The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It is one of the oldest college bowls, held continuously since 1946. Its current full name is the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl after its present sponsor, Konica Minolta. .

According to The Big Bowl Football Guide by Anthony C. DiMarco (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, 1976, ISBN 399-11800-4), Charles Hilty, Sr. is given credit for conceiving the idea for the event. He, Ray McCarthy, Maurice Cherry and W.C. Ivey put up $10,000 to underwrite the first game. The event struggled in the early years, drawing only 7,362 to the 1946 match when Wake Forest defeated South Carolina, 26–14. It was not until the 1949 match-up of the Clemson Tigers and the Missouri Tigers that the future of the Gator Bowl was assured. The 1948 attendance of 16,666 for a 20–20 tie between Maryland and Georgia, was nearly doubled with 32,939 watching Clemson squeak by Missouri, 24–23, on a late field goal by Jack Miller. By the 1970s, the attendance regularly reached 60,000–70,000. The Gator Bowl Association is the entity behind the game.

Venues

The 1946 and 1947 games were played in Fairfield Stadium, which had a seating capacity of 7,600. The future postseason college football classic was so successful, the stadium was expanded in 1948 to 16,000 seats and renamed the Gator Bowl. The Gator Bowl Stadium hosted the game until 1993, when the stadium was almost completely demolished for the construction of a new Stadium on the same site. The 1994 game was played in Gainesville, Florida during construction; the 1996 game (moved to January 1 that season) and subsequent games have been held at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. At that 1994 game, the Tennessee Volunteers beat Virginia Tech, getting Tennessee's first win in Gainesville since 1971, but would not actually beat the Florida Gators there until 2001.

Teams typically featured

In the early years of the bowl, from 1946–1952, it featured a team from the Southern Conference against an at-large opponent. Beginning with the 1953 game, it switched to generally featuring a Southeastern Conference (SEC) team against an at-large opponent. From 1953 to the 1975 game, at least one SEC team appeared in 20 out of the 24 games, and in 3 of those games, both teams were from the SEC. The games from 1976 to 1995 usually, but not always, involved a team from south-east part of the country against a team from another part of the country. Teams from the ACC played in 10 of these 20 games.

From 1996–2006, the Gator Bowl traditionally hosted the second-place ACC against the second-place Big East team. With the 2007 game, it began hosting the third-place ACC team versus a team from either the Big East, Big 12 or Notre Dame to take the Big East's spot in this game.

Television coverage

The payout for each team increased to $2.5 million for the 2007 game with a new TV contract with CBS Sports to televise the game. The longtime broadcaster of the game was ABC who would always show the game in prime time. Then TBS bought the rights to the game in the early '90s and was the home of the game until it moved to January 1 and NBC.

Hotel Roosevelt fire

The Gator Bowl is one of Jacksonville's annual sports highlights. However, the event was once at the root of tragedy. In 1963, the Hotel Roosevelt in downtown caught fire after a post-Gator Bowl party in the ballroom (it was later determined that the party was not the cause of the fire, and was a mere tragic coincidence). There were 22 hotel guests who lost their lives.

The Woody Hayes incident in 1978

It was in the 1978 game between Ohio State and Clemson where Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes lost his temper after a late game interception by Charlie Bauman. The play would seal the Tigers' 17-15 win over the Buckeyes, and Hayes clotheslined Bauman on the sideline in front of a national television audience. Hayes was dismissed the next day by Ohio State's Board of Trustees.

Title sponsors

From 1996–2006, the title sponsor was Toyota, and the bowl's official name was the Toyota Gator Bowl. There was no title sponsor for the 2007 game. Mazda has also previously been a sponsor. Outback Steakhouse sponsored this bowl before becoming the sponsor of the Outback Bowl held in Tampa, Florida.

Previous results

Italics denotes a tie game.

