quarterback
Ernie Case played in the inaugural 1947 game. In late 1946, the first Hula Bowl was organized by Paul Stupin and
Mackay Yanagisawa. When the inaugural game was played on January 5, 1947, the teams were composed of mainland college players (the "Southern California Rose Bowl Stars", led by
UCLA quarterback
Ernie Case) pitted against a local team of graduates of
Leilehua (the "Lei
alums"), a local high school in
Wahiawa, Hawaii—the mainland team won, 34–7. The teams played a two-game series every January until 1951, when the format was changed to allow
National Football League (NFL) players to join the Hawaiian all-stars, Players were historically rostered by college location; North vs. South or East vs. West. Since 2000, team names of
Aina and
Kai, the
Hawaiian words for land and ocean, have been used multiple times. The game was originally played in
Honolulu Stadium in Honolulu through the January 1975 playing, then moved to
Aloha Stadium in neighboring
Halawa. In 1997, the then-mayor of
Maui County,
Linda Lingle, obtained authorization to spend $1.2 million to improve
War Memorial Stadium in the town of
Kahului on the island of
Maui, which then hosted the game for the 1998 through 2005 playings. However, due to poor attendance and reduced revenue, the Hula Bowl returned to
Oahu for its 2006 game and stayed at Aloha Stadium through the 2008 playing. The game has predominantly been played in January as one of the final games of the college football postseason, allowing players who competed in bowl games with their collegiate teams to participate. The game has been held in early February twice, in 2002 and 2003. For many years, the Hula Bowl was distinguished from a similar event, the
Senior Bowl, by playing by collegiate rules rather than professional rules, and by remaining amateur (the Senior Bowl paid players through its 1988 edition). This was very important for those wishing to remain eligible to compete in other collegiate sports (such as
college baseball) or otherwise retain amateur status. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it was considered a premier venue to launch professional careers in the NFL.
Changing direction of
Navy at the 2005 game On July 1, 2006, it was announced that the
American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) would end its ten-year relationship with the Hula Bowl due to "philosophical differences" over the future plans for the game, including proposed changes for the 2007 game — such as reintroducing the "Hawaiian Islands versus Mainland" matchup used from 1947 to 1959. University of Hawaii and former NFL head coach
June Jones expressed a willingness to coach a potential Hawaiian Islands team, which would have a mix of Hawaiian and Polynesian players and, bowl organizers hoped, would draw more fans to the game. The Hula Bowl had also discussed the idea of allowing junior status players to participate in the game and bringing over college football players from Japan, something the game had done in the recent past. Game officials also discussed awarding a national "Hula Bowl Player of the Week" to college players during the regular season; the winning players would have been invited to play in the Hula Bowl and been able to direct a $1,000 donation to a charity in their state. and in November 2016, announced their intent to restart the game in
North Carolina in January 2018. However, in March 2017, additional news reports indicated that a revival of the game was unlikely, as a key supporter of the proposal,
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, left office at the start of that year.
Revival On October 29, 2019, it was announced that the Hula Bowl would be revived; the
2020 edition was played at Aloha Stadium on January 26, 2020. It featured "NCAA college football players from all divisions, along with international players". Aloha Stadium also hosted the
2021 edition, played on January 31, 2021, held without spectators after the facility was "deemed unsafe to hold crowds" in December 2020. In August 2021, with Aloha Stadium closed for repairs and upgrades, the
University of Central Florida (UCF) agreed to host the 2022 playing—scheduled for January 15—at its home stadium, then known as FBC Mortgage Stadium and now as
Acrisure Bounce House, near
Orlando, Florida. ==Game results==