FIESTA BOWL CLASSIC

Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma Sooners vs. West Virginia Mountaineers, FOX 8PM EST

Date: January 2, 2008
Site: University of Phoenix Stadium (73,000)
Kick-Off: 6:50 p.m. MST (8:50 p.m. EST)

The Fiesta Bowl is an annual event that is played by college football teams since 1971. By 2006, the Fiesta Bowl had a new home known as the University of Phoenix Stadium that enhanced the venue of the Fiesta Bowl. The University of Phoenix Stadium furthermore, hosted the 2006 season of the BCS National Championship Game. The Fiesta Bowl features excellent and memorable games over the past years that Fiesta Bowl fans really admired.

View Some of the Classic Bowl Games and the History behind them

FIESTA BOWL COLLEGE FOOTBALL CLASSIC HISTORY

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After one of the most exciting games in college football history, people are asking the question: What can you do to top it?

Most people would throw out a one-word answer: Nothing.

However, the folks in the yellow jackets are already looking to the future, not the past, knowing something greater can happen, even if it means bettering a double-overtime national championship instant classic.

The same question was asked of the Fiesta Bowl in 1975. And 1982. And, especially, 1987. Not to mention 1996 and 1999.

It has always been the thinking of the Fiesta Bowl's founders and volunteers that the best is yet to come. Heck, who would have thought in 1971 that a bowl game in Arizona would host five national championship games and generate an economic impact of more than $1 billion to the state's economy?

The answer to that question: Several People; and they all wear yellow.

It all started in 1968 when former Arizona State University President G. Homer Durham spoke to an athletic awards banquet and proposed that Phoenix should have a football bowl game.

The idea could have died right there, as it had several times in the past. But Arizona Republic sports editor Verne Boatner wrote a column supporting the idea, and several Valley of the Sun business leaders banded together to bring a bowl game to Phoenix.

Getting a bowl game anywhere is a long shot. Countless contingencies from cities all over the country had paraded before the NCAA's Extra Events Committee, lavish presentations in hand, only to be told, "No, the NCAA doesn't need another bowl game."

And in December of 1968, a bowl game for Phoenix was merely an idea, let alone a well thought out plan to place before the NCAA.

But then things started to roll. Prominent Valley sports enthusiast Glenn Hawkins called a meeting of the area's top community leaders, who ultimately put together the package that was to become one of the most phenomenal stories in bowl history.

"There was a lot of interest," Boatner said at the time. "A lot more than I thought there would be. I didn't believe that so many influential people could be brought together in one place."

Jack Stewart, who was one of the driving forces for bringing the game to Phoenix, was elected to head the effort. He and the current original members of the Executive Committee -- Hawkins, George Isbell, Jim Meyer, Donald D. Meyers, Karl Eller, Bill Shover and George Taylor, later to be joined by Don Dupont -- put together the successful plan that would get an NCAA sanction for the game.

Key to the Fiesta effort was to win over the Western Athletic Conference for a tie-up. Then WAC Commissioner Wiles Hallock provided the direction to achieve that -- his immediate past position had been that of Director of Public Relations at the NCAA's headquarters in Kansas City.

With Hallock along, the Phoenix group appeared before the NCAA Extra Events Committee on Jan. 10, 1970, in Washington D.C. It was at that time that the group proposed to make the bowl a charitable venture, with portions of the proceeds committed to the fight against drug abuse. This was to be a key point for the Fiesta Bowl. The NCAA had granted only one new bowl during the 1960s -- Atlanta's Peach Bowl, also a charity game.

The Fiesta's effort, however, was thorough. Then Washington State athletic director and chairman of the NCAA Extra Events Committee Stan Bates said that he never had seen a group as well prepared. A few months later, Bates would become commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference after Hallock moved to the Pacific-8 Conference.

The group stressed vital points in its presentation. They told the NCAA that the Rose Bowl was the only bowl game outside of the South and that Arizona had the population and the climate, the game would be played for a worthy cause and they hastened to add that good WAC teams had been overlooked for bowl appearances in the past.

"Your presentation was so well received that I can think of no important questions to ask," Bates said afterwards.

But victory was to be farther away. On April 27, 1970, the NCAA Council, the official policy-making body of the organization, rejected six bowl bids, including one for the Valley of the Sun.

