Business of College Football and the Military′s Influence

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Chad S. Seifried is with Department of Sport Management, and Matthew Katz is with the Department of History, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.

Sport History Review, 2011, 42, 153-175 © 2011 Human Kinetics, Inc.

The Creation of Domestic and International Bowl Games

from 1942 to 1964: The United States Military and Football as Conjoined Twins

Chad S. Seifried and Matthew Katz Louisiana State University

In the foreword to Wilbur D. Jones’s book Football! Navy! War!: How Military Lend-Lease Players Saved the College Game and Helped Win World War II, the noted football columnist, commentator, and historian Beano Cook suggested America produced a strong relationship between its various military forces (i.e., Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard) and the game of football out of “both necessity and natural design” (Jones, 2009, 2).1 To highlight this point, Blue Network sportscaster Harry Wismer recognized the Department of the Navy as providing “inestimable value” in preserving the game of football during World War II because the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard allowed students to play var- sity football while preparing for service in their college officer-training programs.2 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) formally acknowledged this contribution by the military. Specifically, the NCAA thanked the Department of the Navy for supporting football as a tool to help the war effort and to keep both college football and some institutions from disappearing.3

Donald Rominger, Jr. also acknowledged this conjointment between war preparation and football in his paper “From playing field to Battleground: The United States Navy V-5 Preflight Program in World War II” in the Journal of Sport History through the use of imagery.4 John A. Gunn, author of The Old Core, further recognized the training received on football fields extended to other parts of the world and to improving military performance.5 British military analyst Thomas Wintringham also supported this notion by suggesting the various British military units should look into embracing the American style of football in their military training practices because it provided important “points of resemblance to war” and more so “than any other sport” (1940, 43, 66).6 As an example, college football coaching legends Clark Shaughnessy and Harry Stuhldreher argued football was a game well suited to wartime because it best incorporated and simulated important strategy and tactics embraced by the military.7 Stuhldreher also specifically advo- cated that the “stamina, teamwork, and coordination of football men are getting on the gridiron will help make them better soldiers” (Gridiron Training, 1942, 5).8

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Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of literature that connects the United States military to American football through description, imagery, and metaphor.9 However, many of these beautifully mastered and researched descriptions of military football teams, players, and contests of the World War II era lack detailed information related to one unique outcome of this conjoined relationship: the military-staged bowl game. This is interesting because the various postseason contests created by the U.S. military involved units and bases all over the world, incredible extravagance, highly accomplished professional and collegiate stars, and on some occasions, competitors from other countries. The official records of the NCAA importantly identify 88 service bowl games that took place between 1943 and 1967.10 However, significant work has not been collected on this topic despite the fact that “competitive football enhanced troop and civilian morale on the home front and overseas by providing an uplifting, entertaining, and exciting diversion from the horrors, sacrifices, and boredom of war” (Jones, 2009, 23).11

In 1945, George L. Shiebler mentioned in the NCAA Football Guide that, “The American fighting man was not satisfied to listen to shortwave broadcasts from bowl games played in the States. He wanted to play in a game or else be an actual spectator. Thousands of soldiers, sailors, and Marines in Europe and the Pacific war areas put on their own football bowls with uniformed teams, cheering sections, regulation officials, bands, and parades modeled after real American college football games” (Jones, 2009, 65).12

This work aimed to explore the military’s use of the bowl game phenomenon created on domestic and foreign soil and investigated the impact those events produced on the military and the health or popularity of college football to further highlight the conjoined status of football and the U.S. military.

Background

During World War I, the “American people were shocked to learn of the high per- centage of young men who failed to qualify physically as good soldiers” (Portal, 1941, 3) or about those that “flunked early-war enlistment and draft physicals because of [ill] health or mental conditions” (Jones, 1992, 43).13 This national epidemic resulted in the perception that the United States lacked “hard, physically fit, aggressive, courageous, and determined soldiers (Portal, 1941, 4). In order to build and/or improve the protection of the nation’s increasing global interests, the United States identified and used educational institutions to implement rigid physical education requirements to build up the physical capability of America’s soft youth.14 Interestingly, this occurred despite claims that physical combat has been “born and bred in the human animal for generations” and that “present-day conventions” relegated that asset “dormant” in the average American.15

Princeton University’s Professor of Hygiene and U.S. War Department Army Training Activities Director Joseph E. Raycroft served as important advocate for change and convinced many university and college academic administrators to incorporate more combat-related sports (e.g., boxing, wrestling, football) into uni- versity curriculums to improve the conditioning, determination, and sportsmanship of college men following World War I.16 Similarly, General Douglas MacArthur, as superintendent of West Point after World War I, reorganized the educational

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curriculum to include instruction in a variety of teams sports such as football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and hockey. MacArthur established this new athletic training initiative at West Point for cadets because he accepted that competitive sport brought “out the qualities of leadership, quickness of decision, promptness of action, mental and muscular coordination, aggressiveness, and courage” (1922, 21–22).17

Raycroft and MacArthur were likely influenced by the popularity of competi- tive sport in the military and the positive outcomes associated with participation in those activities during World War I. For example, Raymond Fosdick, chairman on Training Camp Activities of the Army and Navy Department in 1918, recognized that competitive sport helped to maintain military efficiency and the morale of participating and nonparticipating troops at home and abroad. Fosdick also pro- moted the idea that competitive sport served to increase qualities like courage and aggressiveness in World War I soldiers.18 Edward Frank Allen similarly advocated that rough and ferocious competitive sporting activities served to improve cohe- sion, communication, and the acceptance of personal accountability among those individuals.19

Football operated as one example of a ferocious and rough sport that was pre- sented for mass consumption in the United States military during and after World War I.20 Soldiers expressed a great interest in keeping up with sports like football on the home front and that the continuation of those activities was important for their morale so far away from home even during post–World War I occupation years. The Stars and Stripes communicated they supported the continuation of college sport and particularly football in light of the war effort because it was good for the soldiers. Specifically, soldiers commented that the outcome of the Harvard–Yale game was important to them because they enjoyed the “old time, blood-and-iron variety of football, played by regulars, not by informal teams” (Editorial, 1918, 4).21 Early issues of the Stars and Stripes, under the direction of General John J. Pershing, strategically included sport sections and stories on football to help keep up the morale of the troops and/or use sport metaphors to better describe or com- municate the progress of World War I to soldiers.22

Following the conclusion of World War I, in 1919, the 4th Marine Brigade along with the 3rd Army Brigade utilized football as a recreational tool to help them during their occupation of Germany. Together they formed the Army of Occupation but separately they created a rivalry that prompted a series of football games to see which unit had the best team. The Coblenz game, for instance, evoked roughly $50,000 in bets and produced a memorable melee for attendees following the 10-7 comeback win by the Marine Brigade in which five Marines and an undisclosed number of Army soldiers left the field in stretchers.23 In this example, it is plainly revealed that competitive sport acted as a vehicle to entertain the troops and as a device to keep them out of trouble on foreign soil with locals if possible.

Apart from this emphasis on toughening the average American, the 1929 Carn- egie Foundation Report offered concrete opposition to combat sports like football in college because little support was provided for claims that it produced individuals with improved morals and character benefits. Situational factors provoked by the Great Depression (i.e., poverty, unemployment, and crime) also placed support for competitive sports on the defensive.24 Thus, college football faced “attacks by critics who assailed its very legitimacy and place in institutions of higher learning” (Noverr & Ziewacz, 1983, 137–138).25 As an example, the University of Chicago

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famously argued that football served to handicap the educational mission of the institution. Other schools similarly agreed and acknowledged that the public focus on football in higher education also seemed unbecoming in light of the possible breakout of World War II.26 Mike Vaccaro, author of 1941: The Greatest Year in Sports, further suggested most Americans without degrees in higher education also viewed football as a “pastime that thrived detached from most of the nation’s urban centers.”27 Therefore, the elimination or suspension of football on a college campus was likely not a personal loss to them prior to World War II.

