Oyster Bowl | |
---|---|
Stadium | S.B. Ballard Stadium (1946–1995, 2011–present) |
Location | Norfolk, Virginia |
Previous stadiums | Joseph S. Darling Memorial Stadium (1999–2004) The Apprentice School (2005–2010) |
Previous locations | Hampton, Virginia Newport News, Virginia |
Operated | 1946, 1948–1995 1999–present |
Conference tie-ins | Sun Belt Conference |
Previous conference tie-ins | Southern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Colonial Athletic Association Conference USA |
Sponsors | |
Khedive Temple of the Shriners | |
2024 matchup | |
Marshall vs. Old Dominion (November 23, 2024) |
The Oyster Bowl is a regular season college football game played annually in the Hampton Roads-area of Virginia. The game has featured match-ups between high school, NCAA Division III, and at present, NCAA Division I teams, at various points in its existence. It is sponsored by the Norfolk, Virginia-based Khedive Temple of the Shriners, with a portion of the revenue going to children's charity. The 2023 Oyster Bowl was the 73rd edition of the game.
In its heyday as a major college or Division I neutral-site contest (1948–1995), the Oyster Bowl served as Norfolk's counterpart to the Tobacco Bowl in Richmond, Virginia (1949–1982), and the short-lived Harvest Bowl in Roanoke, Virginia (1958–1969), which were also regular season neutral-site games.
During the first incarnation of the Oyster Bowl, the game was held at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Virginia. The inaugural contest, held in 1946, featured two high school teams, the local Granby Comets and the Clifton Mustangs of Clifton, New Jersey. [1] [2] After a one-year break, the game was resumed in 1948 as a major college football contest, and was played continuously until 1995, when it was discontinued for financial reasons. [1] [2] [3] The series of games from 1946 to 1995 generated more than $3 million for the Shriners Hospitals for Children. [3]
Many well known players participated in the Oyster Bowl during the time it featured Division I teams. These include Ernie Davis of Syracuse, Bruce Smith of Virginia Tech, Roger Staubach of Navy, Fran Tarkenton of Georgia, and Randy White of Maryland. [4] The 1977 game between East Carolina and William & Mary featured an incident well-publicized at the time, in which former East Carolina head coach Jim Johnson, attending the game as a sideline spectator, tackled a William & Mary player about to score the game-winning touchdown. [5]
In 1999, after a hiatus of three years, the Oyster Bowl was revived and relocated to Joseph S. Darling Memorial Stadium in nearby Hampton, Virginia, as a match-up between Division III college teams. [6] Three of the six games in Hampton featured the Apprentice School from nearby Newport News, Virginia. In 2005 the Oyster Bowl moved to Newport News as an annual home game for the Apprentice School.
In 2011, the Oyster Bowl returned to a renovated Foreman Field (now known as S.B. Ballard Stadium) as an annual home game for Division I Old Dominion University (ODU). Recent visiting teams have been conference rivals of ODU from Conference USA (through 2021) and the Sun Belt Conference (2022 to the present).