The group could have taken the defeat and moved on in their lives. Instead, they kept on fighting. A year later, on April 26, 1971, the NCAA Council approved a bowl game in Arizona, and the Fiesta Bowl was born.

Now, after more than 30 years after the idea was conceived, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will host its fifth national championship and be in the national spotlight once again.

Highlights of the Fiesta Bowl include

Dec. 19, 1969 -- A committee of nine community leaders is formed to coordinate efforts to start a bowl game in Arizona. The nine original members of the Fiesta Bowl board of directors were: Don Dupont, Karl Eller, Glenn Hawkins, George Isbell, Jim Meyer, Don Meyers, Bill Shover, Jack Stewart and George Taylor.
April 26, 1971 -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approves the application made by the Arizona Sports Foundation for an Arizona-based bowl game at the annual NCAA meetings held in Houston.
June 10, 1971 – A contest is co-sponsored by the Arizona Sports Foundation and the Arizona Republic to “Name the Bowl Game.” More than 6,500 entries are received, and 73 of the entries choose the name Fiesta. In a blind drawing of the 73 winning entries, Gary Keltner is the lucky winner and walks away with four lifetime tickets to the Fiesta Bowl Football Classic.
Dec. 27, 1971 -- The years of hard work finally payoff when Arizona State plays Florida State in the inaugural Fiesta Bowl game. The Sun Devils win a 45-38 shootout over the Seminoles in front of 51,098 fans. A record $168,237 is paid to each team, which at that time was the highest payout ever for a first-year bowl game.
Dec. 16, 1972 -- The inaugural Fiesta Bowl Parade is held and begins an era for the Fiesta Bowl that shows a tremendous growth in pageantry-oriented events. The first Parade features 45 balloon-type entries, including a four-story Santa Claus, that are guided down the route by more than 300 Boy Scouts in front of 25,000 street spectators.
Dec. 27, 1973 -- The Fiesta Bowl begins a National Junior Tennis Tournament that has featured some of the game’s best, including Tracy Austin, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi.
Dec. 27, 1974 – Bleachers are erected for the first time along Central Avenue, and the Fiesta Bowl Parade attracts more than 100,000 street spectators.
Dec. 28, 1974 -- CBS televises the first national network telecast of the Fiesta Bowl, as Oklahoma State grinds out a 16-6 victory over Brigham Young. CBS covered Fiesta Bowl games from 1974 through 1977 and returned to televise the Fiesta Bowl during the Bowl Alliance from 1996 through 1998.
Dec. 28, 1975 -- Arizona State and Nebraska, with respective records of 11-0 and 10-1, combine for the best overall regular season record of any non-New Year's Day game. The Sun Devils hang on for a thrilling 17-14 victory, and finish second in the final national polls. Many believe this was the game that put the Fiesta Bowl on the map.
Dec. 17, 1977 -- The Fiesta Bowl Parade is syndicated for television coverage on a national basis, with an estimated viewing audience of 1.2 million people. Syndicated coverage of the parade grew steadily from that point, with Broadcast Communications Inc., of Indianapolis, signing on for a three-year contract.
April 24, 1978 -- NBC wins the rights to televise the Fiesta Bowl and begins a long relationship that lasts from 1978 through 1995.
Dec. 17, 1978 -- The Fiesta Bowl National Pageant of Bands is born, and features 31 bands in the inaugural event – 16 from Arizona and 15 out-of-state hopefuls. All 31 bands marched in the Fiesta Bowl Parade and competed in a field competition at Scottsdale Municipal Stadium
Dec. 26, 1980 -- The Fiesta Bowl celebrates its Tenth Anniversary with a then-record crowd of 66,738 on hand to watch Penn State defeat Ohio State, 31-19, in beautiful 80-degree temperatures under a clear blue Arizona sky.
Oct. 21, 1981 – The Tucson Fiesta Bowl Committee presents the inaugural Tucson Fiesta Bowl Golf Invitational with proceeds benefiting the Fiesta Bowl Youth Development Program, a program designed to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson.
Jan. 1, 1982 -- Kicking off on New Year's Day for the first time, the Fiesta Bowl is a resounding success with a sellout crowd of 71,053 on hand for a matchup between Penn State and Southern Cal. Penn State slips past USC and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen, 26-10, in a game that recorded a 19.3 rating, still the second highest in Fiesta Bowl history.
Dec. 31, 1982 – The First Annual Fiesta Bowl 10K is held in downtown Phoenix before the Fiesta Bowl Parade. More than 3,500 competitors take part in the first race, which was televised nationally by 100 markets. American record-holder Thom Hunt wins the initial event.
Jan. 2, 1984 -- A crowd of 66,484 watches one of the most exciting finishes in Fiesta Bowl history, as Ohio State scores the game-winning touchdown with just 39 seconds on the clock to defeat Pittsburgh, 28-23.