Still, college football and benefit bowl games emerging during the 1920s and 1930s in New York, California, Florida, and Texas communities changed some perspectives about the legitimacy and contribution of American college football toward the common good. Furthermore, they maintained and improved the game for consumption. For instance, benefit games were created to help provide relief to the homeless, poor, and unemployed. In December of 1930, cadets from Army and the Naval Academy met in such a benefit game to help this cause by donating over $600,000 in gate receipts.28 Bowl games originally began in 1902 when the Tournament of Roses staged a contest between the University of Michigan and Stanford University. However, the bowl game phenomenon gained increasing popular support during the 1930s because it emerged a resource for morale and economic growth in various communities. As an example, the annual success of the Tournament of Roses and its various activities (e.g., Rose Bowl, parade, and festival) allowed Pasadena, California, to provide “newspapermen from coast to coast something exciting to write about” (Ours, 2004, 5). Furthermore, the 1930 Tournament of Roses generated a crowd of roughly 750,000 with colorful pag- eantry resulting from the bowl game, parade, beauty queen coronation, and other festival activities.29

Similarly recognizing the benefits that the hosting of bowl games could pro- vide to a community, other locations established their own bowl traditions and embraced the pageantry of the total bowl experience. For instance, prior to 1930, the City of Miami was nationally perceived as a fishing village and a victim of a major real-estate crash during the 1920s.30 A hurricane devastated the City of Miami and south Florida during 1926, and the U.S. Weather Bureau in Miami described that hurricane as possibly the most destructive ever to strike the United States.31 Resultantly, morale was low for the area and a great need developed to improve the local economy. To help, the Greater Miami Athletic Association was established in 1929, and they utilized football and the extravagant festival formula provided by Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses as a resource to boost morale and the local economy. As an example, the 1933 and 1935 contests were described as possessing incredible pageantry and even included a coronation of the Orange Bowl Queen.32 The 1939 Orange Bowl Parade—built around a Peter Pan theme—received cover- age from regional radio stations such as WIOD in Miami. Over 60 floats, 30 bands, 3,000 musicians, and 600 people in costume were organized to create the bowl festival and new halftime spectacular. A parade committee was even established to strictly censor the parade and “prevent entry of floats that fail to meet the high artistic standards of the parade as a whole.” The total 1939 contest required a staff of people and volunteers over four months to organize the total bowl experience.33 Overall, including the 27 Rose Bowls played before 1942, college football teams participated in roughly 68 bowl games from 1902 to 1941.34

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The United States officially entered World War II on December 7, 1941, fol- lowing the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by the nation of Japan. The United States military and the nation’s universities/colleges joined forces to help organize and support the massive mobilization of men and morale for the war effort. John L. Griffith, commissioner of the Big Ten Conference and member of the Joint Army–Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation (JANC), recommended in a letter to the JANC executive director that the United States Armed Services use American interests in sport at colleges as a method to promote and improve their development as an effective fighting force to defend American interests in October 1941.35 A few months later (January 1942), a nine-man advisory group for the Navy Aeronautic V-5 Preflight Schools was charged with the responsibility to meet this mission. John L. Griffith was a member of that committee along with eight other notable figures in college athletics.36 It was at this moment that football emerged as a vital component to the war effort.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted military training that focused on maximizing rigorous sport participation to build “toughness, leadership, teamwork, and camaraderie” (Jones, 2009, 15).37 Donald W. Rominger, Jr. offered the notion that football had reemerged as an example of “controlled conflict” that presented soldiers with unique opportunities to experience the virtues Roosevelt required (1985, 253). Navy Secretary Frank Knox ballyhooed the use of football to train military officers, sailors, and cadets by suggesting there was a solid connection between the “spirit” of the two (Rominger, 1992, 261).38 A picture from the Athletic Journal demonstrated the respect football generated from public officials and mili- tary leaders by showing Japanese soldiers fleeing from American football players with the caption, “Why not battalions of football players? They are the fightingest men we have” (Athletic Journal, 1942, 3).39

Appropriately, the NCAA embraced football as a major contributor to the col- lective war effort in training young men/soldiers for battle, and cooperatively they worked with the American armed forces to help showcase and feature the activity whenever possible. The NCAA also recognized the armed forces as the savior of the “collegiate game’s very existence” and as “the plasma for the lifeblood of football” (Da Grosa, 1944, 26).40 Briefly there was a deterioration of the collegiate game that resulted from the loss of current and potential college football players and coaches entering into military service after December 7th, 1941.41 However, working with the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, many recruits moved to officer training schools (e.g., NROTC, V-5, V-7, and V-12) located at college campuses to help prevent institutions and football programs from shutting down owing to a lack of enrollment and resources. Thus, as Atlanta sportswriter Furman Bisher wrote, “while football went into various degrees of retrenchment on college campuses it broke out like the measles in some of the most unlikely places” because it was great for combat conditioning and provided an entertainment to keep “the more fractious out of trouble.”42

The United States Navy and its various cousins (i.e., Marines and Coast Guard) quickly adopted football as a sport to cultivate the ideal qualities of its sailors and officers primarily through the prompts of Captain Thomas J. Hamilton. Eventually securing a rank as a rear admiral, Hamilton was a nine-time letter winner at Annapolis and considered football as a “training must” for all naval servicemen.43 Team sports were selected because they used physical training to engender specific

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psychological traits and a respect for authority and loyalty important for the war effort. Centering on those activities that were explosive and that incorporated violent aggressive collisions, Hamilton’s V-5 Training method produced courage, power, and the ability to concentrate under pressure-filled situations. In essence, each and every soldier was socially engineered to value determination and winning over sportsmanship.44 Furthermore, they were rewarded when they used innovation and unique thought to achieve victory. To meet these objectives, the Navy and other military services recruited highly accomplished and qualified varsity coaches who were experts in group tactics and strategy using cooperation because varsity sport participation was “ideal in developing reflexive thinking within the group” (Rominger, 1992, 259).45 A sample of football coaching legends recruited into military service include Paul “Bear” Bryant, Charles “Bud” Wilkinson, George Halas, and Woodrow “Woody” Hayes.

The Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard fielded football teams all across the United States and globe. The Naval Academy also developed several powerful teams during this era and several preflight schools, along with 131 colleges utilizing officer-training programs to similarly capitalize on strong football competition. Sta- tion/base teams were established domestically and abroad. They played aggressive schedules and/or created ad hoc meetings with other bases and American colleges. These teams were also generally well coached, trained, and schematically superior to many college and pro teams of this era, even achieving high rankings in the vari- ous Associated Press polls of the 1940s. The Bainbridge Commodores (Maryland), for instance, dismantled many teams from 1943 to 1944, which included rival base teams and college programs. Writer Ned Cronin described how few college teams could compete on the field against service-base teams and “escape with a whole hide.”46 This notion is supported by the utter annihilation the University of Maryland (46-0) and professional football’s Philadelphia Yellow Jackets (72-6) endured in 1943 by Bainbridge. So bad was this beating that one unknown scribe suggested, “There may be easier methods of murdering a group of youngsters such as inserting them into a gas chamber or lining them up against the wall and spraying them with machine-gun slugs” (Jones, 2009, 31).47 Following their 10-0 record in 1944, Bainbridge finished the season ranked #5 by the Associated Press on November 21st.

