College football game
The
1964 Liberty Bowl
was a
college football
bowl game
played on December 19, 1964, at the Atlantic City Convention Hall (now known as
Boardwalk Hall
) in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
. It was the sixth edition of the
Liberty Bowl
, and featured the
Utah Redskins
and the
West Virginia Mountaineers
.
This was the first major bowl game ever played indoors and the first indoor
American football
game broadcast nationwide in the
United States
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
It was played at a temperature of 60 °F (16 °C), in a venue that, earlier in the same year, had already hosted the
Boardwalk Bowl
(a small college bowl game), the
Miss America
pageant, the
1964 Democratic National Convention
that nominated
Lyndon B. Johnson
for President, and one of
The Beatles
' largest concerts during their first American tour.
Background
[
edit
]
The venue had been shifted to Atlantic City after the bowl was played for its initial five years outdoors in Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (later
John F. Kennedy Stadium
), often in temperatures below freezing. The inaugural Liberty Bowl in 1959 saw
Penn State
beat
Alabama
by a score of 7?0 in front of 38,000 fans. But it was downhill from there, and fewer than 10,000 were in attendance to watch the
1963 edition
between
Mississippi State
and
NC State
, with the organizers taking a loss of $40,000. The frigid temperatures at year's end in the Northeast led to the game being called the "Deep Freeze Bowl". Bud Dudley, organizer of the Liberty Bowl, was ready for a change and was receptive to an offer (including a $25,000 guarantee) from a group of Atlantic City businessmen who were trying to help revive the then-fading
Jersey Shore
resort.
[4]
The 1964 Liberty Bowl was the first major bowl game ever played indoors.
[5]
Artificial turf
was not in use yet, and the playing surface was a 4-inch-thick (10 cm)
grass
surface with two inches of
burlap
underneath it on top of
concrete
. Artificial lights were installed and kept running all day long to keep the grass growing. The organizers spent $16,000 on all of the field preparations for the game.
[4]
To squeeze the game onto the floor of the convention hall, the
end zones
at each side of the field were shortened to eight yards in depth from the regulation ten.
[6]
In the 1964 postseason, the Liberty Bowl was one of just eight major bowl games.
[7]
The
American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) agreed to broadcast the game nationally and brought
Paul Christman
,
Curt Gowdy
, and
Jim McKay
to announce the game, paying $95,000 for the rights to broadcast the first nationwide telecast of an indoor football game.
[8]
Game summary
[
edit
]
Liberty Bowl at the Atlantic City Convention Center in 1964
The
Utah Redskins
(8?2) faced the
West Virginia Mountaineers
(7?3). West Virginia's regular season record included a 28?27 upset over the
Sugar Bowl
-bound
Syracuse Orangemen
in their final regular game of the season. West Virginia featured running back
Dick Leftridge
and Utah's offense featured All-American
Roy Jefferson
.
[4]
Utah used their speed and dominated West Virginia from start to finish and won 32?6.
[9]
Utah Halfback Ron Coleman gained 154 yards on 15 carries, scoring a touchdown on a 53-yard run.
[5]
Utah quarterback (and
safety
)
Pokey Allen
was named the game's outstanding player.
[10]
[11]
This was the last edition of the Liberty Bowl played in the
Northeastern United States
; it moved to
Memphis, Tennessee
, for the
1965 edition
, where it has remained.