Year | Site | Winning team | Losing team | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1946 | Norfolk, Virginia | Granby High School | 6 | Clifton High School | 0 |
1947 | No game held | ||||
1948 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 31 | VMI | 0 |
1949 [7] | Norfolk, Virginia | NC State | 14 | VPI | 13 |
1950 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 34 | NC State | 0 |
1951 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 55 | VPI | 6 |
1952 | Norfolk, Virginia | South Carolina | 21 | Virginia | 14 |
1953 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 48 | Virginia | 6 |
1954 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 40 | Duke | 7 |
1955 | Norfolk, Virginia | North Carolina | 32 | South Carolina | 14 |
1956 | Norfolk, Virginia | Pittsburgh | 27 | Duke | 14 |
1957 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 27 | Georgia | 14 |
1958 | Norfolk, Virginia | Tulane | 14 | Navy | 6 |
1959 | Norfolk, Virginia | Syracuse | 32 | Navy | 6 |
1960 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 26 | SMU | 7 |
1961 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 30 | Navy | 9 |
1962 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 32 | Pittsburgh | 9 |
1963 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 21 | VMI | 12 |
*1964 | Norfolk, Virginia | Maryland | 10 | North Carolina | 9 |
1965 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 3 | Southern Miss | 0 |
*1966 | Norfolk, Virginia | Southern Miss | 7 | NC State | 6 |
1967 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 35 | Navy | 16 |
1968 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 30 | Maryland | 28 |
1969 | Norfolk, Virginia | VPI | 48 | Duke | 12 |
1970 | Norfolk, Virginia | NC State | 7 | Maryland | 0 |
1971 | Norfolk, Virginia | Clemson | 3 | Duke | 0 |
*1972 | Norfolk, Virginia | Duke | 17 | Navy | 16 |
*1973 | Norfolk, Virginia | Maryland | 30 | Duke | 10 |
1974 | Norfolk, Virginia | Maryland | 56 | Duke | 13 |
1975 | Norfolk, Virginia | Virginia Tech | 24 | William & Mary | 7 |
1976 | Norfolk, Virginia | VMI | 13 | Virginia | 7 |
1977 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 21 | East Carolina | 17 |
*1978 | Norfolk, Virginia | East Carolina | 21 | Richmond | 14 |
1979 | Norfolk, Virginia | Navy | 24 | William & Mary | 7 |
1980 | Norfolk, Virginia | Virginia Tech | 21 | VMI | 6 |
1981 | Norfolk, Virginia | VMI | 14 | The Citadel | 0 |
1982 | Norfolk, Virginia | Virginia Tech | 14 | VMI | 3 |
1983 [8] | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 26 | Yale | 14 |
1984 | Norfolk, Virginia | Virginia Tech | 54 | VMI | 7 |
1985 | Norfolk, Virginia | Richmond | 38 | James Madison | 15 |
1986 [9] | Norfolk, Virginia | Temple | 29 | Virginia Tech | 16 |
1987 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 17 | VMI | 6 |
1988 | Norfolk, Virginia | The Citadel | 30 | VMI | 20 |
*1989 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 13 | Boston University | 10 |
1990 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 59 | VMI | 47 |
1991 | Norfolk, Virginia | The Citadel | 17 | VMI | 14 |
1992 | Norfolk, Virginia | Richmond | 41 | VMI | 18 |
1993 | Norfolk, Virginia | William & Mary | 49 | VMI | 6 |
1994 | Norfolk, Virginia | The Citadel | 58 | VMI | 14 |
1995 | Norfolk, Virginia | Georgia Southern | 31 | VMI | 13 |
1996 | No game held | ||||
1997 | No game held | ||||
1998 | No game held | ||||
1999 | Hampton, Virginia | Wesley (DE) | 48 | Apprentice | 33 |
2000 | Hampton, Virginia | Methodist | 30 | Apprentice | 8 |
2001 | Hampton, Virginia | Christopher Newport | 14 | Ferrum | 11 |
2002 | Hampton, Virginia | Salisbury | 48 | Apprentice | 17 |
2003 | Hampton, Virginia | Bridgewater | 58 | Catholic University | 20 |
2004 | Hampton, Virginia | Christopher Newport | 21 | Bridgewater | 16 |
2005 | Newport News, Virginia | Wesley (DE) | 45 | Apprentice | 0 |
2006 | Newport News, Virginia | Apprentice | 37 | Chowan | 0 |
2007 | Newport News, Virginia | Chowan | 61 | Apprentice | 55 |
2008 | Newport News, Virginia | Apprentice | 37 | Southern Virginia | 14 |
2009 | Newport News, Virginia | Southern Virginia | 14 | Apprentice | 10 |
2010 | Newport News, Virginia | Webber International | 40 | Apprentice | 7 |
2011 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 23 | James Madison | 20 |
2012 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 31 | Delaware | 26 |
2013 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 66 | Albany | 10 |
2014 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 30 | Louisiana Tech | 27 |
2015 | Norfolk, Virginia | Florida Atlantic | 33 | Old Dominion | 31 |
2016 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 42 | FIU | 28 |
2017 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 24 | Rice | 21 |
2018 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 77 | VMI | 14 |
2019 | Norfolk, Virginia | Charlotte | 38 | Old Dominion | 22 |
2020 | No game held | ||||
2021 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 56 | Charlotte | 34 |
2022 | Norfolk, Virginia | James Madison | 37 | Old Dominion | 3 |
2023 | Norfolk, Virginia | Old Dominion | 28 | Appalachian State | 21 |
Newport News is an independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the fifth-most populous city in Virginia and 140th-most populous city in the United States. The city is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the northern shore of the James River to the river's mouth on the harbor of Hampton Roads.