Results

To investigate the military’s use of the bowl games on domestic and foreign soil and the impact those events produced on the military and the health/popularity of college football, the researchers explored several different databases and primary sources using a comprehensive content analysis. Gathering relevant data through a systematic examination of written, visual or pictorial evidence, and military releases, this work involved the counting and quantification of specific information, themes, words, contexts, characters, interactions, biases, and/or ideas. Conducting a content analysis in this manner provided the researchers with the opportunity to extract themes based on the most frequently seen, identified, or mentioned with special attention to intensity or depth of feeling. Appropriately, this product combined both

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a qualitative and a quantitative component. To organize and triangulate the various pieces of information, the researchers constructed a detailed outline and spreadsheet. Together these tools assisted in the preparation of the manuscript because they helped identify, organize, and criticize the various themes emerging from sources.

The various database searches conducted by this inquiry produced numerous articles (n = 185) related to different military bowl games. The various articles identified 57 unique bowl games involving either one or two teams that comprised military personnel (Table 1). From these 57 bowl locations, roughly 58% (n = 33) were played only once. The other 42% (n = 24) of games were played multiple times. In total, at least 111 different games were played from 1942 through 1964. Chronologically, the 111 games can be sorted as follows: (a) 1941 to 1945 – 32, (b) 1946 to 1950 – 30, (c) 1951 to 1955 – 28, (d) 1956 to 1960 – 17, and (e) 1961 to 1964 – 4.

As noted above, the NCAA listed 88 official service bowl games that took place between 1943 and 1967. However, beyond those, the NCAA records left out notable bowls such as the Airborne (1957 and 1959), Aztec (1952), Brooklyn Bond (1944 and 1945), Grape (1944), Legion (1945), London (1943), Mango (1944), Manila (1945), Mosquito (1944), Navy (1948), Torii (1945, 1955, and 1956), Tokyo (1946 and 1946), Sukiyaki (1954 and 1955), Silver (1947 and 1948), and Satellite (1957).48

From a geographic perspective, the 111 games were played on six continents and in eighteen countries. According to continent location, game locations were as follows: (a) North America—49, (b) South America—2, (c) Africa—7, (d) Europe—15, (e) Asia—34, and (f) Australia—2. The countries with the greatest number of individual games were the United States, with roughly 40% (n = 44), and Japan, with approximately 25% (n = 28). Games held within the United States were found all across the nation, ranging from Brooklyn, NY, and Key West, FL, to San Diego, CA, Hawaii, and Alaska. Within 17 different countries, bowl games were played in 46 different host cities. Tokyo (n = 21) hosted the most bowl games internationally (Table 1).

The participants of the games involved teams from all branches of the military, local university teams, and other local organizations (i.e., town/community teams and clubs). Of the branches of the military, the Army participated in the most games, playing in roughly 66% (n = 73) of the games. The Air Force participated in just over 52% (n = 58). Teams from the Marines participated in approximately 24% (n = 27), and teams from the Navy participated in nearly 23% (n = 26). Teams that used combined players from different branches of the military also secured play in about 11% (n = 12) of all contests. Other types of teams, such as local universities and foreign military units, were also involved in approximately 23% (n = 26) of the total games played. The individual teams with the most games played were the 11th Airborne Division, Boling Air Force Base, and the Quantico Marines (n = 5). The most successful branch of the military in terms of winning percentage was the Army. Teams from the Army won 58.9% of their games, whereas teams from the Air Force enjoyed the second-highest winning percentage at 58.6%. “Other” teams had a 46% victory rate, while Navy teams won 38% of their games. Teams from the Marines won about 33%, and combination teams had the lowest winning percentage with 25%. Of the 111 games, there were only four ties, which were not included in any of the winning percentage calculations.

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Table 1 Bowl Names, Locations, and Years Played

Bowl Name Location Years Played Airborne Bowl Fort Campbell, Kentucky 1957;1959

Arab Bowl Oran, Algeria 1944 (2)

Army Pacific Olympics Osaka/Tokyo, Japan 1946 (3)

Atomic Bowl Nagasaki, Japan 1946

Aztec Bowl Mexico City 1952

Bambino Bowl Bari, Italy 1944

Bamboo Bowl Manila, Philippines 1946;1947 (2);1950

Bluebonnet Bowl Houston, Texas 1946

Brooklyn Bond Bowl Brooklyn, New York 1944;1945

Cherry Bowl Yokohama, Japan 1952

Chigger Bowl Dutch Guiana 1945

China Bowl Shanghai, China 1946;1947;1948

Cigar Bowl Tampa Bay, Florida 1951

Coconut Bowl New Guinea 1945

Coffee Bowl London, England 1944

Conch Bowl Key West, Florida 1957

Cosmopolitan Bowl Key West, Florida 1950;1952

Electronics Bowl Biloxi, Mississippi 1951;1953;1954

European “Orange Bowl” Heidelberg, Germany 1946

European “Rose Bowl” Augsburg, Germany 1946

European “Sugar Bowl” Nuremberg, Germany 1946

G.I. Bowl London, England 1944

Grape Bowl Algiers, Algeria 1944

Ice Bowl Fairbanks, Alaska 1949;1950;1952 (2)

Iranian Bowl Tehran, Iran 1944

Jungle Bowl “Southwest Pacific” 1945

Legion Bowl Memphis, Tennessee 1945

Lily Bowl Hamilton, Bermuda 1943;1944;1945;1947;1948

London Bowl London, England 1943

Mango Bowl Panama 1944

Manila Bowl Manila, Philippines 1945

Marine Division Championship Melbourne, Australia 1943 Missile Bowl Orlando, Florida 1960;1961;1962;1963;1964

Mosquito Bowl Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands 1944

National Service Championship Los Angeles, California 1945 Navy Bowl Chicago, Illinois 1948

Palmetto Bowl Charleston, South Carolina 1955

Pare Des Princes Paris, France 1944

(continued)

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Bowl Name Location Years Played Poi Bowl Honolulu, Hawaii 1945

Poinsettia Bowl San Diego, California 1952;1953;1954;1955

Potato Bowl Belfast, Northern Ireland 1942;1944

Rice Bowl Tsingtao, China 1945

Rice Bowl Tokyo, Japan 1946 (2);48;49;50;53;54;55 (2); 56;57;58

Riviera Bowl Marseille, France 1945

Salad Bowl Phoenix, Arizona 1953;1954

Satellite Bowl Cocoa, Florida 1957

Shrimp Bowl Galveston, Texas 1955 (2);1956;1957;1958;1959

Shuri Bowl Okinawa, Japan 1958

Silver Bowl Mexico City 1947;1948

Spaghetti Bowl Florence/Leghorn, Italy 1945;1953

Sukiyaki Bowl Tokyo, Japan 1954;1955;1956

Tea Bowl London, England 1944 (2)

Tokyo Bowl Tokyo, Japan 1946 (2)

Torii Bowl Tokyo, Japan 1954;1955;1956

Treasury Bowl New York City 1944

Typhoon Bowl Okinawa, Japan 1956

Valor Bowl Chattanooga, Tennessee 1957

Table 1 (continued)

From the known players who participated in the 111 games, at least 72 were from what we would label as Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision) football programs, at the following institutions:

Alabama

Amherst

Arizona

Arkansas State

Baylor

Brown

California

Cincinnati

Clemson

Cornell

Duke

Duquesne

Florida

Florida A&M

George Washington

Georgetown

Georgia Tech

Hawaii

Holy Cross

Illinois

Iowa

Kansas

Lehigh

Louisiana Tech

Loyola

Marquette

Maryland

Miami

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Mississippi

Montana

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Montana State

Morris Brown

North Carolina State

North Carolina

Notre Dane

Ohio

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oregon

Oregon State

Pennsylvania

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Sam Houston State

San Francisco

Southern Methodist

South Carolina

Stanford

Syracuse

Texas Christian

Temple

Tennessee

Texas

Texas A&M

Texas Tech

Toledo

Tulsa

UCLA

USC

Vanderbilt

Virginia

Wake Forest

Washington

Washington College

Washington State

West Point

West Virginia

William & Mary

Wisconsin

Regularly top-notch football programs of the World War II era such as Notre Dame, Army, Minnesota, and Texas, among many others, had many former players in the military-supported bowl games. Furthermore, their contribution produced significant contests that attracted enough attention to generate important interest from the military personnel and the college football fan nation back home. As an example, according to Associated Press final rankings, 57 college football teams were ranked in the top 10 to end a season between 1942 and 1964. Of these 57 teams, players from at least 66% (n = 38) of them played in a service bowl game. Moreover, three Heisman Trophy winners (i.e., Angelo Bertelli, Doc Blanchard, and Billy Vessels) plus numerous All-Americans and All-Conference performers participated as well in front of thousands and thousands of service personnel and local spectators to elevate the spectacle and prestige of the military bowl game.