Dec. 7-16, 1984 – The first Fiesta Bowl Million Dollar Hole-in-One contest is held at the Arizona Biltmore Country Club, and the champion of the finals fails to nail an ace but still drives away in a Ford Mustang..
Sept. 26, 1985 – Sunkist Growers enters a five-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement with the Fiesta Bowl as title sponsor of what will be called the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Football Classic and Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade. It marks the first-ever title sponsorship of a college football bowl game and increases the Fiesta Bowl’s payout to more than $1 million per team.
Dec. 31, 1985 – Eight of the top world-class milers, including past Olympic medalists and marathon champions, compete in the first Fiesta Bowl Mile. Steve Scott, a NCAA champion and Olympic long-distance runner, wins the inaugural event.
Oct. 19, 1986 -- Michael Andretti captures the inaugural Fiesta Bowl 200, a 200-mile Indy car race in October at the world's fastest one-mile oval track at Phoenix International Raceway.
Jan. 2, 1987 -- The Fiesta Bowl is in the world’s spotlight when it hosts its first national championship game between No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Penn State, the nation’s only undefeated and untied teams. “The Battle for Number 1” comes down to the final seconds when Penn State’s Pete Giftopoulos intercepts Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde’s pass to preserve the victory. More than 52 million people watched the historic game, which is still the most watched college football game of all time with a 25.1 rating.
Sept. 15, 1988 -- The Fiesta Bowl moves its kickoff time to mid-afternoon, filling the void created by the Rose Bowl's move to ABC. A new NBC television contract allows the Fiesta Bowl's team payout to approach the $3 million mark per team.
Dec. 30, 1988 -- The Fiesta Bowl stages a "Takedown One" wrestling competition between the national teams of the United States and Soviet Union at ASU's Activity Center. The Soviet Union wins a convincing decision in front of approximately 8,000 fans.
Jan. 2, 1989 – The Fiesta Bowl hosts its second game in three years that decides college football’s national champion. Notre Dame jumps out to a 23-6 halftime lead over West Virginia to cruise to a 34-21 victory and the school’s 11th national championship. It marks the fourth consecutive year that the Fiesta Bowl champion finishes first or second in the final polls.
Jan. 1, 1990 -- The Fiesta Bowl becomes the first bowl game ever to award money solely to academic departments within universities that participated in its football game. The Fiesta Bowl established $100,000 educational endowment chairs within the University of Nebraska's Department of Agronomy and Florida State University's Department of Meteorology.
Dec. 29, 1990 – The Fiesta Bowl enters a joint partnership with the Scottsdale Prevention Institute to stage the Third Annual Fiesta Bowl Duck Race. Throughout the years, the duck race has become the world’s largest of its kind with 75,000 ducks racing down the Salt River Project canal in one of the bowl’s top events.
Feb. 5, 1991 -- Sunkist Growers consolidates its sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl Football Classic after a huge citrus freeze in December 1990 hinders its winter citrus crop. Sunkist, however, continues its sponsorship of the nationally televised Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade.
July 10, 1991 -- The Fiesta Bowl is invited to join college football's Bowl Coalition, which includes the Cotton, Orange and Sugar Bowls. Champions from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Eight, Southeastern and Southwest conferences, along with Notre Dame and two at-large teams will annually fill the eight slots in the four games.
Dec. 21, 1992 -- IBM signs an agreement with the Fiesta Bowl making IBM, which is a worldwide leader in the development of sales of business systems, software and services, title sponsor of the IBM OS/2 Fiesta Bowl Football Classic. IBM associates its OS/2 "Operating System/2" line with the football classic.
Dec. 31, 1992 --The First Annual Motorola Mile is held on the Parade route in front of more than 300,000 spectators. Nearly 1,000 runners compete in a participant mile, which was followed by Arizona's top high school boys and girls milers competing in a one-mile run down Central Avenue.
Dec. 5, 1993 -- The Fiesta Bowl and the Dial Corp stage the inaugural "Dial Invitational - A Fiesta Bowl Event," a collegiate basketball doubleheader at America West Arena. Arizona State plays Big East foe Boston College in the first game, while Arizona battles Oklahoma State in the second game.
Dec. 7, 1993 -- Tempe-based MicroAge, Inc., becomes the title sponsor of the MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade, marking the first time in the parade's 23-year history that an Arizona company has served as title sponsor of the event. MicroAge, a public company founded in 1976, is among Arizona's top 10 public companies by revenue.
