The 1963 Gator Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

postseason bowl game that featured the

Air Force Falcons The Air Force Falcons are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the United States Air Force Academy, located in El Paso County, Colorado north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. Th ...

and the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

Background

This was the Falcons' first bowl game since

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. The Tar Heels were co-champions of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

, which was their first conference title since the 1949

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

title. This was their first bowl game in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

Game summary

*UNC – Willard 1-yard run (Kick failed), 2:34 remaining *UNC – Edge 6-yard run (Pass failed), 9:40 remaining *UNC – Robinson 5-yard pass from Black (Robinson pass from Black), 4:29 remaining *UNC – Kesler 1-yard run ( Lacey pass from Edge), 4:44 remaining *UNC – Black 5-yard run ( Chapman kick), 13:19 remaining Willard ran for 94 yards on 18 carries.

Aftermath

Air Force did not return to a bowl game until

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, nor win one until

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. North Carolina did not return to a bowl game until

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

. The morning after the game, there was a fire at the Hotel Roosevelt in downtown Jacksonville, with 22 dying.

Background

Game summary

Aftermath

Statistics

References

Further reading