The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in two Florida locations near Orlando.
The game was first staged in 1947, between mainland collegiate players and local Hawaiian players; it has been played exclusively with collegiate players since 1960. The bowl was paused following its 2008 edition, then was revived in January 2020.
The game was originally held at Honolulu Stadium in Honolulu, then moved to Aloha Stadium in Halawa starting with the January 1976 edition. The game remained at Aloha Stadium through the 2021 edition, except for eight editions played at War Memorial Stadium on the island of Maui. The University of Central Florida (UCF) agreed to host the January 2022 playing of the game, due to Aloha Stadium being closed for repairs and upgrades.
History
In late 1946, the first Hula Bowl was organized by Paul Stupin and Mackay Yanagisawa. When the inaugural game was played on January 5, 1947, the teams were composed of mainland college players (the "Southern California Rose Bowl Stars", led by UCLA quarterback Ernie Case) pitted against a local team of graduates of Leilehua (the "Leialums"), a local high school in Wahiawa, Hawaii—the mainland team won, 34–7. The teams played a two-game series every January until 1951, when the format was changed to allow National Football League (NFL) players to join the Hawaiian all-stars, in an effort to create a more competitive environment. From 1960 onward, the game featured only collegiate players, and game results are listed in NCAA records. Players were historically rostered by college location; North vs. South or East vs. West. Since 2000, team names of Aina and Kai, the Hawaiian words for land and ocean, have been used multiple times.
The game was originally played in Honolulu Stadium in Honolulu through the January 1975 playing, then moved to Aloha Stadium in neighboring Halawa. In 1997, the then-mayor of Maui County, Linda Lingle, obtained authorization to spend $1.2 million to improve War Memorial Stadium in the town of Kahului on the island of Maui, which then hosted the game for the 1998 through 2005 playings. However, due to poor attendance and reduced revenue, the Hula Bowl returned to Oahu for its 2006 game and stayed at Aloha Stadium through the 2008 playing.
The game has predominantly been played in January as one of the final games of the college football postseason, allowing players who competed in bowl games with their collegiate teams to participate. The game has been held in early February twice, in 2002 and 2003.
For many years, the Hula Bowl was distinguished from a similar event, the Senior Bowl, by playing by collegiate rules rather than professional rules, and by remaining amateur (the Senior Bowl paid players through its 1988 edition). This was important for those wishing to remain eligible to compete in other collegiate sports (such as college baseball) or otherwise retain amateur status.
Changing direction
On July 1, 2006, it was announced that the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) would end its ten-year relationship with the Hula Bowl due to "philosophical differences" over the future plans for the game, including proposed changes for the 2007 game — such as reintroducing the "Hawaiian Islands versus Mainland" matchup used from 1947 to 1959. University of Hawaii and former NFL head coach June Jones expressed a willingness to coach a potential Hawaiian Islands team, which would have a mix of Hawaiian and Polynesian players and, bowl organizers hoped, would draw more fans to the game. The Hula Bowl had also discussed the idea of allowing junior status players to participate in the game and bringing over college football players from Japan, something the game had done in the recent past. Game officials also discussed awarding a national "Hula Bowl Player of the Week" to college players during the regular season; the winning players would have been invited to play in the Hula Bowl and been able to direct a $1,000 donation to a charity in their state.
Dormancy After the January 2008 playing, the bowl remained dormant. Organizers searched "for opportunities to reintroduce and reimagine the historic bowl game", and in November 2016, announced their intent to restart the game in North Carolina in January 2018. However, in March 2017, additional news reports indicated that a revival of the game was unlikely, as a key supporter of the proposal, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, left office at the start of that year.
Revival On October 29, 2019, it was announced that the Hula Bowl would be revived; the 2020 edition was played at Aloha Stadium on January 26, 2020. It featured "NCAA college football players from all divisions, along with international players". Aloha Stadium also hosted the 2021 edition, played on January 31, 2021, held without spectators after the facility was "deemed unsafe to hold crowds" in December 2020. In August 2021, with Aloha Stadium closed for repairs and upgrades, the University of Central Florida (UCF) agreed to host the 2022 playing—scheduled for January 15—at its home stadium, then known as FBC Mortgage Stadium and now as Acrisure Bounce House, near Orlando, Florida.