Jan. 1, 1994 -- The Arizona Wildcats record the first shutout in Fiesta Bowl history by blanking the favored Miami Hurricanes, 29-0. Arizona's defense, known as "Desert Swarm," has four sacks, three interceptions, causes two fumbles and forces Miami to punt a Fiesta Bowl record 10 times.
June 21, 1994 – The Fiesta Bowl announces that the telecast of its game will return to CBS, beginning in January 1996. CBS televised the Fiesta Bowl from 1974 through 1977, the first national telecast of the Fiesta Bowl.
Aug. 4, 1994 -- The Fiesta Bowl receives official notification that it will be a part of a new College Football Bowl Alliance, consisting of the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls. The Bowl Alliance guarantees the three bowls a national championship game on a rotating basis, unless a team from the Pac-10 or Big Ten is ranked first and/or second in the final regular season polls.
Sept. 8, 1994 –The Fiesta Bowl announces that it will host the first Bowl Alliance national championship game on January 2, 1996, at Sun Devil Stadium. As the highest finisher in the bidding process, the Fiesta Bowl has the option of which year to host the title game.
June 28, 1995 -- The Phoenix & Valley of the Sun Convention & Visitor’s Bureau honors the Fiesta Bowl by awarding it the Silver Phoenix Award, which is given to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to the community and to Valley tourism.
Aug. 5, 1995 -- Frito-Lay, Inc. and the Fiesta Bowl announce at a press conference that Frito-Lay has signed a comprehensive marketing and media agreement with the Fiesta Bowl that includes title sponsor of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. This unprecedented agreement positioned the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl as the highest-paying college bowl game of all time.
Nov. 16, 1995 -- Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football history, is named the grand marshal for the 25th Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade.
Jan. 2, 1996 – More than 25,000 fans attend the first-ever Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Tailgate Party, an event held just north of Sun Devil Stadium during the hours leading up to the game.
April 2, 1996 -- The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl announces that it has paid a college football bowl record $27.2 million to Nebraska and Florida for the national championship game. It is also announced that the national title game and surrounding events generated an economic impact of $96.8 million of new money and attracted nearly 50,000 out-of-state visitors to Arizona.
Sept. 21, 1996 -- The Fiesta Bowl is awarded the coveted Pinnacle Award, considered the most prestigious award in the festival industry, for the 25th Anniversary campaign at the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) convention in Orlando, Fla. The award was the bowl’s first ever and included competition from 834 entries from around the globe.
July 22, 1997 -- The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl receives official notification that it has been selected to the new College Football Bowl Alliance, guaranteeing one national championship and games with the nation’s top teams over at least the next four years. The Fiesta Bowl is joined by the Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls in this new system, which will guarantee a true national championship game for the first time ever.
Oct. 9, 1997 -- The Fiesta Bowl announces that it will host college football’s first unified national championship game on Jan. 4, 1999, at Sun Devil Stadium. As the highest finisher in the bidding process, the Fiesta Bowl has its choice of which year to host the title game.
Dec. 31, 1997 – For the first time in the Fiesta Bowl’s history, the game is held on New Year’s Eve, creating an electrifying evening in downtown Tempe with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Tempe Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party being held at the same time. Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop is the star of the game, while The B-52’s highlight the Block Party, which attracts a record 175,000 people.
Sept. 28, 1998 – The Fiesta Bowl calendar of events, featuring 51 year-round spectator and participatory events, is branded the Fiesta Bowl Festival.
June 1, 1998 – The Fiesta Bowl reaches an agreement with the Football Writers Association of America to host an annual Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet in the Phoenix area beginning in January 1999. The banquet will recognize the nation’s top coach, as selected by the FWAA, and Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football history.
