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The Ice Bowl was a college football game played from 1949 to 1952 in Fairbanks Alaska. Sgt. Bernard L. Anderson of Ladd Air Base, the editor of the Midnight Sun, and Walter Raschick, sports editor of the Fairbanks Sun Star's predecessor the Polar Star, proposed a bowl game between Ladd Air Force Base (now called Fort Wainwright) and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The idea received the approval of the base's commanding general and UA President Charles Bunnell. The first game was played on January 1, 1949.
The game was played on New Year’s weekend each year. Alaska Fairbanks had a small student enrollment and most of the males had never played organized football before. It was a tremendous sacrifice for the students to participate. Following four years of bitter cold games, the bowl was discontinued due to waning student support.
Lost to history is the fact that an earlier Ice Bowl that gained national attention was originally played in 1938. The game was the brainchild of Father Bernard Hubbard, former Loyola, CA athletic director turned missionary. Hubbard, known as the “Glacier Priest” had also become an explorer along with a team from the University of Santa Clara. Among the Santa Clara exploring team was former Santa Clara player including Ken Chisholm who coached and assisted in preparing the native Eskimos of King Island for the game.
The actual game was played on January 2, 1938 with the Ougruits defeating the Airgrits, 7-6. All 182 island inhabitants attended the game. Father Hubbard's game, however, was delayed five days by an act of God- the field floated away. "There has been no zero weather yet," he said, "and when the ice formed on the village side of the island, a gale came along and drove it out of sight. Now there's nothing but water everywhere.”
From the Associated Press:
Eskimos Take Up Grid Game, Will Stage Bowl Tilt
KING ISLAND (Alaska), Dec. 1 (AP) Coach Ken Chisholm announced today that two teams of King Island Eskimos will meet in the Ice Bowl on this precipitous Islet New Year's Day for the football championship of the Arctic.
Both teams will use the Notre Dame system, the kind of football Chisholm played at Santa Clara before he joined the Rev. Bernard Hubbard. "the glacier priest," on Alaskan exploring trips.
Father Hubbard and his fellow Jesuit, Father Bellimen La Fortune, missionary here more than thirty years, reported the King Islanders have taken to football like the proverbial baby seal takes to water, and that Chisholm's Ice Bowl classic should take rank with the continent's Rose Bowl, Sun Bowl, Cotton Bowl. Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and other bowls, come January 1st.
The Hubbard party, equipped with photographic and meteorologic apparatus has been showing the Eskimos motion pictures of famous football games in the United States, and Coach Chisholm said his players have been quick to learn the rudiments of the game.
The men and boys also are taking boxing lessons from another former Santa Clara athlete, Ed Levin. Father La Fortune and Hubbard said they believed the sports, coupled with corrective physical exercises, will do much to improve the stamina of the Bering Sea Islanders and help overcome the young people's inherited lung weakness without changing their diets and habits of living.
Father Hubbard's game, however, was delayed five days by an act of God- the field floated away. "There has been no zero weather yet," he said, "and when the ice formed on the village side of the island, a gale came along and drove it out of sight. Now there's nothing but water everywhere.”
Historical Results of the Ice Bowl
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January 1, 1949- Ladd AFB (AK) 0, Alaska Fairbanks 0 |
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(See Webpage) |
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January 2, 1950- Alaska Fairbanks 3, Ladd AFB 0 |
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(See Webpage) |
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December 31, 1950- Alaska Fairbanks 0, Ladd AFB 0
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For the 1951 Ice Bowl on December 31, 1950, player turnout was so poor that the UA coach decided that he couldn't go through with the game- ten players were not enough. Most UA students did not care about football as their interests were inclined to skiing and hockey. The University had recognized the students’ concerns and redirected funds from the Ice Bowl to popular sports and intramurals. But, a core of the students wanted the game to be played and they drafted a couple of visitors to Fairbanks to join them and they played as ringers in the guise of UA students. The team had three offensive plays, one to the right, one to the left, and one to the middle.
On the day of the game, the weather was a little warmer, around the zero mark. The higher temperatures brought out a crowd of 2000, who were warmed by heaters provided by the Air Force. The AP reported that Alaska was experiencing a heat wave. The twelve UA players wore several pairs of socks and had chicken wire wrapped around their tennis shoes for more traction. The Ladd players did not have chicken wire on their feet, but they had fifty-six players and the team had recently won the Pacific Theater military championship. At game time, the sun broke through the clouds creating a golden haze of ice particles over the field.
The UAF team was heavily outnumbered. But, the field conditions were awful and it was almost impossible to score. The final was once again 0-0. The Associated Press reported, “A no touchdown tradition unaffected by a Fairbanks “heat wave” held today as the University of Alaska Polar Bears and the Ladd Air Force Base Fliers battled to a 0-0 tie in the third annual Ice Bowl football game. In spite of the fact that still no touchdowns had been scored in the bowl’s history, the Polar Bears once again came away feeling like the victors with their moral tie.
Sheila McFadden of Juneau was crowned Ice Bowl Queen by Brig. Gen. David Baker. The biggest issue involved was the disposition of the Lathrop Trophy. It was difficult to decide who to give it to, to rotate it between the two teams during the year or to leave it in the hands of the UAF Bears, who had won it outright the year before.
Attendance: 2000
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| December 30, 1951- Ladd AFB 47, Alaska Fairbanks 0 | |
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Neither team could make any yards on the ground with the snow knee deep. This had been the case in all three Ice Bowls to date. So, Ladd took to the air. Dave rake, a 100 pound quarterback from Parkersburg, W.Va completed 8 of 14 passes for 250 yards. On the first play of the game, Rake threw a 55 yard pass to halfback Robbie Robinson who took it to the one foot line before losing his footing and falling flat on his chin. Two plays later, Rake plunged in from the one to score the first touchdown in Ice Bowl history. On the day, Rake passed for three touchdowns and ran for two in leading Ladd to a commanding 47-0 victory.
UAF had practiced little for the game and the results reflected this. Apathy among the student body had begun to set in. The student’s interests were more geared to the popular local sports of hockey and shooting. For this reason, some students felt it was unrealistic that football was getting so much attention from the national press when it was really not very popular among the student body and faculty. Even the governor of Alaska had failed to attend. Dean Neil Hosley offered post-game analysis: "1 think this should show our boys the days of picking up a handful of players the last minute and tying or winning the Ice Bowl are gone." The December, 1951 Ice Bowl was the last game in the series’ history.
Attendance: 3000
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| The Information form this site was taken from: | |
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UAF Had a Football Team? Nate Raymond Sun Star
Fairbanks: A Gold Rush Town That Beat The Odds By Dermot Cole Epicenter Press, 1999
The Cornerstone on College Hill Terrence Cole University of Alaska Press, 1994
Associated Press United Press International University of Alaska, Fairbanks
The Family of the late Sgt. Ray Keelin
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December
31, 1950 (AP) A no touchdown tradition unaffected by a Fairbanks “heat
wave” continued as the University of Alaska Polar Bears and the Ladd
Air Force Base Fliers battled to a 0-0 tie in the third annual Ice Bowl
football game.
