Tradition: Gator Bowl means business - Jacksonville Daily Record
01/01/2009
By Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The Gator Bowl Association was founded in 1945 for one reason and the football game was just the means to that end. A small group of local businessmen decided it was far too quiet in Jacksonville. They and their fellow merchants needed something to make their cash registers ring into the New Year. Avid football fans themselves (and University of Florida grads, hence the bowl’s name), they decided a college football game was the answer. The Jan. 1, 1946 Gator Bowl went from idea to kickoff in about three weeks, and over the decades has become a New Year tradition enjoyed by fans not only in Jacksonville but across the country as well.
Making the cash registers ring for local businesses was important then and even more important now. By all accounts, this year’s Konica Minolta Gator Bowl matchup between Clemson University and the University of Nebraska was a winner days before the grounds crew painted the sponsor’s logo on the 50-yard