Leatherneck Bowl
American football game
The Leatherneck Bowl was an annual American football bowl game held in San Diego. Originally contested between Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and another top military service football team, it became an annual matchup between San Diego and Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1961.
History
The inaugural Leatherneck Bowl took place at Balboa Stadium on December 14, 1958, between the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Devil Dogs and Camp Lejeune. The game was open to the public and proceeds were donated to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 attendees, including 7,000 Navy and Marine recruits, watched San Diego beat Camp Lejeune 62–22. Halfback Billy Martin led the scoring for San Diego with three touchdowns (two rushing and one on a pass from Vern Valdez) and fullback Kenny Lutterbach scored two more.
The second Leatherneck Bowl was held on December 6, 1959 and benefited the San Diego County United Fund, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, and the Air Force Aid Society. 19,000 spectators saw San Diego beat Bolling Air Force Base 41–14. Alvin Hall was the game's leading scorer with three touchdowns and Billy Martin added two more.
The 1960 game saw the top West Coast service team (San Diego) play the best team from the East, the Quantico Marines Devil Dogs.
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This entry incorporates text from “Leatherneck Bowl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.