Bell Game

Last updated
The Bell Game
Teams
First meeting1892
Central 4, Centennial 0
Latest meetingOctober 6, 2023
Central 52, Centennial 0
Next meeting2024
Stadiums Dutch Clark Stadium
Pueblo, CO
Statistics
Meetings total123
All-time seriesCentral leads, 61–53–9
Largest victoryCentral, 74–0 (1898)
Current win streakCentral, 5 (2019–present)

The Bell Game is an annual football contest between two high schools in Pueblo, Colorado, USA: Centennial High School and Central High School. They have been playing each other since Thanksgiving Day 1892 [1] [2] [3] in what is believed to be the oldest ongoing American football rivalry for high school teams west of the Mississippi River [4] and the highest annual attendance for a high school sports event in Colorado, typically drawing 15,000 fans to Pueblo's Dutch Clark Stadium. [5] The rivalry is sometimes referred to as the "One Hundred Year War". [6] Since 1950, the teams have played for ownership of a railroad bell mounted upon a wheeled cart, along with the right to paint the cart the winning school's colors and keep the bell in the winning school for sporting events and school activities. [7] In years where the bell is transferred from one school to the other, the senior cheerleaders from the losing school wheel the bell to midfield at the conclusion of the game where it is handed over to the senior cheerleaders and players from the victorious school. The bell's cart is repainted in the winning school's colors, with one small area retaining the color from the other school to symbolize the rivalry. [8] There are also bell games in California (Linked Above), and in Virginia between Justice High School and Falls Church High School

YearWinnerScoreNotes
1892Central4-0
1893Centennial4-0
1897Centennial16-0
1898Central74-0Central would go on to win an unofficial Colorado state championship.
1900Centennial30-0
1900Centennial11-0
1903Centennial10-0
1904Centennial70-0Centennial would go on to win the first official Colorado state championship.
1905Centennial11-0
1906Central4-0
1907Tie Game6-6
1921Central13-0
1922Central9-0
1923Centennial5-0
1924Central22-13
1925Central43-0Future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Earl "Dutch" Clark played his senior year at Central.
1926Central6-3
1927Central13-6
1928Central21-0Central would go on to win Colorado state championship.
1929Centennial12-0Future Hewlett-Packard founder David Packard played his senior year at Centennial.
1930Central20-0
1931Central24-6Central would end up Colorado state runner-up.
1932Tie Game0-0
1932Centennial27-0
1933Centennial26-13
1933Centennial12-6
1934Centennial26-2
1934Centennial7-6
1935Central21-6
1935Central13-0
1936Tie Game0-0
1936Tie Game0-0
1937Tie Game7-7
1938Central13-7Central would go on to win Colorado class A state championship.
1939Centennial20-13Centennial would end up Colorado class A runner-up.
1940Centennial7-6
1941Centennial1-0Central forfeited the game for using ineligible players.
1942Tie Game0-0
1942Central12-7
1943Centennial13-0
1943Central7-0
1944Central40-0Central would go on to win Colorado class A state championship.
1945Centennial19-0Centennial would end up Colorado class A runner-up.
1946Centennial26-21Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AA state championship.
1947Central33-13Central would go on to win Colorado class AA state championship.
1948Central7-6
1948Centennial13-0
1949Central19-9
1950Central40-27First game where winner took possession of the victory bell.
1950Central25-15
1951Central13-7
1952Centennial14-0
1953Central32-14
1954Central24-0
1955Central19-14
1956Tie Game0-0
1957Central19-0
1958Central26-12Central would end up Colorado class AAA runner-up.
1959Central13-6
1960Central6-0
1961Central28-14Central would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1962Central13-0Central wins six straight Bell Games; to date the longest streak of the rivalry.
1963Centennial14-7Centennial would end up Colorado class AAA state runner-up.
1964Central7-0
1965Central46-0Central would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1966Tie Game7-7
1967Central10-0
1968Centennial13-6
1969Central44-13
1970Central21-20Central would end up Colorado class AAA runner-up.
1971Central6-0
1972Tie Game7-7
1973Central17-14
1974Centennial13-12
1975Centennial19-0
1976Central14-7
1977Centennial6-0
1978Centennial13-7
1979Central16-3
1980Centennial19-7
1981Central35-8
1982Central35-0
1983Central20-0
1984Centennial13-6
1985Central14-6
1986Centennial14-0
1987Centennial28-10Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1988Central15-12
1989Centennial29-17
1990Central20-18
1991Centennial40-15
1992Centennial30-6Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AAAAA state championship.
1993Centennial34-15
1994Centennial26-0
1995Central21-14
1996Centennial28-25
1997Centennial7-6
1998Central27-950th Bell Game played
1999Centennial69-53
2000Central28-13100th rivalry game played.
2001Centennial20-0
2002Centennial42-14
2003Central19-13
2004Centennial58-14
2005Centennial35-13
2006Centennial32-14
2007Central14-6
2008Central22-21 (OT)First overtime game in series history.
2009Central29-20
2010Centennial32-20
2011Centennial51-22
2012Centennial41-39
2013Centennial41-29
2014Centennial28-26
2015Central27-24
2016Centennial31-7
2017Centennial14-8 (OT)
2018Centennial24-12
2019Central23-0
2020Central17-9
2021Central42-0
2022Central30-0
2023Central52-0

