Big 33 Football Classic

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The Big 33 Football Classic is an all-star American football game featuring the top high-school football players in Pennsylvania. Played since 1957, the game is often described as the "Super Bowl of High School Football."[ citation needed ][ by whom? ] Contests currently pit players from Pennsylvania against players from Maryland, but opponents in the past have also included players from Ohio and Texas. While most earlier games were held at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the game is now played at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.

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No Super Bowl has ever been contested without a Big 33 alumnus.[ citation needed ][ as of? ]

While the game was originally played with the best 33 players in each state (hence its name), the organizers added a 34th player to give kickers a chance to be separate of the 33 count as to give one more non-kicker a chance to be named to the Big 33. Thus, there are 34 players from each state who are invited to play in this game on the original roster. If there are players that are selected are unable to play, the staff of the team and the Big 33 will select other players to fill their places on the roster.

In 2006, the game was moved from mid-to-late July to mid-to-late June due to the NCAA rule changes that made some coaches prohibit many players from these teams from playing in the game due to the closeness of the upcoming summer practices.

In October 2012, it was announced that Pennsylvania had dropped Ohio from the Big 33 game and replaced them with Maryland.

Big 33 matchups by year
HomeVisitorYears
PennsylvaniaMaryland1985–92, 2013–present
PennsylvaniaOhio1972–76, 1993–2012
PennsylvaniaTexas1964–67
Pennsylvania BluePennsylvania Gray1963
East PennsylvaniaWest Pennsylvania1961–62, 1968–71, 1977–84
PennsylvaniaNation1957–60
Ben Roethlisberger presents the Big 33 trophy to Ohio, the winning team, in 2012. Big Ben presents trophy.jpg
Ben Roethlisberger presents the Big 33 trophy to Ohio, the winning team, in 2012.

A wide variety of activities take place on the weekend of the game, typically in June or July. These activities include cheerleading exhibitions, scholarship presentations, youth clinics, and visits by the players to local hospitals, the Boys & Girls Club and other charities. Over $2 million in academic scholarships have been awarded as a result of the game and its sponsors. Each team has its own host families who host a player. The Ohio players arrive in Hershey and meet their host families Friday night (one week and a day before the game) and the Pennsylvania players arrive in Hershey and meet their host families on Saturday at the kickoff picnic that includes the host families and cheerleaders. The players visit hospitals and receive a "Buddy". Many of the players keep ties with their host families while in college and throughout their careers and the event is a very family-like event.[ citation needed ]

Notable alumni

YearNamePositionNotes
1957 Herb Adderley [1] CB3× Super Bowl Champion (I, II, VI)

Pro Football Hall of Fame (1980)

1961 Joe Namath [2] QB Super Bowl champion (III)

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee (1985)

1973 Tony Dorsett [2] RB Super Bowl Champion XII

Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee (1994)

1974 Joe Montana [2] QB4× Super Bowl champion (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV)

Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee (2000)

1978 Jim Kelly [2] QB Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee (2002)
Dan Marino [2] QB1984 NFL MVP ( AP , PFWA , NEA , SN , MX)

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee (2005)

1987 Ricky Watters [2] RB Super Bowl champion (XXIX)
Kerry Collins [2] QB2× Pro Bowl (1996, 2008)
Marvin Harrison [2] WR Super Bowl champion (XLI)

3× First-team All-Pro (1999, 2002, 2006) 5× Second-team All-Pro (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005)

Curtis Martin [3] RB Pro Football Hall of Fame (2012)
1993Jim Fitzgerald [2] RB/FB
Ty Law [2] CB3× Super Bowl champion (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX)

2× All-Pro (1998, 2003)

Orlando Pace [2] OT Super Bowl champion (XXXIV)

5× All-Pro (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004)

1995 Darnell Dinkins [1] TESuper Bowl Champion (XLIV)
1997 LaVar Arrington [2] LB3× Pro Bowl (2001, 2002, 2003)

3× All-Pro (2001, 2002, 2003)

Kyle Brady [2] TE
Zach Strief [1] OT Super Bowl Champion (XLIV)
Bob Sanders [1] SS Super Bowl champion (XLI)

AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2007)

2× First-team All-Pro (2005, 2007)

Brett Veach [4] WR Kansas City Chiefs Scout
1999 Robb Butler [5] DB
2000 Ben Roethlisberger [1] QB2× Super Bowl Champion (XL, XLIII)

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (AP, Diet Pepsi, PFWA, SN) (2004)

Marlin Jackson [1] CB/S Super Bowl champion (XLI)
Anthony Gonzalez [1] WR
2004 Javon Ringer [1] RB
Brian Hoyer QB
Ted Ginn Jr. WR
Darrelle Revis DB
Haruki Nakamura WR
2005 Alex Boone [6] G
2005 Brian Hartline [1] [6] WR
2005 Mario Manningham [6] WR Super Bowl Champion (XLVI)
2005 Zoltán Meskó [6] K
2005 Brian Robiskie [1] [6] WR
2005 Austin Spitler [6] LB
2005 Tyrell Sutton [6] RB
2005 Matt Tennant [6] C
Jon Baldwin [3] WR
Jason Pinkston [3] G
2009 Fitzgerald Toussaint [1] RB
2009 Micah Hyde [1] RB
2010 Greg Mancz [7] LT
2011 Joel Heath [8] DE
2012 Tyrique Jarrett [9] DL

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Houser, Ben (4 August 2009). "E:60: Prep pipeline to the Super Bowl".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "- YouTube". YouTube .
  3. 1 2 3 Popchock, Matt (15 June 2011). ""Mr. High School Sports" - Big 33 PA Roster Notes". CBS News .
  4. ↑ "Big 33 Pennsylvania 1997 Brett Veach Football Card, cards". Archived from the original on 2014-12-24.
  5. ↑ Groller, Keith (July 23, 1999). "Coach's Choice * Whitehall High School's Didn't Make The All-state Team But There Was No Way Coach Rich Sniscak Was Not Going To Let The Quarterback Not Make The Big 33 Team". mcall.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Ohio Big 33 Game Roster". February 18, 2005.
  7. ↑ "Big 33 Football Classic rosters". cantonrep.com. June 19, 2010. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ↑ "Joel Heath" (PDF). msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ↑ Epler, Eric, F. (January 8, 2012). "Big 33 roster has Mid-Penn Conference, District 3 covered". highschoolsports.pennlive.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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