North–South Shrine Game

The North–South Shrine Game was an annual postseason college football all-star game played each December from 1948 to 1973 in Miami, and a final time in 1976 in Pontiac, Michigan.^[1] The game was sponsored by the fraternal group Shriners International, with proceeds used to support the Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children. The full name of the game when played in Miami, as listed on programs, was the Mahi Shrine's North–South College All-Star Football Game.

North–South Shrine Game (defunct)
Mahi Shrine's North–South College All-Star Football Game
Program cover from 1967 game
Stadium	Orange Bowl (1948–1973) Silverdome (1976)
Location	Miami, Florida (1948–1973) Pontiac, Michigan (1976)
Operated	1948–1973, 1976
Sponsors
Shriners

History

In the early 1930s, there were several college all-star charity games organized between North and South teams. These were held in various locations, and benefitted different charitable causes. While listed in NCAA records,^[1] these games were unrelated to the series started in Florida after World War II.

The first two playings of the Miami-based Shrine game, in 1946 and 1947, were contested between high school football teams. Lynn Classical High School from Massachusetts, led by future Boston Red Sox player Harry Agganis, won the first game, while Miami High School won the second game. In October 1948, game organizers announced their intent to invite college football players, noting "there will be enough players for both of us", in reference to the Blue–Gray Football Classic being played in Montgomery, Alabama.^[2] Andy Gustafson of Miami and Herman Hickman of Yale, who would both be inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame, were signed to five-year contracts to coach the South and North teams, respectively.^[3]

After switching to a college all-star format, the game drew many top players and coaches during its history, such as George Blanda as South quarterback in 1948, and Ara Parseghian as North head coach in 1958. The 1964 game featured two Heisman Trophy winners; John Huarte, that year's recipient, and Roger Staubach, who had won the award in 1963 as a junior.^[4] Organizers sought to make the games competitive, including a special rule that allowed a team to receive a kickoff after scoring, if they were still trailing.^[5]

The 1956 game created some controversy, when singer Harry Belafonte was invited, and then apparently uninvited, to perform the national anthem before the game.^[6] Belafonte felt the incident was racially motivated, which game organizers denied;^[7] Belafonte was ultimately allowed to sing, although without accompaniment.^[8] At the time, the game was still segregated, as African-American players were not included on the South team until Willie Richardson and Bob Paremore in 1962.^[9] In the 1962 game, Richardson was selected as South team MVP, and Paremore received the game's sportsmanship award.^[10]

The Shrine executive committee voted to discontinue the Miami-based games after 1973, due to sparse attendance and the failure to secure a national television contract.^[11] Organizers in Michigan cited scheduling difficulties and a desire "to solicit a TV package", in not continuing the game beyond 1976.^[12]

A similar game, the East–West Shrine Game, has been played since 1925.

Game results

Early years: college all-star teams

Date	Winner	Score	Attendance	Stadium	City	Organizer	Ref.
January 1, 1930	North	21–12	20,000	Grant Field	Atlanta	Yaarab Temple (Shriners)	^[13]^[14]
December 28, 1930	South	7–0	2,000	Ebbets Field	New York City	Knights of Columbus	^[15]^[16]
December 10, 1932	South	7–6	500	Baltimore Stadium	Baltimore	Mayor Howard W. Jackson	^[17]^[18]
December 24, 1933	North	3–0	5,000	Brooklyn Sports Stadium^[19]	New York City	American Legion	^[20]^[21]
January 1, 1934	North	7–0	12,000	Shields–Watkins Field	Knoxville, Tennessee	Shriners	^[22]^[23]

Notes:

The January 1930 game was a Southern Conference all-star game.^[1]

The January 1934 game was a Southeastern Conference all-star game.^[1]

Shrine games: high school teams

No.	Date	North team		South team		Attendance	Ref.
1	December 25, 1946	Lynn Classical High School (MA)	21	Granby High School (VA)	14	18,138	^[24]
2	December 25, 1947	McKeesport High School (PA)	14	Miami High School (FL)	34	26,430	^[25]

Shrine games: college all-star teams

No. Date Winner Score Attendance 3 December 25, 1948 South 24–14 33,056 4 December 26, 1949 North 20–14 37,378 5 December 25, 1950 South 14–9 39,132 6 December 25, 1951 South 35–7 39,995 7 December 25, 1952 Tie 21–21 42,866 8 December 25, 1953 South 20–0 44,715 9 December 25, 1954 South 20–17 37,847 10 December 26, 1955 South 20–7 42,179 11 December 26, 1956 North 17–7 39,181 12 December 25, 1957 North 23–20 28,303 13 December 27, 1958 South 49–20 35,519 14 December 26, 1959 North 27–17 35,185 15 December 26, 1960 North 41–14 26,146