Decade-by-decade victories for each school:

DecadeCentennialCentralTie Games
1891-1900420
1901-1910311
1911-1920000
1921-1930280
1931-1940744
1941-1950581
1951-1960181
1961-1970271
1971-1980541
1981-1990460
1991-2000730
2001-2010640
2011-2020730
2021-2030030

As of the 2023 game, in the all-time series Central has 61 wins, Centennial has 53 wins, and the teams have tied 9 times.

In 1895 and 1896, Centennial and Central combined to form a single Pueblo high school team. [9]

Centennial did not field a team in the 1901 or 1902 seasons, nor from 1913 to 1919.

The series was temporarily suspended after the 1907 game ended in a brawl between the two teams and their respective fan bases.

In many years the two teams would play twice each season: a regular season game, and then a special Thanksgiving Day game if neither team was playing in the state playoffs. The Thanksgiving Day games ended after the 1950 season.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Steelers</span> National Football League franchise in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North Division. Founded in 1933, the Steelers are the seventh-oldest franchise in the NFL, and the oldest franchise in the AFC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pueblo, Colorado</span> City in Colorado, United States

Pueblo is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most populous city in Colorado. Pueblo is the principal city of the Pueblo, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Titans</span> National Football League franchise in Nashville, Tennessee

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The Titans play their home games at Nissan Stadium and are building a new stadium in the near future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry</span> American college football rivalry

The Virginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech Hokies football team of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The two schools first met in 1895 and have played annually since 1970. The game counts for 1 point in the Commonwealth Clash each year, and is part of the greater Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Early College High School</span> Public school in Austin, Texas, United States

Travis Early College High School is a high school located in south Austin, Texas, United States, which is part of the Austin Independent School District. It was opened in 1953 and is named after William B. Travis, who was one of the commanding officers at the Battle of the Alamo. It Austin's oldest high school south of the Colorado River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American football on Thanksgiving</span> American tradition

American football is one of the many traditions in American culture that is associated with Thanksgiving Day. Virtually every level of football, from amateur and high school to college and the NFL, plays football on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) or the immediately following holiday weekend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victory Bell (Cincinnati–Miami)</span> College football rivalry game

The Miami–Cincinnati Victory Bell is the trophy awarded to the winner of the American college football rivalry game played by the Cincinnati Bearcats football team of the University of Cincinnati and the Miami RedHawks football team of Miami University. The Victory Bell is the oldest current non-conference college football rivalry in the United States, the oldest rivalry in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, having first played in 1888, and being only tied with the UNC-Wake Forest rivalry, and the Carolina-Duke football game, both of which were first played in 1888, And is also the fourth-most played college football rivalry game, with 127 meetings total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victory Bell (Duke–North Carolina)</span> Trophy for the Duke–North Carolina football game

The Victory Bell is the traveling trophy given to the winner of the annual football game between the Duke University Blue Devils and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The game was worth two points in the now-defunct, yearlong Carlyle Cup between the two schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montana Grizzlies football</span> University of Montana college football team

The Montana Grizzlies football program represents the University of Montana in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football. The Grizzlies have competed in the Big Sky Conference since 1963, where it is a founding member. They play their home games on campus in Missoula at Washington–Grizzly Stadium, where they had an average attendance of 26,978 in 2023.