Game results
+ KeyEast win West winNorth win South winAina win Kai winTie
The Hula Bowl has used four different pairs of team designations. Before 2000, teams were rostered as either North vs. South or East vs. West, with the exception of the 1994 game, which was College Stars vs. Hawaii Ponoʻi ("Hawaii's own"). Since 2000, the matchup has been Aina vs. Kai, except for 2005 and 2006, which reverted to East vs. West. Past NCAA records have substituted North or West in place of Kai ("ocean"), and South or East in place of Aina ("land").
Date Winner Loser Attendance January 10, 1960 East 34 West 8 23,000 January 8, 1961 East 14 West 7 17,017 January 7, 1962 East 7, West 7 20,598 January 6, 1963 North 20 South 13 20,000 January 4, 1964 North 20 South 13 18,177 January 9, 1965 South 16 North 14 22,100 January 8, 1966 North 27 South 26 25,000 January 7, 1967 North 28 South 27 23,500 January 6, 1968 North 50 South 6 21,000 January 4, 1969 North 13 South 7 23,000 January 10, 1970 South 35 North 13 25,000 January 9, 1971 North 42 South 32 23,500 January 8, 1972 North 24 South 7 23,000 January 6, 1973 South 17 North 3 23,000 January 5, 1974 East 24 West 14 23,000 January 4, 1975 East 34 West 25 22,000 January 10, 1976 East 16 West 0 45,458 January 8, 1977 West 20 East 17 45,579 January 7, 1978 West 42 East 22 48,197 January 6, 1979 East 29 West 24 49,132 January 5, 1980 East 17 West 10 47,096 January 10, 1981 West 24 East 17 39,010 January 9, 1982 West 26 East 23 43,002 January 15, 1983 East 30 West 14 39,456 January 7, 1984 West 21 East 16 34,216 January 5, 1985 East 34 West 14 30,767 January 11, 1986 West 23 East 10 29,564 January 10, 1987 West 16 East 14 17,775 Venues Honolulu Stadium (1960–1975) Aloha Stadium (1976–1997, 2006–2008, 2020–2021) War Memorial Stadium (Maui; 1998–2005) FBC Mortgage Stadium (Orlando; 2022–2025) Spec Martin Stadium (DeLand, Florida; 2026)
Date Winner Loser Attendance Ref. January 16, 1988 West 20 East 18 26,737 January 7, 1989 East 21 West 10 25,000 January 13, 1990 West 21 East 13 28,742 January 19, 1991 East 23 West 10 21,926 January 11, 1992 West 27 East 20 23,112 January 16, 1993 West 13 East 10 25,479 January 22, 1994 College Stars 28 Hawaii Ponoʻi 15 33,947 January 22, 1995 East 20 West 9 19,074 January 21, 1996 East 17 West 10 25,112 January 19, 1997 South 26 North 13 24,725 January 18, 1998 South 20 North 19 20,079 January 24, 1999 South 34 North 14 23,719 January 22, 2000 Aina 28, Kai 28 23,719 January 20, 2001 Kai 31 Aina 23 23,719 February 2, 2002 Aina 45 Kai 28 24,000 February 1, 2003 Aina 27 Kai 24 January 17, 2004 Aina 26 Kai 7 January 22, 2005 East 20 West 13 January 21, 2006 East 10 West 7 January 14, 2007 Aina 18 Kai 10 8,000 January 12, 2008 Aina 38 Kai 7 January 26, 2020 Kai 23 Aina 7 5,500 January 31, 2021 Kai 15 Aina 13 0 January 15, 2022 Kai 21 Aina 20 January 14, 2023 Kai 16 Aina 13 8,314 January 13, 2024 Kai 24 Aina 17 January 11, 2025 Aina 10 Kai 3 January 10, 2026 Kai 38 Aina 21 All-time series (updated through January 2026 game) East leads West, 15–11–1 North leads South, 8–6 Kai leads Aina 7–6–1 College Stars lead Hawaii Ponoʻi, 1–0
