Poultry Bowl

The Poultry Bowl was an official college football bowl game played in 1973 and 1974 in Gainesville, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina.

The maiden game was played at Gainesville's City Park Complex on Saturday, Dec. 8, 1973, between Stephen F. Austin, and Gardner-Webb University (at that time, Gardner Webb College). The SFA Lumberjacks beat the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs 31-10.

The bowl was aimed at small colleges that didn't have bowl opportunities, and for the initial game, the selection committee also considered Elon, Jacksonville State, Troy, Grambling, Carson Newman and Jackson State before settling on Stephen F. Austin and Gardner-Webb.

The Lumberjacks' mobile quarterback Larry Mayer scored one touchdown and set up others. The halftime score was 10-3, but Stephen F. Austin dominated the second half, featuring long runs by Mayer, tailback John Reece and fullback Bill Tyler. Gardner-Webb used their passing game to move the ball, but couldn't keep up with the Lumberjacks. Unfortunately, cold rain that fell two hours before kickoff and the crowd was estimated at only 1,000.[1]

1973 was the first and only Poultry Bowl played in Gainesville. The game was played the following year at the historic World War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina. The 1974 tilt featured William Penn and Guilford. In 1974, Dennis Haglin took over the position of head coach at Guilford from Henry Vansant, who had resigned. [2] The game ended in a 7-7 tie, as games could in that era, but as it was a bowl game a tiebreaker was used (most first downs), and Guilford was given an 8-7 victory.