Professional players were also well recognized in the various military bowl games. Specifically, this investigation found players representing at least 10 differ- ent National Football League (NFL) teams in service bowl games. The 10 teams included players from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, and Dallas Cowboys. Two players from the Canadian Football League (i.e., Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders) also played in service bowl games, and other professional sports leagues also had players participate. For instance, this work discovered members of the Detroit Tigers, Boston Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies partaking in a service bowl game during this period.49

Military-Created Bowl Games

In the paragraphs that follow, we offer some highlights of a select sample of military- created bowl games. The various themes emerging from this collective information suggested these bowl games hosted (a) significant pageantry, players, and other

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associated events similar to traditional American college football bowl games; (b) attracted great attention from service personnel, local spectators, and the U.S. home front; (c) greatly boosted the morale of U.S. troops; and (d) provided opportunities for football to continue during wartime. Each of these themes is organized and underscored through the framed discourse presented by the selected samples of information—first, foreign bowl games, and second, those offered on U.S. soil.

Arab Bowl of Oran, Algeria

The origins of the Arab Bowl cannot be highlighted without first recognizing the contribution of Master Sgt. Zeke Bonura, who was a major league baseball player for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, New York Giants, and Chicago Cubs during the 1930s and 40s.50 Following a somewhat notable career as a slug- ger, which included an appearance on the cover of Wheaties box in 1937, Bonura entered the United States Army for a second time shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.51 Upon his baseball retirement, Bonura told the press, “I might as well kiss baseball goodbye now; it will be bullet for the Japanese instead of big league baseball for me.” Despite his preference to land in the Pacific, Bonura was ordered to Oran, Algeria, under instructions to organize baseball, basketball, and football games for the troops in the African desert. In October of 1943, as a Special Service Officer (SSO), Bonura was awarded with a Legion of Merit Award by President Dwight Eisenhower for his “resourcefulness, enthusiasm, and leadership” following his organization of the Arab Bowl.52

Following the America tradition of New Year’s Day football games established in Pasadena, Miami, and other places, Bonura began organization of the first football game in the North African region. Acting as the promoter and organizer of the event, Bonura similarly ensured that football would only be part of an American “show” on New Year’s Day. Specifically, Bonura told a United Press reporter, “There will be plenty of color” (Harrigan 1943, S1). Referring to the off-field entertainment, the pregame festivities included a camel and a donkey race on the local town’s main street. To further inspire excitement, Bonura ensured that the riders in both races were “attractive” members of the Women’s Army Corp (WAC). And, on their behalf, each participating football team was required to have a “feminine spon- sor” competing in the camel and burro races in order to, of course, better support troop morale.53

After the pregame races, the entertainment continued. Following American bowl game traditions, the halftime included an Arab troop parade, which brought cheers from the crowd of both servicemen and locals. A team of former Texas cow- boys also gave an exciting exhibition using real Arabian horses. A group of “crack army paratroopers” landed on the field to finish the halftime activities. Overseeing all the entertainment, however, was the honorary queen of the Arab Bowl: movie star Rosalind Russell, who “kindled interest even in the eyes of the stoic” fans.54 All the excitement off the field combined with a talented competition on the field to produce a memorable afternoon for all, similar to the American college football bowl game experience.

Interestingly, the crowd was treated to a doubleheader football event that day. The first game was the “local” championship game among Arab citizens to generate

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local support for the bowl event. The second game involved a contest between an Army team and a Navy team. A number of former collegiate football players participated on both teams, with former players from West Virginia to Washington roaming the field at San Phillipe Stadium. The talented players impressed the diverse crowd so much so that Illustrated Football Annual (1944, 52) wrote, “Here in San Phillipe Stadium beside the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean, some 15,000 grid-hungry generals, admirals, nurses, WACs, soldiers, and sailors, and a fair-sized sprinkling of high French and Arab dignitaries witnessed the first doubleheader football bowl game ever played.” Even those unable to attend, such as nearby wounded soldiers, were able to experience the game as a play-by-play was broadcasted to local hospitals. In the end, the Arab Bowl proved to be an exciting and important contest for the troops and the local population because football helped many (e.g., civilians and soldiers) cope with the difficulties associated with wartime occupation. Even the generals enjoyed shouting “just as loud as the lowest G.I.” to escape for a change.55

The European Bowls: London’s Tea and Coffee Games

Northwest, in the Atlantic, American servicemen also kept their “American Foot- ball” traditions alive and separate from English football (i.e., soccer) by staging a number of football games throughout the year. American and Canadian teams played in a competitive league that included several games through an organized season. At season’s end in 1943, the top two teams, since there were standings kept among the competitors, were selected to play in the first Tea Bowl. The staging and organization of this sporting event was important for the SSOs to create because it was their job to keep American morale up and prevent soldiers from finding trouble in war-torn London.

Set in London’s famous White City Stadium, the first Tea Bowl occurred on February 13, 1944, between the American Army Pirates and the Canadian Army Mustangs in front of roughly 30,000 fans. The game used American football rules in the first half and Canadian rules during the second half of play. Winning 16-6, the Canadian Mustangs were awarded the first place Silver Tea Pot Trophy. Inter- estingly, the Canadian victory over the United States prompted the Americans to promote another team for an additional bowl event in London. Known as the Coffee Bowl, the Americans sent the Infantry Blue Division football squad to battle the Canadian Mustangs. Again playing the contest under split rules, the U.S. Infantry Blue Division defeated the Canadian Mustangs 18-0 in front of approximately 50,000 spectators to win the Coffee Pot Trophy. Spitfires “circled over the area in case the Germans tried a sneak raid” during the contest, however, the only assassins that day were the hired guns from the Blue Division.56

The second Tea Bowl was staged with the two-year undefeated Air Force Command Warriors and the Air Force Raiders, winners of 10 consecutive games in December of 1944. Both teams featured incredibly talented rosters, with former college players from Texas A&M, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, Duke, and several other institutions. Following a pregame parade by 500 WAC soldiers, the two teams competed fiercely in front of 40,000 screaming fans.57 Attending fans were treated to an elaborate halftime show that included five different bands (i.e., military bands and a kilted Scot-Irish band) to provide music for the entertainment of the crowd.

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The music was complemented by a horsemanship exhibition conducted by Cossack troupes, a traditional Indian war dance with tom-toms, a group of acrobatic tum- blers, and, of course, the highlight of the show—a “Varga girl.”58 However, when the Varga girl decided it was too cold for her to appear as “the GI’s had expected to see her,” much of the excited audience booed and expressed their disappoint- ment.59 Following halftime, the fans were treated to an exceptionally well played game of football. The Warriors won by a 13-0 score and improved their winning streak to 11 games.

