The 1966 Tangerine Bowl 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 ...

game following the 1966 season, between the

West Chester Golden Rams The West Chester Golden Rams represent West Chester University of Pennsylvania, which is located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in intercollegiate sports. They compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in NCAA Division II. Th ...

and the

Morgan State Bears The Morgan State Bears are the twelve varsity sports teams representing Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, tennis and track and field; women's-only bow ...

. Morgan State

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Willie Lanier Willie Edward Lanier (born August 21, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a middle linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1967 through 1977. He won postseason honors for eight consecutive years, making the Amer ...

was named the game's most valuable player.

Background

The game was one of four regional finals in the College Division, the predecessor of Division II; the other three postseason games were the

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 in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, ...

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 10.

Notable participants

Morgan State players who subsequently had

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 major ...

careers include Lanier,

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Bob Wade,

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

(later,

)

Daryl Johnson Daryl E. Johnson (born August 11, 1946) is a former American football defensive back who played in the American Football League, the National Football League, and the World Football League. He was a member of the Boston Patriots and was a membe ...

, wide receiver Alvin Mitchell, and linebacker (later,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

)

Jeff Queen Jeffrey Richard Queen (born August 15, 1946) is a former professional American football player who played as a running back for six seasons for the San Diego Chargers, the Oakland Raiders, and the Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a pr ...

. Wade also went on to be head basketball coach for the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

. James Phillips played in the NFL and went on to become head football and wrestling coach at Morgan State. Lanier and head coach

Earl Banks Earl C. Banks (June 11, 1924 – October 27, 1993) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at Morgan State College—now known as Morgan State University—from 1960 to 1973, compili ...

are inductees of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Lanier is an inductee of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

. West Chester quarterback Jim Haynie,

offensive end An end in American and Canadian football is a player who lines up at either end of the line of scrimmage, usually beside the tackles. Rules state that a legal offensive formation must always consist of seven players on the line of scrimmage and ...

Don Wilkinson, and head coach Bob Mitten are inductees of their university's hall of fame.

Background

Notable participants

Scoring summary

References

Further reading