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Aviation, Bacardi, Great Lakes ... tales of short-lived bowl games
Not counting the national championship game, college football has 40 bowl games this season, starting with five Saturday, including one named after a Hall and Oates song (the Camellia -- what, you don't remember that one?).
Along the way to the current lineup, however, more than a few have dropped out of sight, sometimes after only one or two years. Here are some:
Aviation Bowl (1961), Dayton, Ohio: Named in honor of hometown boys the Wright brothers, this game featured New Mexico beating Western Michigan 28-12 in rotten conditions -- snow, sleet, temperatures in the 20s. The crowd was under 4,000, and organizers lost $10,000. Yeah, it barely got off the ground.
Bacardi Bowl (1937), Havana, Cuba: Set against the backdrop of political intrigue, Auburn and Villanova played to a 7-7 tie in a game also called the Rhumba Bowl and Cigar Bowl. About a week before the game, strongman Fulgencio Batista had president Miguel Mariano Gomez impeached and removed. Auburn's Walter Gilbert said Tropical Stadium was filled with armed guards "to make sure the game didn't become a cover for a counterrevolution."
Bluegrass Bowl (1958), Louisville, Ky.: Just 7,000 showed up to watch Oklahoma State beat Florida State 15-6 in a game played on a frozen field described as being like concrete. Most notably, the game marked Howard Cosell's first national television broadcast.
Gotham Bowl (1961-62), New York: Call it a precursor to the current Pinstripe Bowl -- it was also played in Yankee Stadium. Baylor beat Utah State 24-9 in the first, and Nebraska defeated Miami 36-34 in the second. The combined attendance for the two Gotham Bowls was under 22,000, and the combined loss was $150,000. Before heading to New York, Nebraska's plane sat on the runway for two hours, until the school was certain its $35,000 expense check had cleared.
Great Lakes Bowl (1947), Cleveland: At Municipal Stadium, invariably described as "cavernous," about 15,000 fans froze in the 80,000-seat stadium to watch Kentucky defeat Villanova 24-14. (What is it with Villanova and obscure bowl games?) First-year Kentucky coach Bear Bryant described the setting as "the coldest darn place in the world."