MVPs 1947–2008
YearNameCollege1947John JohnsonUCLA1948Dick HagenWashington1949Jerry WilliamsWashington State1950Dick KempthornMichigan1951Sonny GrandeliusMichigan State1952Vic JanowiczDon ColemanOhio StateMichigan State1953Tom StolhandskeTexas1954Bobby GarrettStanford1955Carroll HardyColorado1956Bob DavenportUCLA1957Paul HornungNotre Dame1958John David CrowLou MichaelsTexas A&MKentucky1959Bob PtacekSam WilliamsMichiganMichigan State1960Richie LucasLarry GranthamPenn StateOle Miss1961Fran TarkentonMike DitkaGeorgiaPittsburgh1962Lance AlworthMerlin OlsenArkansasUtah State1963Kermit AlexanderDave WatsonUCLAGeorgia Tech1964Peter LiskeDave WilcoxPenn StateOregon1965Larry ElkinsJeff JordanBaylorTulsa1966Steve JudayCarl McAdamsMichigan StateOklahoma1967Charlie BrownDave WilliamsMissouriWashington1968Larry CsonkaHarry GunnerSyracuseOregon State1969Bill EnyartTim BuchananOregon StateHawaii1970Bobby AndersonFloyd ReeseColoradoUCLA1971Jim PlunkettJack HamStanfordPenn State1972Jerry TaggeWalt PatulskiNebraskaNotre Dame1973Greg PruittJim MerloOklahomaStanford1974Norris WeeseLucious SelmonOle MissOklahoma1975Condredge HollowayRubin CarterTennesseeMiami (FL)1976Cornelius GreeneLee Roy SelmonOhio StateOklahoma1977Tony DorsettRon CrosbyPittsburghPenn State1978Dave TurnerRicky OdomSan Diego StateUSC1979Rick LeachTed BrownMichiganNC State1980Billy SimsSteve McMichaelOklahomaTexas
YearNameCollege1981Samoa SamoaKenny EasleyBlane GaisonWashington StateUCLAHawaii1982Walter AbercrombieLeo WisniewskiBaylorPenn State1983Dan MarinoPaul SoaresPittsburghNavy1984Jim SanduskyFreddie GilbertSan Diego StateGeorgia1985Al ToonFreddie Joe NunnWisconsinOle Miss1986Doug GaynorRogers AlexanderLong Beach StatePenn State1987Chris MillerLouis BrockOregonUSC1988Aaron CoxDennis PriceArizona StateUCLA1989Anthony DilwegDeion SandersDukeFlorida State1990Cary ConklinJames FrancisWashingtonBaylor1991John LangelohDerrick BrownlowMichigan StateIllinois1992Derrick MooreSteve IsraelNortheastern StatePittsburgh1993Lamar ThomasRon CarpenterMiami (FL)Miami (OH)1994Andre ColemanChris MaumalangaKansas StateKansas1995Kordell StewartRobert BaldwinColoradoDuke1996Winslow OliverRegan UpshawNew MexicoCalifornia1997Archie AmersonAndy RussNorthern ArizonaMississippi State1998Chris HowardEric OgboguMichiganMaryland1999Kevin DaftRicky WilliamsBrad ScioliUC DavisTexasPenn State2000Bashir YaminiTodd HusakBrian YoungIowaStanfordUTEP2001Jonathan BeasleyReggie GermanyKansas StateOhio State2002Nick RolovichChester TaylorHawaiiToledo2003David KircusKassim OsgoodGrand Valley StateSan Diego State2004Wes WelkerFred RussellColby BockwoldtTexas TechIowaBrigham Young2005Ronald StanleyDerrick WimbushMichigan StateFort Valley State2006Brent HawkinsBrad SmithIllinois StateMissouri2007Will ProctorChad NkangClemsonElon2008Bernard MorrisAngelo CraigMarshallCincinnati
2020–present YearNameCollegeRef.2020 Reggie WalkerNiko Lalos Kansas StateDartmouth 2021 Mekhi SargentCarlo KempC.J. MarableNick McCloud IowaMichiganCoastal CarolinaNotre Dame 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Coaches