The 1964 Tangerine Bowl was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

between the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division ...

and the

UMass Redmen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

, played in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

Background

From 1964 through 1967, the Tangerine Bowl was one of four postseason games in the

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 ...

, the Atlantic regional final. The 1964 game had the Redmen of the

Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the an ...

and the independent Pirates. The other three regional finals in the College Division were the

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Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

, and

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

bowls, also played on December 12.

Game summary

The game ultimately was decided by special teams. The Redmen scored twice on Jerry Whelchel touchdown passes. However, on the second extra point, Whelchel's kick went wide, and the lead was 13–0. The Pirates then came up with a touchdown on a George Richardson run to narrow the lead. But when they tried to make the deficit smaller, the 2-point conversion attempt failed, leaving it at 13–6. In the fourth quarter, the Pirates went on a 90-yard drive, culminating in a 9-yard run by tailback Bill Cline. Rather than going for the tie, they went for the win; the 2-point conversion succeeded on a pass from Cline to Dave Bumgarner, giving the Pirates the lead and ultimately the win. Cline was named the game's MVP.

Aftermath

East Carolina also played in the 1965 Tangerine Bowl and then moved to the University Division in 1966, and have since played in multiple bowl games at the Division I (now FBS) level. Massachusetts played in the

Boardwalk Bowl The Boardwalk Bowl was a post-season college football game held at the former Atlantic City Convention Center (now Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from 1961 to 1973. History Inaugurated in 1961, the game featured an annual matchup ...

in 1972; the team moved to the new

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

(now FCS) in 1978, and then to FBS in 2012.

Statistics

Notes

Some websites state Massachusetts quarterback Jerry Whelchel was the game's MVP, however contemporary newspaper accounts only recognize Cline. The UMass website states Whelchel was ''his team's'' MVP ("UMass' MVP") for the game.

References

Tangerine Bowl Citrus Bowl (game) East Carolina Pirates football bowl games UMass Minutemen football bowl games Tangerine Bowl Tangerine Bowl {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub