The 1959 Liberty Bowl, part of the 1959 bowl game season, took place on December 19, 1959, at

Philadelphia Municipal Stadium John F. Kennedy Stadium, formerly Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Sesquicentennial Stadium. was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia that stood from 1926 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was on the east side of the far southern end of ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was the inaugural edition of the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

. The competing teams were the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

, representing the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC), and the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

, competing as a football independent. In a game dominated by both defenses, Penn State was victorious in by a final score of 7–0. The game is notable as the first football game Alabama ever played against an integrated team.

Teams

Alabama

The 1959 Alabama squad finished the regular season with a 7–1–2 record and played in a bowl for the first time since the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic. This was the first bowl for

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

as head coach of the Crimson Tide. After

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

turned down an offer, Alabama accepted a bid to play in the inaugural Liberty Bowl on November 30. Alabama had been offered a spot in the

Bluegrass Bowl The Bluegrass Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played only once, on December 13, 1958, at Cardinal Stadium (later known as "Old Cardinal Stadium") in Louisville, Kentucky. The Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated Florida State Seminoles, ...

, scheduled to be played the same day as the Liberty Bowl, but turned down that invitation; the Bluegrass Bowl was subsequently canceled.

Penn State

After starting the season 7–0, Penn State dropped two of their final three games to finish the regular season with a record of 8–2. The Nittany Lions accepted a bid for the Liberty Bowl on November 23 with the other opponent identified as being either

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, SMU or

. Alabama was selected as the opponent after Navy turned down an offer. The game marked the first bowl for Penn State since the

1948 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season game between the SMU Mustangs and the Penn State Nittany Lions. The game was a struggle of yardage with the final score being decided on a missed extra point. Background SMU was coached by Matty Bell ...

Game summary

In a game dominated by both defenses, the only points were scored at the end of the second quarter by the Nittany Lions on a

fake field goal A fake field goal is a trick play in American football. Simply, it involves a running or passing play done out of a kick formation. Usually the holder (often the punter or backup quarterback on most teams) will throw or run. Less frequently, the pl ...

. This lone touchdown was scored by Roger Kochman on a 17-yard reception from

Galen Hall Galen Samuel Hall (born August 14, 1940) is a retired American college and professional football coach and player. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of Penn State University, where he played college football. Hall was previously t ...

with Sam Stellatella adding the

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty Bowl, 1959 1959–60 NCAA football bowl games

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

December 1959 sports events in the United States

Teams

Alabama

Penn State

Game summary

See also

References