Boardwalk Bowl

[1][2] From 1961 through 1967, the Boardwalk Bowl featured an annual matchup between Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and was known as the "Little Army–Navy Game.

The playing surface in these years consisted of natural grass sod that was grown outside and then moved indoors for the game.

During these years, the bowl sought to match the two best non-major teams in a 17-state Eastern Region stretching from New England to Florida.

The semifinals were the Pioneer and Grantland Rice bowls, and the Camellia was the championship game.

The Boardwalk Bowl, along with the Liberty Bowl (played at Convention Hall in December 1964), showed the feasibility of playing football indoors and led the promoters of football games to look seriously at developing indoor facilities primarily for this purpose.