The Cactus Bowl (formerly the Snow Bowl) was a postseason college football all-star game played each January in

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County, Texas, Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 in Texas, U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi, Texas, Corpus Christi and Ha ...

, which showcased the best

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

prospects of those collegiate players who had completed their eligibility in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

. First played in 1994 at the

Fargodome Fargodome is an indoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, North Dakota. Opened in late 1992, the facility is owned by the City of Fargo and built on unive ...

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

, as the Snow Bowl, the game moved to

Javelina Stadium Javelina Stadium is a stadium in Kingsville, Texas. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of Texas A&M University–Kingsville. The stadium holds 15,000 people and opened in 1950. A new scoreboard was installed dur ...

on the campus of

Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M University–Kingsville is a Public university, public research university in Kingsville, Texas. It is the southernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System. The university developed the nation's first doctoral degree in bilingual ...

in 2001 as the Cactus Bowl. Proceeds went to the

Shriners Hospitals for Children Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...

. The game typically consisted of 88 total players; in all but the final year, teams were designated East and West, composed of players from those regions of the United States. The game gave

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...

a chance to view the relatively low profile Division II talent, prompting its slogan of "the best players you've never seen." The bowl's website (now defunct) said that more than 100 players of the game later signed with the NFL. The bowl lasted through 2011, after which it was merged with the

USA College Football Bowl The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

Winner

Overall records: West over East (10–5–1) and Red Storm over Blue Devils (1–0)

Most Valuable Players

Players in the NFL

Cactus Bowl players (2001–2010) who later appeared in the NFL.

References

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External links

cactusbowl.org
from February 2010 – via

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Defunct college football bowls Recurring sporting events established in 1994 NCAA Division II football College football in North Dakota College football bowls in Texas Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas

Winner

Most Valuable Players

Players in the NFL

See also

References

External links