The Medal of Honor Bowl was an American

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all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

played in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, in January 2014 and 2015. The bowl was not sanctioned by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA). Primary beneficiaries of the game were the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

Museum on the aircraft carrier and, initially, the

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Background

In 2004, Tommy McQueeney, a former

Citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

Board of

Visitor A visitor, in English and Welsh law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution, often a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty, who can interve ...

s member, led an ownership group interested in starting a Charleston-based college bowl game, the "Palmetto Bowl", but was blocked by an NCAA ban on playing postseason games at pre-determined locations in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

due to the

Confederate battle flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

being flown at a civil war monument on the

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grounds.

History

The Charleston-based bowl attempt was revived as a proposed "Legends Bowl" to begin in 2014 at

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

Johnson Hagood Stadium Johnson Hagood Stadium is an 11,500-seat football stadium, the home field of The Citadel Bulldogs football team, in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The stadium is named in honor of Brigadier General Johnson Hagood, CSA, class of 18 ...

featuring teams from the

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and Mid-American conferences, with

NBCSN NBCSN (also known as NBC Sports Network) was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Lif ...

as its broadcasting partner. The Medal of Honor Bowl was announced by organizers in October 2013, as a college football all-star game in place of the proposed Legends Bowl. The game would not require the NCAA bowl committee's approval, by inviting players who have exhausted their college eligibility. The first game was scheduled for January 11, 2014, at Johnson Hagood Stadium with the expectation of drawing players from SEC and ACC conferences. Organizers reached a five-year agreement with The Citadel for use of its stadium. The American and National teams for 2014 were chosen from a pool of 300 players by the bowl's executive director, who looked for players with profiles expected to fill

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needs in the fourth to seventh rounds. Pro Player Insiders ranked college football all-star games in September 2014, placing this game fourth. At that time, 64 players from the bowl had been drafted, signed, or had a tryout with an NFL team; there were 7 players on active rosters, 16 players on practice squads, and 2 players on

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. In October 2014, the bowl announced that NBCSN would broadcast the next game on January 10, 2015, starting at 2:30 PM. Another South Carolina-based game, the College All-Star Bowl, had started in 2013, and was played twice in Greenville. With the similarity in purpose of the College All-Star Bowl and the Medal of Honor Bowl, in July 2014 it was announced that the College All-Star Bowl would cease operations, and that game's founder would join the Medal of Honor Bowl as director of player development. Later that month,

Sam Wyche Samuel David Wyche (; January 5, 1945 – January 2, 2020) was an American professional football quarterback and coach. He was a quarterback and head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. As hea ...

, a College All-Star Bowl board member, was announced as a member of the Medal of Honor Bowl's national board of directors. On August 27, 2015, after the NCAA lifted its ban on playing postseason games at pre-determined locations in South Carolina (following the State House's July 2015 removal of the Confederate battle flag), bowl organizers announced their intent to apply for NCAA sanctioning as a traditional postseason bowl game featuring FBS college teams, with a tentative game date of December 18, 2016. However, in April 2016, the NCAA announced a moratorium on new bowl games. Medal of Honor Bowl organizers tentatively set a date of January 7, 2017, for playing the game under its prior all-star format. In September 2016, organizers announced that the bowl would be suspended, due to Johnson Hagood Stadium having "myriad issues related to structural integrity and lead paint mitigation." The announcement included cancellation of the game tentatively planned for January 7, 2017, and a new tentative date of January 13, 2018. As of May 2017, significant renovation work was underway at Johnson Hagood Stadium. As of early January 2018, there have been no press releases or recent updates to the official website; the bowl appears to be on indefinite hold.

Game results

2014: American 20, National 3

2015: National 26, American 14

MVPs

References

External links

* {{Bowl game navbox College football all-star games Sports competitions in Charleston, South Carolina 2014 establishments in South Carolina Sports competitions in South Carolina American football in South Carolina