The 1969

Grantland Rice Bowl The Grantland Rice Bowl was an annual college football bowl game from 1964 through 1977, in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's College Division, for smaller universities and colleges, and later NCAA Division II, Division II. The ...

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 1969 season, between the

East Tennessee State Buccaneers The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are the 16 intercollegiate athletics teams that represent East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee. ETSU's teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, socce ...

and the

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters, commonly abbreviated La. Tech and Dawgs, refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University, in Ruston, Louisiana. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2013, Louisiana Tech has been ...

. This was the first time that the Grantland Rice Bowl was played in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

– prior games had been played in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

Notable participants

Louisiana Tech quarterback

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

was selected first in the

1970 NFL Draft The 1970 National Football League Draft was the 35th National Football League Draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, 1 ...

by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. His teammates Larry Brewer and

Tommy Spinks Thomas Allen Spinks, known as Tommy Spinks (October 29, 1948 – August 26, 2007), was an American football wide receiver. He played college football for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Spinks set two records in the 1968 Grantland Rice Bowl, ...

were also drafted. Bradshaw and Spinks are inductees of their university's athletic hall of fame, as is head coach

Maxie Lambright Maxie Thomas Lambright (June 23, 1924 – January 28, 1980) was the head coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team from 1967 to 1978 and the Louisiana Tech University athletic director from 1970 to 1978. He led Louisiana Tech to three Div ...

. Bradshaw is an inductee of both 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 ...

and 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 ...

. Wide receiver Pat Hauser of East Tennessee State was also selected in the 1970 NFL Draft. Inductees of the university's athletics hall of fame include Hauser,

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 ...

Bill Casey, quarterback Larry Graham, and head coach

John Robert Bell John Robert Bell (June 12, 1922 – December 25, 2008) was an American college football coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning—now known as ...

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

External links

1969 Grantland Rice Bowl memories with ETSU players
(video)
Members of 1969 team look back at Grantland Rice Bowl victory

{{Louisiana Tech Bulldogs bowl game navbox 1969 NCAA College Division football season Grantland Rice Bowl East Tennessee State Buccaneers football bowl games Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football bowl games December 1969 sports events in the United States

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 ...