Hula Bowl

History

In late 1946, the first Hula Bowl was organized by Paul Stupin and Mackay Yanagisawa. When the inaugural game was played on January 5, 1947, the teams were composed of mainland college players (the "Southern California Rose Bowl Stars", led by UCLA quarterback Ernie Case) pitted against a local team of graduates of Leilehua (the "Leialums"), a local high school in Wahiawa, Hawaii—the mainland team won, 34–7. The teams played a two-game series every January until 1951, when the format was changed to allow National Football League (NFL) players to join the Hawaiian all-stars, Players were historically rostered by college location; North vs. South or East vs. West. Since 2000, team names of Aina and Kai, the Hawaiian words for land and ocean, have been used multiple times.

The game was originally played in Honolulu Stadium in Honolulu through the January 1975 playing, then moved to Aloha Stadium in neighboring Halawa. In 1997, the then-mayor of Maui County, Linda Lingle, obtained authorization to spend $1.2 million to improve War Memorial Stadium in the town of Kahului on the island of Maui, which then hosted the game for the 1998 through 2005 playings. However, due to poor attendance and reduced revenue, the Hula Bowl returned to Oahu for its 2006 game and stayed at Aloha Stadium through the 2008 playing.

The game has predominantly been played in January as one of the final games of the college football postseason, allowing players who competed in bowl games with their collegiate teams to participate. The game has been held in early February twice, in 2002 and 2003.

For many years, the Hula Bowl was distinguished from a similar event, the Senior Bowl, by playing by collegiate rules rather than professional rules, and by remaining amateur (the Senior Bowl paid players through its 1988 edition). This was very important for those wishing to remain eligible to compete in other collegiate sports (such as college baseball) or otherwise retain amateur status. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it was considered a premier venue to launch professional careers in the NFL.

Changing direction

On July 1, 2006, it was announced that the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) would end its ten-year relationship with the Hula Bowl due to "philosophical differences" over the future plans for the game, including proposed changes for the 2007 game — such as reintroducing the "Hawaiian Islands versus Mainland" matchup used from 1947 to 1959. University of Hawaii and former NFL head coach June Jones expressed a willingness to coach a potential Hawaiian Islands team, which would have a mix of Hawaiian and Polynesian players and, bowl organizers hoped, would draw more fans to the game. The Hula Bowl had also discussed the idea of allowing junior status players to participate in the game and bringing over college football players from Japan, something the game had done in the recent past. Game officials also discussed awarding a national "Hula Bowl Player of the Week" to college players during the regular season; the winning players would have been invited to play in the Hula Bowl and been able to direct a $1,000 donation to a charity in their state.

Dormancy

After the January 2008 playing, the bowl remained dormant. Organizers searched "for opportunities to reintroduce and reimagine the historic bowl game", and in November 2016, announced their intent to restart the game in North Carolina in January 2018. However, in March 2017, additional news reports indicated that a revival of the game was unlikely, as a key supporter of the proposal, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, left office at the start of that year.

Revival

On October 29, 2019, it was announced that the Hula Bowl would be revived; the 2020 edition was played at Aloha Stadium on January 26, 2020. It featured "NCAA college football players from all divisions, along with international players". Aloha Stadium also hosted the 2021 edition, played on January 31, 2021, held without spectators after the facility was "deemed unsafe to hold crowds" in December 2020. In August 2021, with Aloha Stadium closed for repairs and upgrades, the University of Central Florida (UCF) agreed to host the 2022 playing—scheduled for January 15—at its home stadium, then known as FBC Mortgage Stadium and now as Acrisure Bounce House, near Orlando, Florida.

Game results

The Hula Bowl has used four different pairs of team designations. Before 2000, teams were rostered as either North vs. South or East vs. West, with the exception of the 1994 game, which was College Stars vs. Hawaii Ponoʻi ("Hawaii's own"). Since 2000, the matchup has been Aina vs. Kai, except for 2005 and 2006, which reverted to East vs. West. Past NCAA records have substituted North or West in place of Kai ("ocean"), and South or East in place of Aina ("land").

;Venues :Honolulu Stadium (1960–1975) :Aloha Stadium (1976–1997, 2006–2008, 2020–2021) :War Memorial Stadium (Maui; 1998–2005) :FBC Mortgage Stadium (Orlando; 2022–2025) :Spec Martin Stadium (DeLand, Florida; 2026)

;All-time series (updated through January 2026 game) :East leads West, 15–11–1 :North leads South, 8–6 :Kai leads Aina 7–6–1 :College Stars lead Hawaii Ponoʻi, 1–0

MVPs

1947–2008

2020–present

Coaches

Coaches for the first Hula Bowl played exclusively with college players, in January 1960, were Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma and Paul Dietzel of LSU. Multiple inductees of the College Football Hall of Fame have coached in the Hula Bowl, including: Bobby Bowden, Terry Donahue, Johnny Majors, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, and Barry Switzer. These totals include both head coach and assistant coaching appearances.

Hall of fame

In 2019, the Hula Bowl announced the creation of a hall of fame. The hall's inductees are:

Head coach appearances in the Hula Bowl are listed in parentheses in the College column.

In popular culture

In 1997, a storyline in the comic strip Funky Winkerbean had Harry Dinkle and the Scapegoats marching band preparing to perform at the Hula Bowl.