Scoring summary
[
edit
]
Scoring summary
|
Quarter
|
Time
|
Drive
|
Team
|
Scoring information
|
Score
|
Plays
|
Yards
|
TOP
|
Utah
|
WVU
|
1
|
|
|
50
|
|
Utah
|
29-yard field goal by
Roy Jefferson
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
|
|
45
|
|
Utah
|
Pokey Allen
11-yard touchdown run, Roy Jefferson kick good
|
10
|
0
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
Utah
|
32-yard field goal by Roy Jefferson
|
13
|
0
|
2
|
|
|
68
|
|
Utah
|
Ron Coleman 53-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass failed
|
19
|
0
|
3
|
|
|
80
|
|
Utah
|
Andy Ireland 47-yard touchdown run, 2-point run failed
|
25
|
0
|
3
|
0:10
|
|
67
|
|
WVU
|
Milt Clegg 15-yard touchdown reception from Allen McCune, 2-point pass failed
|
25
|
6
|
4
|
|
|
|
|
Utah
|
Bill Morley 33-yard touchdown reception from Dick Groth, Jerry Pullman kick good
|
32
|
6
|
"TOP" =
time of possession
. For other American football terms, see
Glossary of American football
.
|
32
|
6
|
|
[12]
[13]
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Miller, Hack (December 19, 1964).
"Indoor bowl game: novel"
.
Deseret News
. Salt Lake City. p. A5.
- ^
Nissenson, Herschel (December 20, 1964).
"Utah rolls, 32-6"
.
Ocala Star-Banner
. Florida. Associated Press. p. 26.
- ^
Green, Russ (December 20, 1964).
"Utah bombs West Virginia in Liberty Bowl"
.
Reading Eagle
. Pennsylvania. UPI. p. 61.
- ^
a
b
c
Antonik, John.
"Unique Game"
Archived
2011-05-26 at the
Wayback Machine
,
MSN
Sports, June 22, 2005. Accessed September 4, 2008.
- ^
a
b
Staff.
"Who Won"
,
Time (magazine)
, December 25, 1964. Accessed September 4, 2008. "At the Atlantic City Convention Hall, site of last August's Democratic National Convention, Utah trounced West Virginia 32?6 in the Liberty Bowl?first indoor bowl game ever. The temperature was a pleasantly cool 60°, and Utah Halfback Ron Coleman was red-hot: he gained 154 yds on 15 carries, including a 53-yd. touchdown burst."
- ^
Morris, Ron.
"A year indoors enriches Liberty's tradition."
,
The State (newspaper)
, December 27, 2006. Accessed September 4, 2008.
- ^
Kragthorpe, Kurt.
"Liberty has come a long way since '64"
,
The Salt Lake Tribune
, December 21, 2003. Accessed September 4, 2008. "This was 1964, when only four college football bowl games were staged ? outside of the four traditional New Year's Day games."
- ^
Adams, Val.
"A TV 'FIRST' DUE: INDOOR FOOTBALL; Liberty Bowl Game Moved to Hall in Atlantic City"
,
The New York Times
, March 21, 1964. Accessed September 4, 2008.
- ^
White Jr., Gordon S.
"UTAH TEAM BEATS W. VIRGINIA, 32-6"
,
The New York Times
, December 20, 1964. Accessed September 4, 2008.
- ^
"Captain Pokey Allen named most valuable"
.
Lewiston Morning Tribune
. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 20, 1964. p. 11.
- ^
Miller, Hack (December 19, 1964).
"Utes scalp W.Va., 32-6 in Liberty Bowl"
.
Deseret News
. Salt Lake City. p. 1A.
- ^
UPI
(December 20, 1964).
"Utes Crush West Virginia, 32-6"
.
The Lincoln Star
.
Lincoln, Nebraska
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
– via newspapers.com.
- ^
Nissenson, Hershel (December 20, 1964).
"Utah Romps To 32-6 Win Over W. Va"
.
Arizona Daily Star
.
Tucson, Arizona
.
AP
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
– via newspapers.com.
- ^
UPI
(December 13, 1964).
"TV Rosters"
.
Hartford Courant
.
Hartford, Connecticut
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
– via newspapers.com.
Further reading
[
edit
]
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History & conference tie-ins
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Games
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Notes
|
- There was no Liberty Bowl in 2008 or 2015.
- There was a Liberty Bowl in January and December of 2010 and 2016.
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# - denotes National Championship Game.
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