Pacific Base Military Bowl Contests

The Pacific regions of the world lacked suitable locations for military bowl games outside of Hawaii and Australia because American football was obviously not a native product of those locales and their land was frequently war torn. As an exam- ple, the “bizarre” Atom Bowl in Nagasaki, Japan, rose “amid rubble and radiation on site where the second atomic bomb was dropped” (Jones, 2009, 4).60 To make a football game happen there and in other regions of the Pacific and to generate some interest from locals, soldiers sometimes took on the native population and embraced elements of their traditional games. For instance, in Australia, soldiers created a split game (i.e., football and rugby) to the delight of many spectators, who witnessed an amazing “donnybrook and melee” at the Richmond Athletic Club in Melbourne until it “got dark” between stationed soldiers and local competitors (Gunn, 1992, 130).61

The Mosquito Bowl, in contrast, was originally set to be a pickup football game. Created on the island of Guadalcanal on December 24, 1944, between the 4th Marines and 29th Marines of the Sixth Marine Division, the Mosquito Bowl emerged as the result of a few soldiers who enjoyed too many beers at the local watering hole. Tom Daly, former player for Loyola (Los Angeles) said he started the idea with his friend Bill Lazetich (Cleveland Rams), and they began to argue with the 29th about who had a better team. “Pretty soon we each had bet $100 on the game. By game time, I’d bet $200” (Gunn, 1992, 110). After agreeing to play, the various representatives of each unit sought out players to help them win the contest and consequently their bets. This action was similar to the activity practiced after the first Tea Bowl because Americans recruited players and the Blue Division to defeat the Canadians in the proceeding Coffee Bowl. Ultimately, the Mosquito Bowl grew into a highly organized contest with rules. Armed Forces Radio and multiple other media units also covered the event to report on the action for the huge bets and proclamations being placed on each team and its ability.

They played the Mosquito Bowl on a “coral-base, dirt and gravel field, with temperature in the eighties and horrible humidity, and without helmets or shoulder pads” (Jones, 2009, 207). Appropriately, tackling was prohibited “to preserve the men for more important things ahead” (Gunn, 1992, 110).62 The game ultimately played in front of 10,000 spectators, which included many island natives, and remained scoreless mercifully for those soldiers betting on either the green jersey 4th or white jersey 29th. Interestingly, they might have experienced great difficulty at times even witnessing the action because so much coral dust was generated from their play. Armed Forces Radio carried the game for a South Pacific audience, and the broadcast also included performances by the Marine band. A makeshift public

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address system was established to recite the game action to the sizeable crowd. Little stands or chairs existed for the attendees except for those higher ranking com- manders. Major General Lemuel Shepard, Jr., for instance, received a set of folding chairs for him and his guests during the contest. Game officials were recruited from the respective units and recognized as doing a “credible job” despite all the money wagered on the game (Gunn, 1992, 114).

Americans stationed elsewhere in the Pacific after the war also produced their own organized football leagues with a championship format similar to that of the Tea and Coffee Bowls. For example, Rice Bowl participants were determined through a small playoff across thousands of geographic miles. Specifically, in 1958, the winners of the Shuri Bowl and the Kimchi Bowl met in the Rice Bowl of Tokyo, Japan, on December 20th to determine the Far East Championship. The Shuri bowl was played in Okinawa on December 6th, with the winning team earning a ticket to the Rice Bowl later that month. A strong Air Force All-Star team set a Far East service postseason game scoring record after defeating a Marine team at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa for the Shuri Bowl championship 60-0. The Air Force All-Star opponent for the 1958 Rice Bowl was an Army team that had won the Kimchi Bowl (Seoul, Korea).63 The two winning teams met in Tokyo’s National Stadium in front of a capacity crowd of 78,000 spectators. The Air Force team won the game by a 20-0 score and was paced by quarterback Bob Schneidenbach, a former star at the University of Miami and draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Rice Bowl should be noted as offering more to its spectators than merely a championship football game. For instance, the 1958 game also served as “combined football and Christmas ceremonies” for the attending American personnel and the local Japanese population. Lieutenant General Robert W. Burns, the commander of the United States forces in Japan, conducted the Christmas celebration ceremonies, which involved both American and Japanese spectators and participants.64 Again, American traditions in foreign lands were emphasized and possibly introduced through the use of the military bowl game opportunity.

Military Bowl Games on U.S. Soil

Prior to its becoming a state in 1959, the Territory of Hawaii hosted a variety of military all-star games, as a major home base for troops training and shipping in the Pacific. For example, in 1944, crowds of 45,000 service personnel crammed into ad hoc football venues to take in such events.65 In Hawaii, the sheer number of troops stationed, likely due to preparations for the invasion of Japan, provided an opportunity for the creation of Central Pacific Armed Forces Football League. Ad hoc all-star teams emerged in Hawaii from available military personnel, who played games in front of troops and local civilians. In 1945, each fall weekend featured a game at Furlong Field (Pearl Harbor) between sailors, marines, and soldiers. Semipro and professional teams (i.e., Hawaii Bears) also formed in Hawaii during this time to play military teams that were featured in these contests. The 1945 Poi Bowl served as one specific contest held in the American island chain that illustrates the importance of football to both soldiers and fans of football in general. Specifically, in front of roughly 29,000, “King Football graciously bows

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his head today amid pageantry and color. . . . Even while the war rages . . . the leaders of our fighting forces also realize this fact because they have cooperated to their utmost in seeing that all the color and splendor of a bowl gridiron contests are made available” (Game Program, 1945).66 Loaded with all-Americans and former professional players volunteering and drafted into the military, the Navy All-Stars defeated the Army Air Force All-Stars 14-0.67

Elsewhere, in the frozen tundra of Alaska, American military groups also organized their bowl games regardless of weather or climate. As an example, during consecutive years (1949–1952) a team from the Ladd Air Force Base in Alaska and team from the University of Alaska–Fairbanks (i.e., the Polar Bears) would square off in what could be described as “the Weirdest Bowl Game” for the Ice Bowl Trophy. Dubbed by Alaskan Governor Ernest Gruening as the “farthest north gridiron championship in the world,” both teams and their fans survived brutal elements to continue their New Year’s football tradition.68

For the week preceding the first game, local snowplows typically worked on the frozen field of Griffin Stadium to keep the field playable. With temperatures as low as –45 degrees Fahrenheit the weekend before the game, maintaining the playing surface was no easy task. The first Ice Bowl began with a temperature of –25 degrees Fahrenheit and ended with a frozen scoreboard (0-0 tie). The Air Force Times described the gridders as playing on a snow-covered field with coal dust used as yard and sideline markers. The participants played with woolen under- wear underneath their uniforms and thick gloves covering their hands. On their feet they wore heavy felt shoes and shoepacks called mukluks to achieve traction on the difficult field. The only notable thrill for the 1,000 spectators occurred just before the end of the second quarter, when a 34-yard pass play was completed by the Ladd Air Force Base team. Originally thought to be a touchdown by the crowd, the sideline official noticed the footprint of Sgt. Ray Keelin on the coal dust at the 10-yard line to prevent the score.

In order to deal with the harsh conditions of the game, both coaches understood they would need to modify normal football strategy to account for the weather and field conditions. These conditions, along with the scoreless tie of 1949, prompted each team to create and implement several unique strategies, such as the “arctic V formation” and the “atomic attack formation,” to give their team the best chance to score for 1950 and beyond. The Ladd Air Force Base squad practiced consistently throughout their season and played a number of exhibition games, against other local schools, to prepare for their New Year’s Day showdown with the University of Alaska–Fairbanks in 1950. Interestingly, the throwing of snowballs had to be banned as a method to trick defenses that the quarterback was passing the ball.

