton, Bob (December 14, 2018). "IUP nearly pulled off major upset in '68 Boardwalk Bowl". Indiana Gazette. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
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