Cigar Bowl (defunct)
StadiumPhillips Field
LocationTampa, Florida
Operated1947–1954
Sponsors

The Cigar Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game held in Tampa, Florida that featured teams from smaller college programs. There were nine editions of the bowl, which was usually played on or around New Year's Day each season from 1946 through 1954. It was played at Phillips Field, which was located across the Hillsborough River from downtown Tampa at the current site of Tampa Preparatory School and Julian Lane Riverfront Park.[1][2] Its name was inspired by the local cigar industry, which had been the main driver of Tampa's growth from an isolated village to a prosperous city around the turn of the 20th century.[3]

Pregame at Phillips Field, 1947

The Cigar Bowl marked the first bowl appearances for the Florida State Seminoles (following the 1949 season) and the Tampa Spartans (following the 1952 season). When scheduled on New Years Day, the game was usually played in the evening so that fans could follow radio coverage of the marquee bowl games held earlier in the day.[4] In some years, the Cigar Bowl was part of a month-long "sports circus" in Tampa, with college basketball, golf, and tennis tournaments scheduled around the area along with horse racing and boxing.[5]

From its inception, the Cigar Bowl was sponsored by the local chapter of the Egypt Temple Shrine as a fundraising event.[6] However, the primitive amenities and limited capacity of Phillips Field (20,000 with temporary bleachers) along with rising costs made it increasingly ineffective as a money maker for the organization. After the December 1954 game drew a "disappointing" attendance of 6,500 despite featuring the hometown Tampa Spartans, the Shriners decided to end their involvement. No other organization stepped in to take over, and the Cigar Bowl was discontinued.[7][8]

There were several attempts to revive the Cigar Bowl as a major bowl in subsequent years, but the difficulty of drawing top college teams without a large modern venue made the prospect financially impossible.[9][3] Tampa Stadium was constructed in 1967 to serve as a new home field for the Tampa Spartans and, eventually, the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. The area next hosted a college bowl game in 1986, when the Hall of Fame Bowl (later known as the Outback Bowl and currently the ReliaQuest Bowl) relocated to Tampa from Birmingham, Alabama.

Game results

DateWinnerLoserReference
January 1, 1947Delaware21Rollins7[10]
January 1, 1948Missouri Valley26West Chester7[11][12][13][14]
January 1, 1949Missouri Valley13St. Thomas (MN)13[15]
January 2, 1950Florida State19Wofford6[16]
January 1, 1951La Crosse State47Valparaiso14[17]
December 29, 1951Brooke Army Medical Center20Camp Lejeune0[18]
December 13, 1952Tampa21Lenoir–Rhyne12[19]
January 1, 1954Missouri Valley12La Crosse State12[20]
December 17, 1954Tampa21Morris Harvey0[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Evening Independent – Google News Archive Search
  2. ↑ Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search
  3. 1 2 Alfonso, David (January 1, 1992). "Hav-A-Tampa". The Tampa Tribune.
  4. ↑ McGivern, Gene (1 January 2024). "75 years later, the Cigar Bowl remembered". Tommies Sports. University of St. Thomas (MI) Athletic Department. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  5. ↑ "St. Petersburg Times". Google News Archive Search. 7 September 1947. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "History of the Egypt Shrine". Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  7. ↑ Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search
  8. ↑ "Spartans beat Eagles in Cigar Bowl, 21–0". The Tampa Tribune. December 18, 1954. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Tampa Bay Football History Network – Outback Bowl Prologue Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Blue Hens trip Rollins, 21–7, in Cigar Bowl". The Morning News. January 2, 1947. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Hollingsworth, Byron (January 1, 1948). "Vikings Meet Rams In Cigar Bowl Game". Tampa Morning Tribune. Tampa, Florida. p. 11. Retrieved May 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. ↑ Hollingsworth, Byron (January 2, 1948). "Vikings Overpower Rams In Cigar Bowl, 26-7". Tampa Morning Tribune. Tampa, Florida. p. 21. Retrieved May 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. ↑ Hollingsworth, Byron (January 2, 1948). "Vikings Roll Over Rams in Cigar Bowl Contest, 26-7 (continued)". Tampa Morning Tribune. Tampa, Florida. p. 23. Retrieved May 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  14. ↑ "Missouri Valley blasts West Chester Teachers, 26–7, in Cigar Bowl game". Intelligencer Journal. January 2, 1948. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Missouri Valley, St. Thomas battle to 13–13 tie: Second half touchdowns bring deadlock". Tampa Bay Times. Associated Press. January 2, 1949. p. 28. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Wofford upset by Florida State in Shrine Cigar Bowl, 19–6". The Greenville News. January 3, 1950. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "LaCrosse drops Valpo in Cigar Bowl, 47–14". The Indianapolis Star. January 2, 1951. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Brooke Comets wallop Lejeune Marines, 20–0, in Cigar Bowl battle". The Tampa Tribune. December 30, 1951. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Lenoir–Rhyne bows to Tampa in bowl tilt". Asheville Citizen-Times. December 14, 1952. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "LSC, MV in 12–12 Cigar Bowl tie". The La Crosse Tribune. January 2, 1954. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Spartans beat Eagles in Cigar Bowl, 21–0". The Tampa Tribune. December 18, 1954. Retrieved January 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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