-The Shrine Bowl game is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious high school all-star football game in America.
-The first Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas was played on December 4, 1937 in Charlotte,NC
-The Shrine Bowl is played to benefit the Greenville (SC) Unit Shriners Hospital for Children and 21 other ShrinersHospitals across the nation.
-Played the third weekend in December, the game culminates the fund-raising efforts of the five Shrine Temples.
-The 76th Shrine Bowl game will be played on Saturday, December 15, 2011 in Gibbs Stadium at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Shrine Bowl game will kick-off at 1:00 p.m.
-The Shrine Bowl began in 1937 based on the model of the Shrine East/West game in San Francisco. However, the game took on a new slant in the Carolinas. Instead of being a college all-star game, it would become the nation’s first high school all-star game.
-Under the leadership and inspiration of Hendrix Palmer, a Charlotte, NC fire chief, the six (four at that time) Carolinas’ Shrine Centers staged the first game on December 4, 1937.
-That inaugural game (1937) attracted 5,500 spectators, many of whom paid $1 to attend and donated $2,500 to the hospital.
-The 2011 game receipts and temple contributions raised $1.677 million.
-Since the first Shrine Bowl in 1937, over $74 million has been raised for Shriners Hospitals.
-Tickets for the 2011 game are $15 if ordered in advance, $20 at the gate the day of game.
-The evaluation of our particular event can only be measured by the fact that the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas and the five sponsoring Shrine Centers has always led the Shrine of North America in contributions to our hospital programs.
-The Shrine Bowl has been replicated or adapted by every ShrineCenter in the country that promotes an athletic event (at last count – 42).
-Players, selected by the Shrine Bowl coaches, are announced in October. Each team has 44 players. Shriners are not involved in player selection.
- Each state will have a head coach and six assistant coaches. Coaches are selected by the Shrine Bowl athletic director upon the recommendation of the NC and SC high school associations and high school football coaches associations.
-There are nearly 16,810 Shriners in the Carolinas. They include; the Omar Shriners of Charleston, the Sudan Shriners of New Bern, the Hejaz Shriners of Greenville, the Jamil Shriners of Columbia and the Amran Shriners of Raleigh.
-The Shrine Bowl of the Carolinasis the umbrella agency under which the game operates. More than 400 volunteers devote over 200,000 hours annually in staging the game and its related fund-raising events.
-The increased growth from each ten years is listed:
|
1940 |
2,750.00 |
|
1950 |
87,000.00 |
|
1960 |
150,000.00 |
|
1970 |
500,000.00 |
|
1980 |
1,550,000.00 |
|
1990 |
2,146,000.00 |
|
2000 |
3,744,969.64 |
-The Greenville Hospital Unit personnel handle over 15,000 outpatient clinic visits and over 15,500 physical therapy visits annually.
-A typical patient stays about 13 days for treatment of a wide variety of deformities to bones, muscles and joints.
-The cost of the care and treatment for the patient and their family is FREE, the drugs and continued therapy till the age of eighteen are FREE, the transportation costs to and from the hospital and family accommodation while at the hospital are absolutely FREE.
Based on evaluation and feedback, several major innovations have taken place since the game began in 1937. Our hospitals have not only continued to be the finest treatment centers with orthopedic and burn problems, but have turned into the most advanced state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities in the world. They have also expanded into other targeted area where there was, and continues to be, a real need, such as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy and expanded research in the area of Marfan syndrome.
-The Shrine Bowl will also become more visible in the Carolinas on a year-round basis – especially at Shrine Center functions even at the club and unit level. Shrine Bowl representatives have volunteered to join you for fellowship and an exchange of ideas and concerns at any time. The Shrine Bowl wants to help you promote your activities, and in turn, needs your help with promoting the game in your communities.
-Besides the healing, lifesaving benefits the game gives the patients at the Shriners hospitals, the game touches the lives of the participating coaches and players. Each year the teams travel to the Greenville, SC Shriners Hospital, where the athletes and coaches give presents and play with the children, many of whom have no arms or legs or are burned over large portions of their bodies. Many athletes have broken down in tears, touched by the courage, determination and discipline of these hurting, loving children.
-Late in 1989, a new addition was dedicated to the hospital in Greenville, SC doubling the size and completely replacing a unit that had been in existence for fifty two years.
-The Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