Jan. 4, 1999 – Tennessee completes its best season in school history with a 23-16 victory over Florida State in front of a Fiesta Bowl-record 80,470 fans in the first unified national championship game in college football history. Tennessee’s Peerless Price proves worthy of his name with four receptions for a career-high 199 yards, including a 79-yard game-clinching touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. Vice President Al Gore is one of several celebrities on hand in a game that ABC televises in prime time on Monday night.
Jan. 14, 1999 – Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer is presented with the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year trophy at the inaugural America West Airlines Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.
May 13, 1999 – The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl announces that the 1999 national championship game between Tennessee and Florida State generated a record economic impact of $133 million and attracted 69,000 out-of-state visitors, according to a study by the Arizona State University College of Business.
Dec. 31, 1999 – A record crowd of 200,000 people usher in the new millennium to the sounds of Sugar Ray and Billy Idol at the Tempe Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party. Millennium Avenue is the place to be on this special night, as the crowd enjoys six stages of music, pep rallies, fireworks, carnival rides and food and beverage booths.
Jan. 13, 2000 – Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer is named the 1999 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year at the America West Airlines Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet. Beamer beats out finalists Glen Mason of Minnesota and June Jones of Hawaii at the event, which is televised nationally on Fox Sports Net and held at The Phoenician Resort.
Aug. 25, 2000 – Kristy Kay Stover is crowned the 30th Fiesta Bowl Queen at the Wells Fargo Fiesta Bowl Queen's Gala presented by JCPenney. Stover, a junior at Arizona State University, is joined on the court with Robyn Lende, April Lonigro and Rebecca McCartney.
Dec. 28, 2000 – Bank One Ballpark is rocking and rolling as Iowa State gets its first-ever bowl victory in a hard-fought 37-29 victory over Pittsburgh in the Insight.com Bowl. Billed as "College Football Like You've Never Seen It Before," the Insight.com Bowl is all that and a whole lot more in its Bank One Ballpark debut. Energetic fans, hard-hitting action and plenty of surprises are the norm where nothing is left standing, including the goal posts, which were dismantled in record time by the more than 25,000 Cyclone fans.
Jan. 1, 2001 – The third largest crowd in Tostitos Fiesta Bowl history, and the largest for a non-championship game, watch the Oregon State Beavers put an exclamation point on their remarkable season with a 41-9 victory over Notre Dame. The Oregon State faithful have plenty to celebrate, as the Beavers finish the season with an 11-1 record, their best in school history, and their first bowl victory in 39 years.
Sept. 25, 2001 – The Fiesta Bowl and Fox Sports Net join forces to produce a new weekly college football television show entitled the Fiesta Bowl Roundtable presented by Alltel. The show is devoted to the national college football scene and includes roundtable discussions with host Brad Cesmat of KTAR Radio and other Phoenix-area media members.
Jan. 1, 2002 – The 31st Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl is branded the "Just In Case National Title Game", as Oregon and Colorado enter the game ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls. It's the Ducks, however, who provide the "quack" during the game, as Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington leads a convincing, 38-16, victory with 350 yards passing and four touchdowns.
Dec. 8, 2002 – Ray Mills of Phoenix nails a hole-in-one and wins $1 million in the AT&T Fiesta Bowl Million Dollar Hole-in-One presented by Ernst & Young. It's the first time in the 18-year history of the event, someone is able to record an ace and win the cash prize. Mills used a seven-iron on the 158-yard hole, bouncing the ball on the front of the green before it rolled in the hole.
Jan. 3, 2003 – In what many people call one of the greatest games in college football history, Ohio State upsets the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes in a double-overtime instant classic. The Buckeyes, who finish with a school best 14-0 record, rely on a tenacious defense that forces five turnovers and stops the potent Miami offense on three consecutive plays from the one-yard line in the second overtime to claim the school's fifth consensus national championship.
May 5, 2003 – The 32nd Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and surrounding events generate a record economic impact of $228 million to the state's economy, according to a study by the W. P. Carey Sports Business Program at Arizona State University. The national championship game between Ohio State and Miami reaches a record $153.7 million, while attracting 90,094 out-of-state visitors to the Valley of the Sun.

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