Pecan Bowl
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The Pecan Bowl was the name of two
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 ...
bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
s played in two different eras. The initial version, in 1946 and 1947, was contested by
historically black colleges and universities Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...
(HBCUs). The later version, held from 1964 through 1970, was an
NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...
regional final.


History


HBCUs

The original Pecan Bowl was played in
Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Burg'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2020 United Stat ...
in 1946 and 1947. Both games were hosted (and won) by South Carolina State.


College Division

The Pecan Bowl name was revived for one of the four regional finals of the College Division, before it was subdivided into Division II and Division III in 1973. The game served as the championship for the Midwest Region from 1964 to 1970, at a time when there were no playoffs at any level of NCAA football. For the smaller colleges and universities, as for the major programs, the national champion was determined by polls conducted by the leading news wire services. The bowl was played in
Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor County, Texas, Taylor and Jones County, Texas, Jones counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan ar ...
from 1964 to 1967 and in
Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...
, from 1968 to 1970. The intent for the Midwest game was to match the two best non-major teams from a region of eleven states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. The other three regional finals were the
Tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...
(later
Boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway typically built with wooden planks, which functions as a type of low water bridge or small viaduct that enables pedestrians to ...
),
Grantland Rice Henry Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880 – July 13, 1954) was an American sportswriter and poet known as the "Dean of American Sports Writers". He coined the famous phrase that it was not important whether you “won or lost, but how you playe ...
, and
Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...
bowls. Louisiana was moved to the Mideast Region in 1967, prior to the Grantland Rice Bowl relocating from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Baton Rouge. The bowl name was selected through a public contest in 1964, and was considered appropriate as Abilene is in the Texas
pecan The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia ( ...
belt. The game was played four times at
Shotwell Stadium Shotwell Stadium is a stadium in Abilene, Texas. It was built in 1959, using Rice Stadium as a model. It was initially named the Public Schools Stadium. The first game played in the stadium was in the fall of 1959. Shortly after the first season ...
in Abilene, before moving to Arlington's Memorial Stadium in 1968. The last Pecan Bowl was held at Arlington's
Turnpike Stadium Arlington Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, United States, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It served as the home of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 unt ...
, a minor-league baseball facility subsequently expanded to serve as the initial home of the Texas Rangers in 1972. The inaugural game matched the State College of Iowa (now the
University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 90 majors across five colleges. The fall 2024 total enrollment was 9,283 students. The university was initially founded in 1 ...
) and Lamar Tech (now
Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...
), and was won by State College. Two schools made three appearances in the Pecan Bowl, North Dakota State and Arkansas State, with both winning twice and losing once. They played each other in 1968, in a game won by top-ranked NDSU. In March 1971 the Midwest regional final was moved from Arlington to
Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...
, where it was rebranded as the
Pioneer Bowl Pioneer Bowl may refer to one of the following college football bowl games: * Pioneer Bowl (1971–1982), played in Wichita Falls, Texas, first as an NCAA College Division regional bowl game, then as a Division II postseason game, and finally as the ...
.


Game results


HBCUs


College Division


See also

*
List of college bowl games This is a list of college football bowl games, including those proposed and defunct. Six bowl games are part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving twelve of the top-ranked teams in the NCAA Divis ...


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


1966 Pecan Bowl Game Film (Parsons in dark jerseys)
Defunct college football bowls