The start of the 1950 game arrived with a relatively warm 10-degree Fahren- heit temperature. Still, in order to accommodate 1,200 fans, organizers utilized airplane heaters to keep locals and attending military servicemen as comfortable as possible throughout the game. Promoters created a 38-page program to sell to spectators, and a local radio station (i.e., KFAR) broadcasted the game across the region. The Associated Press also sent a film crew to capture highlights of the event, which featured snow drifts on the field capable of obscuring the ball. Similar to 1949 and the various other domestic and foreign bowl games offered

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by the military and colleges, the 1950 contest supported an honorary Ice Bowl Queen (i.e., Susie Williams), who circled the field on a dogsled to the delight of the shivering crowd.69

Back in the continental United States, more than just a trophy was at stake when the top-two service football teams met in San Diego for the “mythical national championship.” For example, in 1953, the top-two teams in the country were the Fort Ord Warriors of Monterey, California, and the Quantico Marines of Virginia. These two teams were invited to play in the prestigious Poinsettia Bowl based on their #1 and #2 rankings at the conclusion of the regular season. The game was well hyped by the media and even their pregame drills the day before the game were covered by newspapers across the country.70

The Fort Ord team proved too talented for the Quantico opponents, as they quickly pulled away from the Marines and claimed a dominating 55-19 victory. Though overmatched by the Warriors, the Quantico team, led by former Baylor star quarterback Jack Fry, finished their season as the East Coast Champions and a #2 national ranking. Quantico consistently fielded one of the best teams on the East coast throughout the World War II era and was a consistent participant in the Missile Bowl, along with appearances in the Valor Bowl and Shrimp Bowl.

The Fort Ord team, which finished the year undefeated, possessed a roster so talented that many professional teams must have been jealous. The Warriors were led by Chicago Cardinal star and former San Francisco University standout Ollie Matson, who ran for two touchdowns on the day. Joining Matson in the backfield was former Oregon State running back Dave Mann, who also recorded two rushing touchdowns. Former Washington State running back Bill Roffler accounted for the teams’ other rushing touchdown. University of Washington alumni Don Heinrich threw for a touchdown as well, connecting with former USC player and then San Francisco 49er wide receiver Ed Henke for a touchdown. Following a disappointing 1954 season in which a regular season finale loss cost the Warriors an invitation to the championship game, the Warriors won their second armed service national championship in 1955.71

Conclusion As noted in the article, this research discovered several contests that the military created to promote football. Again, the military and football initially forged a relationship because they believed football was a useful war preparation activ- ity. As an example, well-known Navy pilot William R. Kane argued the “timing and coordination” required in the football field helped the establishment of tight formation flying for battle preparation.72 Next, this work offered the notion that football and the military are conjoined because the sport of football provided men and women of the military and of the local host community with quality entertain- ment as either live or remote (i.e., radio) spectators. Football served as a tool in this capacity to not only help improve the morale of soldiers in foreign lands, but also to integrate and introduce American traditions and entertainment products into remote lands and their peoples. In many instances, local inhabitants helped stage the creation of military bowl games and frequently emerged as a large contingent

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in the stands despite not knowing the game that well. This notion is supported by the incredible attendance figures and organization displayed at many bowl events described herein. In addition to those contests, the 1958 Rice Bowl at Tokyo’s National Stadium generated the largest attendance of any service bowl game, with an estimated 78,000 spectators. The G.I. Bowl in London and the National Service Championship Game in Los Angeles also had amazing crowds of 60,000. Many other games, such as the Marine Division Championship (Melbourne), Poi Bowl (Honolulu), Riviera Bowl (Marseille, France), or Spaghetti Bowl (Florence, Italy), among others, all produced crowds of 15,000 or more, which included the native population and servicemen. These contests also demonstrated that a high level of management was required to attract visitors and produce an event capable of attract- ing spectators and safely accommodating all participant and spectator demands.

Much of the success these contests likely generated also resulted from support demonstrated by the United States Office of War Information (OWI). The OWI was assigned the responsibility of supplying news to troops located in overseas locations. Frequently, the OWI received requests for football-related stories and statistics from those individuals who would likely spend their weekend consuming the collegiate or professional versions, if they were back home. The OWI responded to these requests by sending out roughly 7,500 words daily on football-related stories along with scores and photographs through hand-to-hand messaging, newspaper publications, headquarter or base exchanges, and radio broadcasts.73 There is little doubt that the OWI was also attracted to these events because they included newsworthy participants who were frequently recruited and persuaded to appear at the various bowl games to enhance the performance or spectacle. Again, the number of highly accomplished star athletes from both the professional and college ranks generated great appeal at these events. Heisman trophy winners, all-Americans, and professional athletes were frequently highlighted in the promotions and stories following the events to elevate the prestige of the contest. Celebrities of all sorts (i.e., established celebrities like Rosalind Russell or homemade ones like the various queens) also appeared at these events to attract crowds and to showcase the event as a marquee activity. Bragging rights to one group and interested spectators (i.e., military and local bettors) also led many to attend and consume (i.e., remotely through media) the bowl activity too.

In the end, soldiers stationed overseas used football as a means for coping with the difficulties of foreign occupation duties. Military leaders have, throughout history, searched for methods to keep their stationed troops focused, in shape, and in high spirits. The descriptions above suggest that military service officers—known as athletic officers (AOs) or SSOs, such as Zeke Bonura—were specifically created by the United States military to organize competitions for soldiers in order to occupy their attention and entertain them on domestic and foreign soils.74 Typically, SSOs were assigned the responsibility to coach, act as an athletic director or administrator, and promote or develop sport leagues for military participation in both domestic and foreign lands. The SSOs or AOs on many military bases tried to duplicate the college bowl experience (i.e., tradition and atmosphere) to demonstrate to the troops that they were engaged in “an important and necessary demonstration of American life” (Wakefield, 1997, 89). The present work suggests they were successful in

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that endeavor because American military leaders in all branches utilized the bowl game phenomenon to achieve these measures and as a tool for escape from the hard realities of war.

Military bowl games also greatly impacted the play of football after the war years, and to help grow the sport in the United States. For example, following the conclusion of World War II, Douglas A. Noverr and Lawrence E. Ziewacz, authors of The Game They Played: Sports in American History, 1865-1980, argued that “pent-up consumer demands” helped college sports explode following the conclu- sion of World War II (1983, 138).75 The conclusion of the war flooded America with a huge number of individuals eager to return and compete as a result of their focused training.76 Coming back in all shapes and sizes, these young and veteran American soldiers, sailors, and marines drastically improved the college game through innovation and interest, which now did not lack for equipment, participants, spectators, or other media attention.

Beano Cook suggested that the manpower shortages universities suffered during World War II can be juxtaposed against the manpower surpluses military-based teams supported to show an evolutionary step in the management of football offenses and defenses.77 Specifically, the surpluses at military bases created the conditions necessary to establish multiple platoons for offensive and defensive play. This not only presented physical advantages to teams, but also schematic rewards because players could specialize in specific jobs over multitasking. Coaches could create more complicated and complex defensive and offensive playing systems to utilize the special skills of their players. Appropriately, “improvements in pass protection, the use of motion and multiple offensive sets to spread defenses, as well as free substitution and fluid defensive schemes developed during World War II would all fuse into the modern incarnation we watch on television today” (Jones, 2009, 5).78 As an example, Colonel Elmer Hall, former player for Oregon and the Mare Island Marines, coached the San Diego Marine Corps to incredible success by implementing and introducing mass and situational substitution to football oppo- nents to showcase the innovation and evolution of the American game.79 Coaches and players from these systems took these new innovations and styles of play to bowl contests they would create all over the world and domestically after World War II. Overall, from 1945 (i.e., end of World War II) to 1964, approximately 20 new bowl games were created, which produced a total of 87 games for college institutions and fans to enjoy.80

There is little doubt the frequency, promotion, and overall success of the various military-created bowl games helped the sport of football develop all over the United States and give rise to the college football bowl game as an important piece of Americana, today supporting 35 bowl games during the holiday season. Ultimately achieving its position as the most popular spectator sport in America following World War II, football owes some of its success to the conjoined status of football and the military, which was evident through the reproduction of the American college football experience through the very unique military bowl games.