Date Played	Winning Team		Losing Team		notes
January 1, 1946	Wake Forest	26	South Carolina	14
January 1, 1947	Oklahoma	34	North Carolina State	13
January 1, 1948	Georgia	20	Maryland	20
January 1, 1949	Clemson	24	Missouri	23
January 2, 1950	Maryland	20	Missouri	7
January 1, 1951	Wyoming	20	Washington & Lee	7
January 1, 1952	Miami (Florida)	14	Clemson	0
January 1, 1953	Florida	14	Tulsa	13
January 1, 1954	Texas Tech	35	Auburn	13
December 31, 1954	Auburn	33	Baylor	13
December 31, 1955	Vanderbilt	25	Auburn	13
December 29, 1956	Georgia Tech	21	Pittsburgh	14
December 28, 1957	Tennessee	3	Texas A&M	0
December 27, 1958	Mississippi	7	Florida	3
January 2, 1960	Arkansas	14	Georgia Tech	7
December 31, 1960	Florida	13	Baylor	12
December 30, 1961	Penn State	30	Georgia Tech	15
December 29, 1962	Florida	17	Penn State	7
December 28, 1963	North Carolina	35	Air Force	0
January 2, 1965	Florida State	36	Oklahoma	19
December 31, 1965	Georgia Tech	31	Texas Tech	21
December 31, 1966	Tennessee	18	Syracuse	12
December 30, 1967	Florida State	17	Penn State	17
December 28, 1968	Missouri	35	Alabama	10
December 27, 1969	Florida	14	Tennessee	13
January 2, 1971	Auburn	35	Mississippi	28
December 31, 1971	Georgia	7	North Carolina	3
December 30, 1972	Auburn	24	Colorado	3
December 29, 1973	Texas Tech	28	Tennessee	19
December 30, 1974	Auburn	27	Texas	3
December 29, 1975	Maryland	13	Florida	0
December 27, 1976	Notre Dame	20	Penn State	9
December 30, 1977	Pittsburgh	34	Clemson	3
December 29, 1978	Clemson	17	Ohio State	15
December 28, 1979	North Carolina	17	Michigan	15
December 29, 1980	Pittsburgh	37	South Carolina	9
December 28, 1981	North Carolina	31	Arkansas	27
December 30, 1982	Florida State	31	West Virginia	12
December 30, 1983	Florida	14	Iowa	6
December 28, 1984	Oklahoma State	21	South Carolina	14
December 30, 1985	Florida State	34	Oklahoma State	23
December 27, 1986	Clemson	27	Stanford	21
December 31, 1987	LSU	30	South Carolina	13
January 1, 1989	Georgia	34	Michigan State	27
December 30, 1989	Clemson	27	West Virginia	7
January 1, 1991	Michigan	35	Mississippi	3
December 29, 1991	Oklahoma	48	Virginia	14
December 31, 1992	Florida	27	North Carolina State	10
December 31, 1993	Alabama	24	North Carolina	10
December 30, 1994	Tennessee	45	Virginia Tech	23	notes
January 1, 1996	Syracuse	41	Clemson	0
January 1, 1997	North Carolina	20	West Virginia	13
January 1, 1998	North Carolina	42	Virginia Tech	3	notes
January 1, 1999	Georgia Tech	35	Notre Dame	28
January 1, 2000	Miami (Florida)	28	Georgia Tech	13
January 1, 2001	Virginia Tech	41	Clemson	20	notes
January 1, 2002	Florida State	30	Virginia Tech	17	notes
January 1, 2003	North Carolina State	28	Notre Dame	6
January 1, 2004	Maryland	41	West Virginia	7
January 1, 2005	Florida State	30	West Virginia	18	notes
January 2, 2006	Virginia Tech	35	Louisville	24	notes
January 1, 2007	West Virginia	38	Georgia Tech	35	notes
January 1, 2008	Texas Tech	31	Virginia	28	notes

