The Palm Bowl was a football game played seven times at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen, Texas between 1978 and 1985. The first two contests (1978 and 1979) decided the NAIA Football National Championship , and the last five (1981 through 1995) decided the NCAA Division II Football Championship . The bowl folded after the NCAA moved the Division II championship to Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama in 1986.
24-685: On October 26, 1978, the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce held a joint press conference announcing a "multi-year contract" for the bowl to host the NAIA football national championship. The game was initially called the City of Palms Bowl (after McAllen's nickname, the City of Palms) but the name was soon shortened to the less cumbersome Palm Bowl. McAllen officials were keen to use
48-522: A Lone Star Conference team and attendance suffered as a result. North Dakota State ended up playing in four of the five Palm Bowls that decided the D-II title, winning two and losing two. The NCAA's arrangement with the Palm Bowl expired after the 1985 game, and Florence, Alabama (home of 1985 runner-up North Alabama ) outbid McAllen for the next contract. Palm Bowl, Inc., cited uncertainty over whether
72-1361: A part of any of these conferences play in the Continental Athletic Conference , formerly the Association of Independent Institutions. *- Denotes that the conference sponsors football. †- Denotes a football-only conference. 1952 in sports 1952 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. England Spain Italy Germany France Portugal Victorian Football League South Australian National Football League Western Australian National Football League NBA Finals Spain Events England Australia India New Zealand South Africa Men's professional Men's amateur Women's professional Steeplechases Hurdle races Flat races Speed Skating World Championships Australia England France USA Davis Cup Awarded retrospectively by
96-499: A series of do-it-yourself home improvement videos, became the first college student-athlete known to have profited from an endorsement under the current rules. The NAIA sponsors 16 sports in which it conducts 28 annual championships (13 for men, 13 for women, 2 co-ed). The NAIA recognizes three levels of competitions: "emerging" (15 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity and declared), "invitational" (25 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity and declared for postseason, Approval of
120-608: Is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to their student athletes. Around $ 1.3 billion in athletic scholarship financial aid is awarded to student athletes annually. For the 2023–24 season, it had 241 member institutions , of which two are in British Columbia , one in the U.S. Virgin Islands , and
144-751: The Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player award since 1939, as well as the Charles Stevenson Hustle Award ("Charlie Hustle"), which was the basis for Pete Rose 's nickname, given to him by Whitey Ford . From 1992 to 2020, basketball was the only NAIA sport in which the organization's member institutions were aligned into divisions. Effective with the 2020–21 academic year, the NAIA returned to a single division for both men's and women's basketball. The NAIA has 21 member conferences, including 9 that sponsor football. Member institutions that are not
168-576: The NAIA, in partnership with the National Football League (NFL), announced the addition of flag football as a varsity sport for female student-athletes. The NAIA became the first collegiate governing body to sanction the sport at the varsity level. Women's flag began during the 2021 season as an emerging sport with about 15 teams. Name, image, and likeness reform — In October 2020, the NAIA passed legislation that allows student-athletes at its member institutions to be compensated for
192-516: The National Administrative Council), and "championship" (40 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity, Minimum of two Invitationals held, Approval of the National Administrative Council). The association conducts, or has conducted in the past, championship tournaments in the following sports (year established). The NAIA men's basketball championship is the longest-running collegiate national championship of any sport in
216-645: The National Association for Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) was formed in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1952 , the NAIB was transformed into the NAIA, and with that came the sponsorship of additional sports such as men's golf, tennis and outdoor track and field. Football in the NAIA was split into two divisions in 1970, based on enrollment (Divisions I and II); it was consolidated back into a single division in 1997. The 1948 NAIB national tournament
240-537: The United States. The tournament was the brainchild of Dr. James Naismith , creator of the game of basketball; Emil Liston , athletic director at Baker University ; and Frank Cramer, founder of Cramer Athletic Products. The event began in 1937 with the inaugural tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 2017 men's championship marked the 80th edition of what has been tabbed College Basketball's Toughest Tournament. The tournament has awarded
264-477: The bowl to be televised nationally on ABC , with a local blackout. The local press referred to the 1981 game as "Palm Bowl III," confirming that it was a resumption of the original bowl rather than an entirely new initiative. It drew the largest-ever Palm Bowl crowd (9,415) to see Southwest Texas State win the title. After another good turnout witnessed the Bobcats repeat in 1982, the next three games did not feature