Notes

1. Wilbur D. Jones, Football! Navy! War!: How military lend-lease players saved the college game and helped win World War II. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2009): 2.

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2. Harry Wismer, “Football Pictorial Yearbook 1944,” 5.

3. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!,” 7.

4. Donald W. Rominger, Jr. “From playing field to battleground: The United States Navy V-5 Preflight Program in World War II,” Journal of Sport History, 3 (1985): 252.

5. John A. Gunn, The old core. (Costa Mesa, CA, J&J Publishing, 1992): Foreword.

6. Thomas Wintringham, New ways of war (Hammondworth, England: Penguin Books, 1940): 43, 66.

7. John Carl Warnecke, “How a Nazi general changed Stanford football and revolutionized the American game,” Sandstone & Tile the Stanford Historical Society, 26, (2002): 21. Shaughnessy established a 151-116-7 career college coaching record with the likes of Tulane, Loyola (LA), Chicago, Stanford, Maryland, and Pittsburgh along with a 14-7-3 career coaching record as leader of the Los Angeles Rams. See also “Gridiron Training is Preparing Men to Battle Enemy,” The Real McCoy, October, 30, 1942, p. 5. In Papers of the 601st Ordnance Battalion, Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

8. Harry Stuhldreher also achieved success as a three-time all-American quarterback of the fabled Four Horsemen at Notre Dame in addition to coaching both Villanova and Wisconsin to a career record of 110-87-15.

9. For further support of this point see Wanda Ellen Wakefield, Playing to win: Sports and the American military 1898-1945. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997).

10. National Collegiate Athletic Association 2010, Bowl/All-Star Game Records: Special Regular- and Postseason Games. Indianapolis, IN: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/ DI/2010/FullBook.pdf (accessed November 24, 2010): 107–110.

11. Douglas A. Noverr and Lawrence E. Ziewacz, The game they played: Sports in American history, 1865-1980. (Chicago, Nelson-Hall, 1983): 171. Noverr and Ziewacz also suggested foot- ball was formally acknowledged as valuable to the war effort by organizers because it provided an additional escape through participation or war theatres for servicemen.

12. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 65.

13. DeWitt A. Portal “The United States needs a program of mass boxing,” In The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Boxing Guide, edited by C.P. Schott & H.R. Riley, Jr. 3–4, New York: A.S. Barnes and Company Publishers 1941. See also Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 43.

14. To better understand and view the lost manliness of America and desire to improve that qual- ity in males, see Wakefield, “Playing to win,” 195 and Peter G. Filene, Him/Her/Self: Sex Roles in Modern America, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986). Donald J. Mrozek, “The Habit of Victory: The American Military and the Cult of Manliness,” in Manliness and Morality: Middle-class Masculinity in Britain and America, 1800-1940, eds. J. A. Mangan and James Walvin (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987).

15. Portal “The United States needs a program of mass boxing.” 3. See also Guy Lewis, “World War I and Sport for the Masses,” The Maryland Historian, 4 (1973): 111 for a seminal work on sport for the masses that supports this position.

16. See also E.C. Wallenfeldt, The six-minute fraternity: The rise and fall of NCAA tournament boxing 1932-1960. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994): 2. United States War Department, Raymond Fosdick, Chairman, Report of Chairman on Training Camp Activities, 1918 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918): 3–4, 7.

17. MacArthur quoted from his June 22, 1922 Annual Report, included in A Soldier Speaks: Public Papers and Speeches of General of the Army Douglas A. MacArthur, Major Vorin E. Whan, Jr., ed. (New York and Washington, D.C.: Frederick A. Preager Publishers, 1965): 21–22.

18. United States War Department, Raymond Fosdick, Chairman, Report of Chairman on Train- ing Camp Activities, 1918 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918): 3–4, 7.

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19. Edward Frank Allen, Keeping Our Fighters Fit: For War and After (New York: The Century Co., 1918): 48.

20. “Football Honors Go to Doughboys,” Trench and Camp, October 29, 1918, p. 1. The U.S. 32nd infantry played the 64th field artillery in October 1918.

21. “Editorial,” Stars and Stripes, April 12, 1918, p. 4.

22. John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Forces, My Experience in the World War, vol. i (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1931): 317–318. See also Wakefield, “Playing to win,” 17.

23. Gunn, “The old core,” 30.

24. Rominger, “From playing field to battleground,” 254. This information is also evident in Wakefield, “Playing to win,” Chapter 4.

25. Noverr and Ziewacz, “The game they played,” 137–138.

26. Noverr and Ziewacz, “The game they played,” 137–142.

27. Mike Vaccaro, 1941: The greatest year in sports. (New York: Doubleday, 2007): 4.

28. “Many Benefit Games suggested: Colleges respond to charity pleas,” Border Cities Star, November 5, 1930, p. 12. “Relief game by Army, Navy is decided on,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 8, 1930, p. 20. “Army beats Navy 6-0,” Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1930, p. A1.

29. “Floats’ beauties surpass: Crowd of 750,000 sees most colorful pageant in history of Tour- nament of Roses,” Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1930; p. B1. See also Robert M. Ours, Bowl games: College football’s greatest tradition. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2004): 5.

30. Paul S. George. “Brokers, binders, and builders: Greater Miami’s boom of the mid-1920s,” The Florida Historical Quarterly, 65 (1986): 27–51.

31. Roger A. Pielke, Jr. and Christopher W. Landsea, “Normalized Hurricane Damages in the United States: 1925-95.” Weather and Forecasting, American Meteorological Society, 13 (1998): 621–631.

32. “Manhattan ready to play in South: Setting of Pageantry will surround benefit game,” The New York Times, January 2, 1933, p. 31. “New Year’s parade will be colorful,” Miami Daily News, December 30, 1935, p. 1. “She’s Orange Bowl queen,” The Milwaukee Journal, December 30, 1935, p. 13.

33. “3000 musicians, 30 bands will take part in colorful Orange Bowl Parade,” Miami Daily News, December 29, 1939, p. 17.

34. Those contests occurred in Miami (7—Orange Bowls), New Orleans (7—Sugar Bowls), Dallas/Ft. Worth (5—Cotton Bowls, 3—Dixie Classics, and 1—Ft. Worth Bowl), El Paso (5—Sun Bowls), Los Angeles (1—LA Christmas Classic), San Diego, (1—East-West Game), Hawaii (7— Poi/Pineapple Bowls), and Havana (2—Bacardi Bowls).

35. John Griffith. “Letter to Francis Keppel,” 16 October 1941. Joint Army-Navy Committee for Welfare and Recreation, Record Group 225, File 171, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

36. Navy Department Press Release, 19 April 1942, Physical Fitness Correspondence, Record Group 24, Command File, BuAero Folder, NA. Other members of the committee include athletic directors William Bingham (Harvard), Ray Eckmann (Washington), Jack Meagher (Auburn), and L. W. St. John (Ohio State), and faculty members Joseph Raycroft (Princeton), Elmer Mitchell (Michigan), and Dean Carl Schott (Penn State), along with Minnesota coach Bernie Bierman.

37. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 15.