MVPs

Date Played	MVP(s)	Team	Position
January 1, 1946	Nick Sacrinty	Wake Forest	QB
January 1, 1947	Joe Golding	Oklahoma	HB
January 1, 1948	Lu Gambino	Maryland	HB
January 1, 1949	Bobby Gage	Clemson	HB
January 2, 1950	Bob Ward	Maryland	G
January 1, 1951	Eddie Talboom	Wyoming	HB
January 1, 1952	Jim Dooley	Miami (Fla.)	HB
January 1, 1953	John Hall	Florida	RB
	Marv Matuszak	Tulsa	T
January 1, 1954	Bobby Cavazos	Texas Tech	RB
	Vince Dooley	Auburn	QB
December 31, 1954	Joe Childress	Auburn	FB
	Billy Hooper	Baylor	QB
December 31, 1955	Don Orr	Vanderbilt	QB
	Joe Childress	Auburn	FB
December 29, 1956	Wade Mitchell	Georgia Tech	QB
	Corny Salvaterra	Pittsburgh	QB
December 28, 1957	Bobby Gordon	Tenneessee	TB
	John David Crow	Texas A&M	HB
December 27, 1958	Bobby Franklin	Mississippi	QB
	Dave Hudson	Florida	E
January 2, 1960	Jim Mooty	Arkansas	HB
	Maxie Baughan	Georgia Tech	LB
December 31, 1960	Larry Libertore	Florida	QB
	Bobby Ply	Baylor	QB
December 30, 1961	Galen Hall	Penn State	QB
	Joe Auer	Georgia Tech	HB
December 29, 1962	Tom Shannon	Florida	QB
	Dave Robinson	Penn State	E
December 28, 1963	Ken Willard	North Carolina	RB
	David Sicks	Air Force	C
January 2, 1965	Fred Biletnikoff	Florida State	SE
	Steve Tensi	Florida State	QB
	Carl McAdams	Oklahoma	LB
December 31, 1965	Lenny Snow	Georgia Tech	TB
	Donny Anderson	Texas Tech	RB
December 31, 1966	Dewey Warren	Tenneessee	QB
	Floyd Little	Syracuse	HB
December 30, 1967	Kim Hammond	Florida State	QB
	Tom Sherman	Penn State	QB
December 28, 1968	Terry McMillan	Missouri	QB
	Mike Hall	Alabama	LB
December 27, 1969	Mike Kelley	Florida	TB
	Curt Watson	Tennessee	FB
January 2, 1971	Pat Sullivan	Auburn	QB
	Archie Manning	Ole' Miss	QB
December 31, 1971	Jimmy Poulos	Georgia	TB
	James Webster	North Carolina	LB
December 30, 1972	Wade Whatley	Auburn	QB
	Mark Cooney	Colorado	LB
December 29, 1973	Joe Barnes	Texas Tech	QB
	Haskel Stanback	Tennessee	TB
December 30, 1974	Phil Gargis	Auburn	QB
	Earl Campbell	Texas	RB
December 29, 1975	Steve Atkins	Maryland	TB
	Sammy Green	Florida	LB
December 27, 1976	Al Hunter	Notre Dame	HB
	Jimmy Cefalo	Penn State	WR
December 30, 1977	Matt Cavanaugh	Pittsburgh	QB
	Jerry Butler	Clemson	SE
December 29, 1978	Steve Fuller	Clemson	QB
	Art Schlichter	Ohio State	QB
December 28, 1979	Matt Kupec	North Carolina	QB
	Amos Lawrence	North Carolina	RB
	John Wangler	Michigan	QB
	Anthony Carter	Michigan	WR
December 29, 1980	Rick Trocano	Pittsburgh	QB
	George Rogers	South Carolina	RB
December 28, 1981	Kelvin Bryant	North Carolina	TB
	Ethan Horton	North Carolina	TB
	Gary Anderson	Arkansas	RB
December 30, 1982	Greg Allen	Florida State	TB
	Paul Woodside	West Virginia	K
December 30, 1983	Tony Lilly	Florida	S
	Owen Gill	Iowa	FB
December 28, 1984	Thurman Thomas	Oklahoma State	RB
	Mike Hold	South Carolina	QB
December 30, 1985	Chip Ferguson	Florida State	QB
	Thurman Thomas	Oklahoma State	RB
December 27, 1986	Rodney Williams	Clemson	QB
	Brad Muster	Stanford	RB
December 31, 1987	Wendell Davis	LSU	SE
	Harold Green	South Carolina	RB
January 1, 1989	Wayne Johnson	Georgia	QB
	Andre Rison	Michigan State	WR
December 30, 1989	Levon Kirkland	Clemson	LB
	Mike Fox	West Virginia	DT
January 1, 1991	Offensive Line	Michigan	N/A
	Tyrone Ashley	Mississippi	DB
December 29, 1991	Cale Gundy	Oklahoma	QB
	Tyrone Davis	Virginia	DB
December 31, 1992	Errict Rhett	Florida	RB
	Reggie Lawrence	North Carolina State	WR
December 31, 1993	Brian Burgdorf	Alabama	QB
	Corey Holliday	North Carolina	WR
December 30, 1994	James Stewart	Tennessee	TB
	Maurice DeShazo	Virginia Tech	QB
January 1, 1996	Donovan McNabb	Syracuse	QB
	Peter Ford	Clemson	CB
January 1, 1997	Oscar Davenport	North Carolina	QB
	David Saunders	West Virginia	WR
January 1, 1998	Chris Keldorf	North Carolina	QB
	Nick Sorensen	Virginia Tech	QB
January 1, 1999	Dez White	Georgia Tech	WR
	Joe Hamilton	Georgia Tech	QB
	Autry Denson	Notre Dame	RB
January 1, 2000	Nate Webster	Miami (Fla.)	LB
	Joe Hamilton	Georgia Tech	QB
January 1, 2001	Michael Vick	Virginia Tech	QB
	Rod Gardner	Clemson	WR
January 1, 2002	Javon Walker	Florida State	WR
	Andre Davis	Virginia Tech	WR
January 1, 2003	Philip Rivers	North Carolina State	QB
	Cedric Hillard	Notre Dame	NG
January 1, 2004	Scott McBrien	Maryland	QB
	Brian King	West Virginia	DB
January 1, 2005	Leon Washington	Florida State	RB
	Kay-Jay Harris	West Virginia	RB
January 2, 2006	Cedric Humes	Virginia Tech	RB
	Hunter Cantwell	Louisville	QB
January 1, 2007	Calvin Johnson	Georgia Tech	WR
	Pat White	West Virginia	QB
January 1, 2008	Graham Harrell	Texas Tech	QB
	Mikell Simpson	Virginia	RB