Centennial High School is a high school located in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. It serves roughly 1000 students in grades 9 through 12. The school is a part of Pueblo School District 60.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochester Area High School (Pennsylvania)</span> Public, coeducational high school in Rochester, Pennsylvania, United States

Rochester High School is a public high school in Rochester, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only high school in the Rochester Area School District. Athletic teams compete as the Rochester Rams in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry</span> American college football rivalry

The Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Colorado Buffaloes and Nebraska Cornhuskers. The teams first played in 1898, and began competing annually as conference opponents in 1948. The rivalry intensified in the 1980s as Colorado improved under head coach Bill McCartney, reaching its peak in the 1990s with several top-ten meetings. Conference realignment placed the teams in the same division, where they continued to meet annually through 2010, after which Colorado moved to the Pac-10 and Nebraska moved to the Big Ten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central High School (Pueblo, Colorado)</span> School in Pueblo, Colorado, United States

Central High School is one of six public high schools located in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. A part of Pueblo School District 60, the high school was the second for the city of Pueblo, and was founded in 1881. It is the only high school to have two Medal of Honor recipients, William J. Crawford and Carl L. Sitter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Pueblo History Museum</span> Local history museum in Pueblo, Colorado

El Pueblo History Museum is a local history museum in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. The museum presents the history of Pueblo, together with the cultural and ethnic groups of the region. The historical site includes an 1840s-style adobe trading post and plaza and the archaeological excavation site of the original 1842 El Pueblo trading post which was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The facility is administered by History Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game</span>

In Missouri, the Turkey Day Game is an annual American high school football contest between Kirkwood High School's Pioneers and Webster Groves High School's Statesmen, two teams based in St. Louis County, Missouri. The contest has traditionally been played on Thanksgiving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel City Menace</span>

The Steel City Menace were a professional indoor football team and a member of American Indoor Football that played part of the 2016 season. Originally based in Pueblo, Colorado, the Menace were to play their home games at the Southwest Motors Events Center, however, they ended up playing at an outdoor field and the two regular season league games they played were on the road.

The Eagles–Steelers rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unofficially nicknamed "The Battle of Pennsylvania", this is an in-state, interconference rivalry between the two NFL teams located in the state of Pennsylvania. The two teams do not meet regularly, which has been cited as a reason for the rivalry's low intensity.

George Alfred Grosvenor was an American football player. He played college football for the University of Colorado Buffaloes and professional football for the St. Louis/Kansas City Blues in the American Football League and the Chicago Bears (1935–1936) and Chicago Cardinals (1936–1937) in the National Football League (NFL).

The 2022 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football season was the season of college football played by the ten member schools of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) as part of the 2022 NCAA Division II football season.

References

  1. Mihalick, David (1970). Steel City Football Almanac. self published.
  2. Socier, Dave (11 August 1970). "Steel City Almanac will settle many arguments". Pueblo Chieftain.
  3. Jeff Letofsky (29 September 1992). "100 years of Cats, Dogs". Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  4. Frei, Terry (16 October 2010). Playing Piano in a Brothel. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 67.
  5. Scott Stocker & Shane Fitzgerald (12 October 2000). "FOR 100TH TIME, PUEBLO'S BELL GAME TO RING IN". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  6. Lipsher, Steve (17 October 1993). "THE BELL GAME". Denver Post. p. 7C. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  7. Socier, Dave (13 October 1995). "THE BELL GAME: The battle of the Bell". Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  8. Sweeny, Mike (1 October 2010). "It's Red Versus Blue: Central Hosts Centennial in the Annual Bell Game". Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  9. Mihalick, David (1970). Steel City Football Almanac. self published.