38. Rominger, “From Playing Field to Battleground,” 253, 261.

39. Athletic Journal, 13 (February 1942): 3.

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40. John Da Grosa. NCAA Guide 1944, 26.

41. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!,” 16-19. Jones pointed out that great coaches included Paul Brown, Joe Maniaci, Bud Wilkinson, and Bear Bryant, to name a few. Some great college players included Otto Graham, Elroy Hirsh, Charley Trippi, Les Horvath, and Wee Willie Wilkin. Many schools used World War II as an opportunity to eliminate or suspend football on campus. Overall, in 1942, more than 60 colleges dumped football for this reason and the lack of quality players and roughly 350 colleges suspended football for a season or during all of World War II.

42. Furman Bisher “You’re in the Army, Mr. Trippi,” Southern Living, 1984.

43. John Da Grosa and Bob Hall. The Official NCAA Guide 1946 (New York, A.S. Barnes, 1946): 20.

44. United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. The Aviation Sports Program in U.S. Navy Pre-flight Training Schools (Washington, D.C.: Navy Department, 1944): 3–6; See also Thomas Hamilton, “Football in the Navy” in The Official NCAA 1942 Football Guide, ed. Walter R. Okeson (New York, A.S. Barnes, 1942): 21. Prior to coaching the Midshipmen in 1934, Hamilton coached the West Coast Navy in 1931 until 1933 to a 20-4-2 record. In 1942, the Football Writers Association awarded Hamilton with its annual award due to his work establishing naval training programs, which included football at colleges and duty stations throughout the country.

45. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 259.

46. Ned Cronin, December 10, 1944 Fourth Air Force v. Randolph Field in Los Angeles Coli- seum. Game Program.

47. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 31.

48. NCAA, “Bowl/All-Star Game Records,” 107–110.

49. The Pro Football Hall of Fame shows approximately 995 NFL and former NFL players and personnel enlisted in the various military services during World War II. Roughly 500 major league baseball players also served.

50. Bonura played 917 games; batted .307, belted 119 home runs, and knocked in 704 runs during his eight-year baseball career.

51. Gary Bedingfield, Baseball’s Dead of World War II: A roster of professional players who died in service. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010): 5–6.

52. Gary Bedingfield, Baseball in Wartime. “Zeke Bonura.” Assessed November 24, 2010 http:// www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/bonura_zeke.htm. See also “Czar of North African Baseball.” “Bonura Gets Award,” Stars and Stripes, October 27, 1943, p. 3.

53. Harrigan, Sergeant James. “Army Eleven Conquers Navy 10-7, Before Colorful Crowd in Africa.” New York Times; Jan 2, 1944, S1. “Rabchasers Win North Africa’s Grid Crown,” Stars and Stripes, January 3, 1944, p. 3.

54. New York Times, Jan 2, 1944, S1.

55. New York Times, Jan 2, 1944, S1.

56. Canadian Press, “U.S. Soldiers top Canadian Eleven,” New York Times, Mar 20, 1944, 21. Canadian Press, “London Bow Game Set,” New York Times, Mar 4, 1944, 19.

57. Associated Press, “Piper, Chicago, Star of London Tea Bowl Game.” Chicago Daily Tribune; Jan 1, 1945, 31.

58. A Varga girl is better known as a pin-up girl. The term Varga girl is based on the work of Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas, who created the first pin-up girl posters using his airbrush paint- ing techniques.

59. United Press, “Tea Bowl Game Won by Service Command.” New York Times; Jan 1, 1945, 26.

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60. For more information on the Atom Bowl see, W.W. Watt, “A Bowl Game Amid the Ruins of War,” New York Times, Jan. 1, 1984, S2. John D. Lukacs, “Nagasaki 1946: Football Amid the Ruins,” New York Times, Dec. 25, 2005, G9. Associated Press, “Atom Bowl Game Listed,” New York Times, Dec. 29, 1945, p. 19. Associated Press, “Osmanski’s Team Wins,” New York Times, Jan. 3, 1946, p. 27. In the southwest Pacific, Marines invented a game in 1944 called ocean foot- ball, in which play occurred on a 40-yard field underwater; plays stopped when the ball carrier had to surface for water. John Da Grosa and Edward H. Nichterlein, The Official NCAA Guide 1945, 30.

61. Gunn, “The old core,” 130.

62. It was not unusual for football games organized by the military to prohibit tackling. For example, the lack of players and the uniqueness of war prompted many two-hand touch games to save the soldiers from bodily harm. See also “817th Teams Battle to 6-6 Tie in Camp’s Football Opener,” Armodier, November 5, 1942, p. 5.

63. Associated Press, “Fort Ord Routs Marines, 55-19.” Chicago Daily Tribune; Dec 21, 1953,C1.

64. Associated Press, “Airmen Beat Army Stars in Tokyo.” Chicago Daily Tribune; Dec 21, 1958, A2.

65. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 54.

66. Game program, Navy All-Stars v. Army Air Forces Pacific Ocean Areas, Pearl Harbor, Janu- ary 7, 1945. See also Pearl Harbor Banner, “Attendance Records Smashed by Mob Who Attended Poi Bowl” Jan 12, 1945, 1. “Down the Runway,” Brief, December 26, 1944, p. 16. “Navy Beats AAF, Dobbs in Poi Bowl Game, 14-0,” Brief, January 16, 1945, p. 17.

67. Navy team included ten players with professional experience and nine former all-Americans, while the Army team possessed five former professional players and seven former all-Americans.

68. The Ice Bowl Trophy was donated by Fairbanks industrialist Captain A.E. Lanthrop. Dermot Cole, Fairbanks: A gold rush town that beat the odds. (Fairbanks, AL: University of Alaska Press, 2008): 169–172. See also www.mmbolding.com

69. Associated Press, “Alaska Mushes to 3-0 Victory in Ice Bowl.” Assessed November 24, 2010 from: www.mmbolding.com

70. Associated Press, “Service Teams Clash Today in Poinsettia.” Chicago Daily Tribune; Dec 20, 1953, A2.

71. Associated Press, “Fort Ord Routs Marines, 55-19.” Chicago Daily Tribune; Dec 21, 1953, C1.

72. William R. Kane, “Football Pays Off,” in NCAA Official 1945 Guide, ed. W. Bingham (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1945): 41–43.

73. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 199-200. See also Wakefield, “Playing to Win,” where she documents throughout the war years the desire of U.S. soldiers in foreign lands to see and hear information about sporting events as a way to stay connected to home.

74. Wakefield, “Playing to win,” 79-82. See also U.S. War Department, The Special Services Officer (Athletic and Recreation), TM 21-205, September, 1944, p. 24–25. The SSOs or AOs were required to appreciate in their technical manual that without their assistance in organizing competitions, soldiers could experience severe “boredom,” which could lead to poor morale and performance or execution of their job duties on the battlefield.

75. Noverr and Lawrence, “The game they played,” 138.

76. Michael Oriard, King football: Sport and spectacle in the golden age of radio and newsreels, movies and magazines, the weekly and the daily press. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001): 116. Specifically, Oriard discovered that about 2.2 million veterans went to college on the G.I. Bill between 1945 and 1950 and returning veterans made up over 50% of the players in college football and up to 90% on some teams.

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77. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 4–5.

78. Jones, “Football! Navy! War!” 5. See also Gunn, “The old core,” 58.

79. Gunn, “The old core,” 58.

80. New Bowl Games: Gator, Glass, Pineapple, and Raisin (1946); Harbor, Great Lakes, and Lodi Grape (1947); Tangerine, Delta, Dixie, and Salad (1948); Presidential and Cigar (1950); Bluegrass (1958); Bluebonnet and Liberty (1959); Aviation, Gotham, and Mercy (1961).