The Pioneer Bowl was an annual
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 ...
postseason game held at
Memorial Stadium in
Wichita Falls, Texas, from 1971 through 1978 and again in 1981 and 1982. The game originated as an
NCAA College Division regional final, then became a playoff game for
Division II and
Division I-AA.
History
The Pioneer Bowl originated as one of the four
regional finals of the College Division, before it was subdivided into
Division II and
Division III in 1973. The game served as the championship for the Midwest Region in 1971 and 1972, at a time when there were no playoffs at any level of NCAA football. For the smaller colleges and universities, as for the major programs, the national champion was determined by polls conducted by the leading news wire services.
As Midwest Region final, the game succeeded the
Pecan Bowl
The Pecan Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. In 1946 and 1947, the game was contested between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). From 1964 through 1970, the game was a reg ...
, which was played in
Abilene, Texas
Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...
from 1964 to 1967 and
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...
, from 1968 to 1970. At the time, the other three regional finals were the
Boardwalk,
Grantland Rice, and
Camellia bowls.
The Wichita Falls Board of Commerce and Industry (BCI) secured the Pecan Bowl for the city in March 1971. The game was renamed the Pioneer Bowl after a name-the-bowl contest, with the winning entry announced in May 1971.
After the launch of Division II in
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
and its full playoff system, the Pioneer Bowl became one of the two Division II semifinals (along with the Grantland Rice Bowl) for the first three years, and then became the championship game for two years. For the inaugural season of
Division I-AA in 1978, the Pioneer Bowl became the new division's title game. Wichita Falls then retained the rights to the Pioneer Bowl name during a two-year hiatus, while the I-AA championship was decided in Florida in 1979, and in the
Camellia Bowl
Camellia Bowl can refer to one of three college football bowl games:
* Camellia Bowl (1948)
The Camellia Bowl was a post-season major college football bowl game played at McNaspy Stadium in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 30, 1948, between t ...
in California in 1980. The Pioneer Bowl again hosted the I-AA title game in 1981 and 1982.
The game never quite sold out its 14,500-seat venue, though in most years the stadium was nearly full. If local press is any indication, the crowd of "only 11,257 fans" that attended the 1982 game was considered a disappointment. The bowl folded after a group from
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, outbid the Wichita Falls BCI for the next contract to host the I-AA championship.
In popular culture
"Pioneer Bowl" was used in 1993 as the name of a fictional bowl game played at the
Alamodome in the television series ''
Coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
''.
Game results
The
University of West Alabama was known as Livingston University until 1995
See also
*
1978 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
The 1978 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Florida A&M Rattlers and the UMass Minutemen. The game was played on December 16, 1978, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The c ...
*
1981 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
The 1981 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and the Idaho State Bengals. The game was played on December 19, 1981, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Tex ...
*
1982 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
__NOTOC__
Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab u ...
References
{{Reflist
defunct college football bowls