The Optimist Bowl was a postseason
college football 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 ...
played in 1946.
It was held at Public School Stadium (later known as
Robertson Stadium
John O'Quinn Field at Corbin J. Robertson Stadium (often referred to as simply Robertson Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, located on the campus of the University of Houston. It was the home of the Houston Cougars football and wom ...
), in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
.
The game was sponsored by the
Houston Optimist Club, through agreement reached with the
Lone Star Conference
The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in T ...
in April 1946; the game was to be contested annually for five years, matching the conference champion against a nationally-rated team.
Proceeds from the game would be used to benefit homeless boys in Texas.
The 1946 conference champion was
North Texas State
The University of North Texas (UNT) is a Public university, public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private Normal school, teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 y ...
(now the
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...
) coached by
Odus Mitchell
James Odus Mitchell (June 26, 1899 – July 5, 1989) was an American football player and coach. As a coach, he was successful both at the high school and collegiate levels. In 42 years of coaching, at all levels, he compiled a 289–129–17 rec ...
, and organizers extended an invitation to coach
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfiel ...
and his
College of the Pacific team (now the
University of the Pacific), who accepted. It was the last game of Stagg's incredible 57 year college football coaching career.
Like some other postseason match-ups of the era, such as the
Grape Bowl
The Grape Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game played in 1947 and 1948. It was held at the Grape Bowl stadium, in Lodi, California.
Both games featured the College of the Pacific (now University of the Pacific), who defeated Utah Sta ...
and the
Glass Bowl
The Glass Bowl is a stadium in Toledo, Ohio. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the American football team of the University of Toledo Rockets. It is located on the school's Bancroft campus, just south of the ba ...
, results are listed in
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
records, but the games were not considered NCAA-sanctioned bowls.
Game results
1946: North Texas 14, Pacific 13
See also
*
List of college bowl games
The following is a list of current, defunct, and proposed college football bowl games. Three bowl games are currently part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving four of the top-ranked teams in t ...
References
{{Pacific Tigers bowl game navbox
1946–47 NCAA football bowl games
Defunct college football bowls
North Texas Mean Green football bowl games
Pacific Tigers football bowl games
American football in Houston
Sports competitions in Houston
December 1946 sports events in the United States
1946 in sports in Texas