Hampton Roads is the name of a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It also gave its name to the surrounding metropolitan region located in the southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina portions of the Tidewater Region.
Old Dominion University (ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. Established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, an extension school of the College of William & Mary for people with fewer financial assets, members of the military, and non-traditional students in Norfolk-Virginia Beach area of the Hampton Roads region. The university has since expanded into a residential college for traditional students and is one of the largest universities in Virginia with an enrollment of 23,494 students for the 2023 academic year. The university also enrolls over 600 international students from 99 countries. Its main campus covers 250 acres (1.0 km2) straddling the city neighborhoods of Larchmont, Highland Park, and Lambert's Point, approximately five miles (8.0 km) north of Downtown Norfolk along the Elizabeth River.
Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium, formerly Foreman Field, is a 21,944-seat multi-purpose stadium on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. It opened in 1936 with a football game between the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary's Norfolk Division, which is now Old Dominion University. It is currently the home of Old Dominion Monarchs football.
The Old Dominion Monarchs are composed of 18 intercollegiate athletic teams representing Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, sailing, soccer, swimming, and tennis. Women's sports include basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, golf, sailing, soccer, swimming, tennis, rowing, and volleyball. The Monarchs compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and are members of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC); the university joined the conference on July 1, 2022.
The Old Dominion Monarchs football program represents Old Dominion University in U.S. college football. The first iteration of the team created in 1930 was known as the William & Mary Norfolk Division Braves. Founded in 2009, the current Monarchs team competed as an FCS independent for their first two seasons. In the 2011 season, they joined the Colonial Athletic Association and added conference games to their schedule, playing there until joining the Conference USA of the FBS in 2014. They joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2022.
The Norfolk State Spartans football team represents Norfolk State University in Division I FCS college football. The team plays their home games at William "Dick" Price Stadium in Norfolk, Virginia.
The 2009 Old Dominion Monarchs football team represented Old Dominion University during the 2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team compiled a 9–2 record, in the first season under the guidance of head coach Bobby Wilder. The Monarchs competed as an independent. The team's home games were played at Foreman Field.
The Tobacco Bowl was a college football game held in Richmond, Virginia from 1949 to 1982. Despite its "bowl" designation, it was not a postseason game, but an in-season neutral-site contest that typically featured regional rivals from Virginia and neighboring states. The Tobacco Bowl was always played in Richmond City Stadium. Virginia Tech, played in the most Tobacco Bowls (12), followed by Virginia (11) and VMI (10), but the game hosted the Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry game just twice, and the VMI-Virginia Tech rivalry game only once. After appearing in just four of the first 29 Tobacco Bowls, the city's own University of Richmond Spiders played in each of the last five games, against a visiting team from elsewhere in the southeast.
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The Old Dominion Monarchs baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. The team is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which is part of NCAA Division I. Old Dominion's first baseball team was fielded in 1931 as the William and Mary College – Norfolk Division Braves. ODU joined Division I in 1977. The team plays its home games at Bud Metheny Baseball Complex in Norfolk, Virginia, where it has played since 1982. ODU has won six conference tournament titles and have been to the NCAA tournament nine times. The Monarchs are coached by Chris Finwood, a native of Hampton, Virginia, who is in his eleventh year at the helm. The Monarchs have had eleven players reach the Major Leagues and two, Justin Verlander and Daniel Hudson, have played in the World Series.
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The Old Dominion–William & Mary rivalry refers to the U.S. college rivalry games between the Old Dominion Monarchs of the Sun Belt Conference and the William & Mary Tribe of the Coastal Athletic Association. They are the two largest and most historically tenured NCAA Division I rivals in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
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