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Hello from Commish, and Happy Thanksgiving from the Committee and me. Chances are you are reading this before the festivities begin, or maybe while you have the turkey frying, or maybe you have the turkey in the smoker like myself.

Before pretty much everyone reading this blog was born (no idea if we have people who were alive in 1945 reading this), Thanksgiving was set as the final Thursday in November by Abraham Lincoln. This changed with FDR, who stated Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November in 1939-1941. Then this was fought in the government, but finally on November 13, 1945, President Harry Truman declared Thanksgiving would be on November 22nd.

The State of Tennessee basically said, Nope, you aren’t changing my Thanksgiving this year, and their Thanksgiving would be on November 29th. It’s pretty funny to me this occured in the past and now I am thinking of the chaos that would occur if Daylight Savings time would be changed permanently now.

But for the reason we are here now. I have to tell you there was a “non-NCAA” sanctioned bowl game that occurred on this “Tennessee Thanksgiving.” So we got a bootleg bowl game on an essentially not official holiday. Perfect for the Sickos Committee.

The Burley Bowl

The bowl game was called the Burley Bowl, which was named after a type of tobacco. I know it sounds weird, and no, unfortunately, it was not named after the fictional paper towel brand from "The Simpsons".

The game was set to take place in Johnson City, Tennessee, home of East Tennessee State University, to go along with the city's Tobacco Festival.

The two teams invited were Milligan College (Elizabethton, TN) and High Point College (now High Point University in High Point, NC). As you see in the article above, the Chamber of Commerce said it would be as big as the Rose and Sugar Bowls.

But things didn’t really work out well for this game weather wise. Thousands had to endure wind and sleet to watch the parade kicking off the two-day festival.

Also, disabled World War II veterans were seated on a specially constructed platform at field level on the west side of Roosevelt Memorial Stadium, while the game was played in a mix of rain and snow after two days of rain muddied the field. Perfect Sickos conditions for a bowl game.

The game wound up in a 7-7 tie due to High Point’s QB Bob Edwards pulling a “boner” and gave Milligan their only scoring opportunity.

The “boner” apparently was a muffed punt here.

High Point’s coach Ralph James enjoyed the experience and stated he knew the weather would be awful because he’s always had bad luck with the weather in bowls!

After the 1956 Burley Bowl tobacco market celebration concluded, the event went up in smoke and quickly vanished into yesteryear.  

This edition was very special and met the criteria of the committee for a “Sickos” Bowl game.

• Took place on a disputed Thanksgiving date.

• It as a “Non-NCAA” sanctioned bowl game.

• Had rain, sleet, and snow for the game.

• Only Burley Bowl to end in a tie of out 11 to end in a tie.

• The game wound up tied due to a “boner” by a QB.

• The only bowl game appearance by both teams.

• Both schools no longer have football teams.

I found a great article on the history of the bowl, and you can read further into it.

Also, we did a Patreon podcast on it and discussed the bowl history in full not just this game.

Thank you again for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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