Footnotes

References

References

1. "Hooters a natural for Hula Show".
2. (10 January 2020). "Hula Bowl and Newsweek Announce Title Sponsorship".
3. (16 November 2022). "Tunnel to Towers Foundation to Serve as Title Sponsor of Hula Bowl 2023".
4. (20 September 2023). "Caribe Royale Orlando Resort to Serve as Title Sponsor of the 2024 Hula Bowl".
5. Borsch, Ferd. (January 11, 1976). "Hu-la won? All but the West". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
6. (December 23, 1946). "Postseason Grid Games Are Pending". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
7. Lewis, Ferd. (July 3, 2009). "60 years catering to tastes of Hawaii fans". [[Honolulu Advertiser]].
8. (January 3, 1947). "Southern California Rose Bowl Stars Arrive". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
9. (January 6, 1947). "Leialums Completely Outclassed by Rose Bowl Football Stars". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
10. (2019). "BOWL/ALL STAR GAME RECORDS". NCAA.
11. Kubota, Gary T.. (September 4, 1998). "Hula Bowl revenues far short of goal". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
12. Lewis, Ferd. (June 4, 2005). "Hula Bowl's hopes rest on return to Honolulu". [[The Honolulu Advertiser]].
13. (January 20, 1989). "Senior Bowl to stop paying players". [[The Santa Fe New Mexican]].
14. "AFCA Ends Relationship with Hula Bowl".
15. Masuoka, Brandon. (July 29, 2006). "Hula Bowl tries to reinvent itself". [[The Honolulu Advertiser]].
16. (November 4, 2016). "HISTORIC HULA BOWL SET TO CALL NORTH CAROLINA HOME IN 2018".
17. Smith, R. Cory. (November 4, 2016). "Historic Hula Bowl coming to Raleigh in 2018". [[North State Journal]].
18. Kane, Dan. (March 8, 2017). "Despite pre-election promise from McCrory, there's no Hula Bowl coming to Raleigh". [[The News & Observer]].
19. Peterkin, Olivia. (October 31, 2019). "HULA BOWL to reboot after 12 years as part of CBS Network partnership".
20. (2019). "Our History".
21. Shimabuku, Christian. (January 31, 2021). "Team Kai wins Hula Bowl in likely final game at Aloha Stadium".
22. Shimabuku, Christian. (December 17, 2020). "Aloha Stadium to shut down operations indefinitely".
23. Murschel, Matt. (August 9, 2021). "UCF to host Hula Bowl in 2022".
24. Turner, Jamie. (January 23, 1994). "Hawaii Ponoʻi a game-saver". [[The Honolulu Advertiser]].
25. (January 23, 2000). "(box score)". [[The Honolulu Advertiser]].
26. (January 13, 2001). "(box score)". [[The Honolulu Advertiser]].
27. Reardon, Dave. (February 3, 2002). "Rolo wows 'em on Maui". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
28. Luis, Cindy. (February 2, 2003). "Aina wins rousing Hula Bowl". [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]].
29. Song, Jaymes. (January 18, 2004). "Aina runs past Kai for 26-7 Hula Bowl victory".
30. Song, Jaymes. (January 23, 2005). "Stanley's two defensive scores rally East in Hula Bowl".
31. (January 22, 2006). "Long trip to Hula Bowl benefits Marshall".
32. Song, Jaymes. (January 15, 2007). "Clemson duo play major role in Aina's Hula Bowl victory".
33. (January 12, 2008). "Bernard Morris' big first half leads Aina to 38-7 Hula Bowl victory".
34. Tsai, Stephen. (January 27, 2020). "K-State's Walker leads Kai team over ʻAina". [[Honolulu Star-Advertiser]].
35. Tsai, Stephen. (February 1, 2021). "Hula Bowl: Finish to Remember". [[Honolulu Star-Advertiser]].
36. Beede, Jason. (January 16, 2022). "Ex-UCF QB Milton, Team AINA fall short". [[Sun-Sentinel]].
37. Gamarra, Max. (January 14, 2023). "Team Kai beats Team Aina 16-13 in 2023 Hula Bowl".
38. (January 16, 2024). "Hatten Impresses at Hula Bowl".
39. Montero, Demetrius. (January 21, 2025). "Final Farewells: UCF players showcase their talents in the Hula Bowl".
40. Allen, Zach. (January 10, 2026). "How Jon and Jay Gruden's head-coaching matchup went at the Hula Bowl".
41. (October 19, 2017). "In memoriam: John Johnson, 96, UCLA football standout and assistant coach". UCLA Athletics.
42. (February 26, 2020). "Walker recorded 3.5 sacks + forced a fumble and went on to win MVP honors of the all-star game.".
43. (February 1, 2021). "#HulaBowl Mekhi Sargent named offensive MVP and Carlo Kemp named defensive MVP".
44. (February 1, 2021). "#HulaBowl MVP for both teams C.J. Marable offensive MVP and Nick McCloud defensive MVP".
45. Beede, Jason. (January 16, 2022). "Ex-UCF QB Milton, Team AINA fall short". [[Sun-Sentinel]].
46. (January 14, 2023). "@CoachScott_UT helped coach offensive MVP Holton Ahlers.".
47. (January 15, 2023). "Congrats @JoFerg__ on a great week of practice and heck of a Defensive MVP performance in yesterday's @Hula_Bowl!".
48. (January 13, 2024). "Blake Watson wins Hula Bowl Offensive MVP. Next up: NFL Draft prep.".
49. (January 13, 2024). "UCF Football - Hula Bowl".
50. (January 11, 1960). "All-Americans Lead East In Hula Bowl Win". [[Marin Independent Journal.
51. Miano, Rich. (2019). "Hall of Fame".
52. "Hula Bowl Hall of Famers".
53. (January 2021). "Hula Bowl unveils 2021 Hall of Fame Class".
54. "Our Staff".
55. "Hula Bowl Hall of Fame Registration".
56. "All Time Coaches".
57. (August 30, 1997). "Funky Winkerbean". [[Standard-Speaker]].
58. (December 14, 1997). "Funky Winkerbean". [[Dayton Daily News]].