Broadcasters

Date	Network	Play-by-play	Color Commentator(s)	Sideline Reporter(s)
January 1, 2007	CBS	Verne Lundquist	Gary Danielson	Tracy Wolfson
January 2, 2006	NBC	Tom Hammond	Pat Haden	Lewis Johnson
January 1, 2005	NBC	Tom Hammond	Pat Haden	Lewis Johnson
January 1, 2004	NBC	Tom Hammond	Pat Haden	Lewis Johnson

Most Appearances

Rank	Team	Appearances	Record
T1	Florida	8	6-2
T1	Clemson	8	4-4
T3	North Carolina	7	5-2
T3	Georgia Tech	7	3-4
T5	Florida State	6	5-0-1
T5	Auburn	6	4-2
T5	West Virginia	6	1-5
T8	Tennessee	5	3-2
T8	Virginia Tech	5	2-3
T10	Maryland	4	3-0-1
T10	Texas Tech	4	3-1
T10	Penn State	4	1-2-1
T10	South Carolina	4	0-4
T14	Georgia	3	2-0-1
T14	Oklahoma	3	2-1
T14	Pittsburgh	3	2-1
T14	Mississippi	3	1-2
T14	Missouri	3	1-2
T14	North Carolina State	3	1-2
T14	Notre Dame	3	1-2

See also

List of college bowl games

References

External links

• Official Website of the Gator Bowl