No. Date Winner Score Attendance 16 December 25, 1961 South 35–16 18,892 17 December 22, 1962 South 15–14 16,952 18 December 21, 1963 South 23–14 19,120 19 December 25, 1964 North 37–30 29,124 20 December 25, 1965 South 21–14 25,640 21 December 26, 1966 North 27–14 28,569 22 December 25, 1967 North 24–0 17,400 23 December 25, 1968 North 3–0 18,063 24 December 25, 1969 North 31–10 23,527 25 December 25, 1970 North 28–7 15,402 26 December 27, 1971 South 7–6 18,640 27 December 25, 1972 North 17–10 18,013 28 December 25, 1973 South 27–6 10,672 29 December 17, 1976 South 24–0 41,627

Notes:

Overall record for Shrine games: South (14–12–1) in college games; South (15–13–1) including high school games.

All Shrine games played at the Miami Orange Bowl, except for the 1976 game, which was played at the Pontiac Silverdome.^[1]

The date of the 1949 game is incorrectly listed as December 25 in NCAA records;^[1] the game was played on Monday, December 26.^[26]

MVPs

Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

Year played	North			South			Ref.
	Player	Pos.	College	Player	Pos.	College
1948	no selection
1949	Ralph Pasquariello	FB	Villanova	no selection			^[27]
1950	Gil Stephenson	FB	Army	John Ford	QB	Hardin–Simmons	^[28]
1951	John Turco	HB	Holy Cross	Bill Wade	QB	Vanderbilt	^[29]
1952	Donn Moomaw	LB	UCLA	Jack Scarbath	QB	Maryland	^[30]
1953	Ken Miller	FB	Illinois	Crawford Mims	G	Ole Miss	^[31]
1954	Alan Ameche	FB	Wisconsin	Dick Bielski	FB	Maryland	^[32]
1955	Don Holleder	E	Army	George Welsh	QB	Navy	^[33]
1956	Tommy McDonald	HB	Oklahoma	Billy Ray Barnes	FB	Wake Forest	^[34]
1957	Jim Ninowski	QB	Michigan State	Dick Christy	HB	NC State	^[35]
1958	Pete Dawkins	HB	Army	Buddy Humphrey	QB	Baylor	^[36]
1959	Joe Caldwell	QB	Army	Dan Edgington	E	Florida	^[37]
1960	Bill Brown	HB	Illinois	Bobby Skelton	QB	Alabama	^[38]
1961	Larry Onesti	C	Northwestern	Bobby Ply	QB	Baylor	^[39]
1962	Jerry Gross	QB	Detroit Mercy	Willie Richardson	WR	Jackson State	^[40]
1963	Jack Concannon	QB	Boston College	George Mira	QB	Miami (FL)	^[41]
1964	John Huarte	QB	Notre Dame	Bob Hayes	SE	Florida A&M	^[42]
1965	Nick Rassas	S/PR	Notre Dame	Ed Weisacosky	LB	Miami (FL)	^[43]
1966	Pete Duranko	DT	Notre Dame	Gene Trosch	DT	Miami (FL)	^[44]
1967	Dennis Coyne	LB	Northwestern	Gordon Lambert	DE	Tennessee-Martin	^[45]
1968	Bob Gladieux	RB	Notre Dame	Bill Bergey	LB	Arkansas State	^[46]
1969	Bruce Van Ness	RB	Rutgers	Clovis Swinney	G	Arkansas State	^[47]
1970	Lynn Dickey	QB	Kansas State	Dave Elmendorf	S	Texas A&M	^[48]
1971	Keith Schroeder	LB	Iowa State	Joe Federspiel	LB	Kentucky	^[49]
1972	Rufus Ferguson	RB	Wisconsin	Chuck Foreman	RB	Miami (FL)	^[50]
1973	Gerald Tinker	WR	Kent State	Jimmy Allen	CB	UCLA	^[51]
1976	Tom Hannon	S	Michigan State	Steve Pisarkiewicz	QB	Missouri	^[52]

Most MVP selections (college): 4, accomplished by Army, Notre Dame, and Miami (FL).

Sportsmanship award

(awarded intermittently)

Year played	Player	Pos.	College	Team	Ref.
1950	Herb Hannah^note	OT	Alabama	South	^[28]
1951	Bill Wade	QB	Vanderbilt	South	^[29]
1955	Jack Losch	HB	Miami (FL)	South	^[33]
1958	Billy Stacy	HB	Mississippi State	South	^[36]
1961	Larry Wilson	SE	Miami (FL)	South	^[39]
1962	Bob Paremore	HB	Florida A&M	South	^[40]

^  Herb Hannah was the father of John Hannah.

See also

• List of college bowl games

References

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