Check Six – 1941: The Shrine Bowl

Posted on Dec 7, 2016 in 1940's, Check Six

From the Images of Old Hawaii website

The Aloha Chapter of the Shriners sponsored the Shrine Bowl Classic, pitting Hawai‘i against mainland teams. For the 11th annual Classic, teams in the three-game series included San Jose State College, the University of Hawaii, and Willamette. The game guaranteed a $5,500 payout – enough to cover teams’ travel expenses, plus a small profit for the athletic departments.

The Willamette Bearcats played what was slated as the first in the three-game series. The game started at 2:30 pm December 6; 24,000 had shown up to watch the Shriner’s game, the largest crowd in the stadium’s history. Hawai‘i won 20-6.

The next scheduled games were San Jose vs. Hawai‘i on December 13 and San Jose vs. Willamette on December 16.

Plans changed … on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

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