Making Paper: Troy’s First Bowl Game
Troy is no stranger to the postseason, though the last three years may be evidence to the contrary. Three national titles, playoff appearances nearly every year the team was in FCS and four straight bowl wins are the mark of a strong program, and it all began somewhere.
For Troy, that place is Pensacola, Florida. On December 18, 1948 the Red Wave matched up with a familiar foe for their first ever postseason game—The Paper Bowl.
The Red Wave went 5-5 that year, but 3-1 in conference. They lost the only matchup with Alabama—its “B” team, a game against sophomore program Florida State and a fierce game against conference foe and rival Jacksonville State.
The Red Wave led 13-12 with two minutes left in the game. Jacksonville scored, taking an 18-13 lead. In the final seconds of the game the Gamecocks intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back to put the game away 25-13.
Jacksonville State’s defense had solidified between that point and the season’s end. The Gamecocks were 7-1-1, and they hadn’t given up more than 14 points in a single game. They gave up 7 points in the last five games combined.
Thankfully, Troy’s season was somewhat similar. The Red Wave also gave up 7 points in the last five games… not counting the 20-13 loss to FSU.
History has yet to reveal who was the conference champion that year but in this wild time before the NCAA or football championships, bowl games were as diverse and spontaneous as they are now. To that end, an organization in Pensacola established the Paper Bowl.
The game was just part of a day of festivities the week before Christmas. The day began with a parade downtown and after the game the San Carlos hotel (where both teams stayed) held a dance.
According to the Pensacola Journal, proceeds from ticket sales went to the Pensacola High School band, who played at halftime with both college bands. Hundreds of fans from across the state poured into Pensacola for the game, and media from Anniston to the Wiregrass made the trip down as well.
Jacksonville State and Troy were both invited to the inaugural game, and the Gamecocks would make return trips the next two years. Their archives have several pictures of the weekend events—including one image you won’t forget.
This is what greeted Red Wave players as they arrived to the San Carlos hotel—an effigy of the team hanging from the front facade.
Now effigies are common when it comes to campus pranks and pregame events but this is the hotel where both teams stayed AND the gala was held. Also: it was in the middle of downtown Pensacola.
Based on all that I think it’s safe to assume Jacksonville’s team and fans got there first, and it’s even safer to assume these teams didn’t like each other. Bear in mind they had only played 13 times over the previous 24 years. The two teams were conference foes, but this is clearly a deeper hate.
So a heated in-state, in-conference rivalry featuring a rematch of two teams whose game earlier in the year came down to the wire? Of course this was going to a great game, right?
The 1949 Palladium yearbook says 7,000 people showed up to the game, but based on the final score it’s hard to believe the Red Wave was among them. The yearbook says the Gamecocks scored in the first, second and fourth quarters.
Troy didn’t score at all, losing 19-0. It was the first time Jacksonville State shut Troy out in 20 years.
Troy wouldn’t go to another bowl game for 56 years, and it didn’t have a December game until the 1968 and 1984 national title runs.
Jacksonville State came back to Pensacola in 1949 and 1950, beating Livingston (West Alabama) 12-7 then losing to a team from Pensacola 7-6. The Gamecocks went to the Refrigerator Bowl in 1955 and later the Space City Bowl in 1966.
The 1948 series accounted for the third and fourth games in a series that ran every year from 1946 to 1990. Troy won the 1949 matchup, but over the next 17 years the Red Wave only won twice.
It’s a dark moment in retrospect, but the 1948 Paper Bowl is an important milestone in the Trojans’ successful history.