Florida State safety David Snell 20 returns a kick against Arizona State in the first Fiesta Bowl on December 27 1971 4
FIESTA BOWL HISTORY TAKING ROOT IN THE DESERT T he college football world looked a lot different in the 1960s At the time the Rose Orange Sugar and Cotton Bowl games dominated the scene There were a few other bowls but college football fans paid the most attention to those four The games were usually played on New Year’s Day When they were all wrapped up the national champion was crowned Some folks in Phoenix Arizona figured their climate was warm enough to stage a bowl game too In 1968 Arizona State University President G Homer Durham came up with the idea of creating a bowl game for the Phoenix area There was no name for it yet but there was lots of interest College football was plenty popular in the state Two local schools the University 1 5
Oklahoma State quarterback Scott Burk center fights off a Brigham Young tackler in the 1974 Fiesta Bowl Oklahoma State won 16 6 of Arizona in Tucson and Arizona State University ASU in Tempe were members of the Western Athletic Conference WAC Back then even though ASU had a strong team the WAC was viewed as a weak league In 1969 the Sun Devils were not invited to a bowl game despite posting an 8 2 record That upset Arizonans who believed it was time for a postseason college game in the Southwest The local newspaper the Arizona Republic backed the idea So did many Phoenix-area businesses Soon a 6
Penn State coach Joe Paterno left and Arizona State coach Frank Kush pose for pictures before the 1977 Fiesta Bowl plan was presented to the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA which is in charge of college sports In 1970 ASU went 10 0 but only was invited to the second-level Peach Bowl And the NCAA shot down the Arizona bowl idea But the boosters in Phoenix did not give up They improved their plan and the next year the NCAA approved the new bowl The next step was to name the annual bowl game A public contest was held and Fiesta which means party or festival in Spanish was the winner 7