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#1732800911081288-518: The first National College Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri , of which Goldman was director, one year before the first National Invitation Tournament and two years before the first NCAA tournament . The goal of the tournament was to establish a forum for small colleges and universities to determine a national basketball champion. The original eight-team tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1938. On March 10, 1940,
312-479: The first association to admit colleges and universities from outside the United States. The NAIA began admitting Canadian members in 1967. Football – The NAIA was the first association to send a football team to Europe to play. In the summer of 1976, the NAIA sent Henderson State and Texas A&I to play 5 exhibition games in West Berlin, Vienna, Nuremberg, Mannheim and Paris. Flag football – In May 2020,
336-499: The first female college athlete to play and score in a college football game when she kicked two extra points during the 1997 Linfield vs. Willamette football game . Launched in 2000 by the NAIA, the Champions of Character program promotes character and sportsmanship through athletics. The Champions of Character conducts clinics and has developed an online training course to educate athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators with
360-538: The first historically Black institution to win a collegiate basketball national championship. In 1959, Southern University became the first HBCU to win the NAIA Baseball championship. In 2024, NAIA instituted a ban on those transgender men who have begun transgender hormone therapy and all transgender women from competing in women’s sports, with the exception of cheerleading and dance. The NAIA began sponsoring intercollegiate championships for women in 1980 ,
384-475: The game to attract tourism and actively sought to have it televised nationally. The 1979 game appeared on ESPN (then in its first year of operation) with a Goodyear blimp overhead. In September 1980 the third edition of the bowl was cancelled because members of the Lone Star Conference , including Texas A&I (today Texas A&M Kingsville ) and Southwest Texas State (today Texas State ),
408-402: The game would continue to be televised nationally as the reason for not submitting a more competitive bid. The organization was still in the black financially when it dissolved, after failing to attract another game to be held under the Palm Bowl name. National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics ( NAIA ) established in 1940,
432-548: The rest in the continental United States , with over 83,000 student-athletes participating. The NAIA, whose headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri , sponsors 28 national championships. CBS Sports Network , formerly called CSTV, serves as the national media outlet for the NAIA. In 2014, ESPNU began carrying the NAIA Football National Championship . In 1937, James Naismith and local leaders, including George Goldman and Emil Liston, staged
456-463: The second coed national athletics association to do so, offering collegiate athletics championships to women in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, indoor and outdoor track and field, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. The National Junior College Athletic Association had established a women's division in the spring of 1975 and held the first women's national championship volleyball tournament that fall. In 1997, Liz Heaston became
480-478: The skills necessary to promote character development in the context of sport. In 2010, the association opened the NAIA Eligibility Center, where prospective student-athletes are evaluated for academic and athletic eligibility. It delivers on the NAIA's promise of integrity by leveling the playing field, guiding student-athlete success, and ensuring fair competition. Membership – The NAIA was
504-575: The two football-playing colleges closest to McAllen, had begun to transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division II. Their departure from the NAIA led bowl organizers to conclude that "it wouldn't be feasible financially" for them to continue to host the NAIA championship in McAllen. In May 1981, the bowl's organizers (by then incorporated as Palm Bowl, Inc.) secured the NCAA Division II championship game for McAllen. The five-year contract called for
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#1732800911081528-487: The use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). According to an NAIA press release, student-athletes can now "receive compensation for promoting any commercial product, enterprise, or for any public or media appearance", and can also "reference their intercollegiate athletic participation in such promotions or appearances." The NAIA had allowed student-athletes to receive NIL compensation since 2014, but had not previously allowed them to reference their status as such. The NAIA
552-499: Was several years ahead of the NCAA in NIL reform; the NCAA did not adopt NIL reform until 2021, after its hand was forced by multiple states passing legislation to allow student-athletes to receive such compensation, most notably California . In December 2020, Chloe Mitchell, a volleyball player at NAIA member Aquinas College who at the time had more than 2 million followers on TikTok with
576-506: Was the first intercollegiate postseason to feature a Black student-athlete, Clarence Walker of Indiana State under coach John Wooden . Wooden had withdrawn from the 1947 tournament because the NAIB would not allow Walker to play. The association furthered its commitment to African-American athletes when, in 1953, it became the first collegiate association to invite historically black colleges and universities into its membership. In 1957, Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State) became
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