The Dixie Rotary Bowl was a college

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 Subdivi ...

initiated by the St. George, Utah Rotary Club and hosted at Greater Zion Stadium, the home field of Dixie State Junior College in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

. From 1986 to 2005, the game was a junior college bowl sanctioned by the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

, featuring top NJCAA teams. In 2003, the bowl played host to the NJCAA national championship. The bowl transitioned to

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

from 2006 to 2008 after Dixie State University became a four-year college and transitioned to

. The bowl was canceled before the beginning of the 2009 season, after the home team had failed to appear in consecutive seasons, reducing local interest.Tough economy claims 2009 Dixie Rotary Bowl - cstv.com - August 24, 2009
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History

Shortly after its creation, the bowl became recognized as one of the top junior college bowl games in the nation. Beginning in 1991, the game was broadcast on the

Armed Forces Radio Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

. The 1996 game was televised live to 33 states by Prime Sports Network, the first live broadcast of a junior college bowl game. The bowl began a transition to NCAA Division II in 2006. The NCAA gave Dixie State University special permission to participate in the bowl during the transition years of 2006 and 2007. Dixie State would face the highest-ranked team in the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

that did not receive a bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs. In 2007 the Dixie Rotary Bowl finalized an agreement to participate in NCAA Division II, signing a participation agreement with the

and the

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It has historically operated in the northwestern United States, but al ...

. Under the agreement, each conference was to send its highest-ranked team that did not receive a bid to the NCAA Division II football playoffs.

NJCAA National Championships

The Dixie Rotary Bowl twice played host to the NJCAA National Football Championship. The first contest was an unsanctioned championship between #1 Dixie State College and #3 Butler Community College in 1999. Butler pulled off an upset, defeating Dixie State 49-35. In 2003, the Dixie Rotary Bowl organizing committee received sanctioning from the NJCAA as #1 Butler and #2 Dixie State again met for the national title, Butler winning 14-10.

Game results

NJCAA bowls

NCAA Division II bowls

References

{{Dixie State Trailblazers football navbox Utah Tech University Defunct college football bowls NCAA Division II football Recurring sporting events established in 1986 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2009