Football at William and Mary

Football is played in Zable Stadium at William & Mary.

The National Tobacco Festival and The Tobacco Bowl

The National Tobacco Festival, a festival that originated in 1935 in the town of South Boston, Virginia, promoted its locally grown tobacco leaf. Celebrated in October, the festival consisted of four main events: an opening festival dance, the Queen of Tobacco-land competition, the Tobacco Bowl, and the Grand Illuminating Parade. Becoming increasingly popular, the festival was relocated to Richmond in 1948 to accommodate festival attendance. Following its move to Richmond, William and Mary played in no less than six Tobacco Bowls, winning at least four times. By 1984, the National Tobacco Festival came to a close mainly because of financial issues but also due to the negative attention attached to tobacco-sponsored events.

Material in the Special Collections Research Center

Visit the SCRC's Access Tools page for information about searching for and finding resources. See especially the SCRC Collections Database, Archives Card Catalog, and The Flat Hat.

Published Sources

• Issues of the Flat Hat are available online from the W&M Digital Archive and an index is available in the Special Collections Research Center.

• The Colonial Echo, the College of William and Mary yearbook, available online from the W&M Digital Archive .
• Goal to goal : 100 seasons of football at William and Mary, by Wilford Kale, Bob Moskowitz, and Charles M. Holloway ; foreword by Davis Y. Paschall (1997); Available in the Archives Book collection in the SCRC, Swem stacks, and from other libraries: call numberGV958 .C6 K34 1997
• Kickoffs and kickbacks : the 1951 football scandal at William and Mary, Joan Gosnell, Thesis (M. A.), College of William and Mary: 1990. Available in the Swem Library stacks and SCRC: call number LD6051 .W5m Hist., 1990, G68.
  • American excursion, J.E. Morpurgo, London, Cresset Press, 1949. The British Morpurgo was a student at the College of William and Mary and this book includes an account of his impression of his experience including American football. Copies in Swem stacks and Archives books (Special Collections Research Center): call number E169 .M866.

Manuscript and Archival Collections

• Department of Athletics Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary. See especially the football programs, handbooks, tickets, and other related material.
• Amos Alonzo Stagg Society Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• University Archives Artifact Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• University Archives Poster Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• University Archives Audiovisual Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• University Archives Photograph Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary. Including but not limited to: P1989.111, 1930s; P1998.44, 1940s; P1991.3, 1940s; P1991.4, 1940s; P1991.5, 1940s; P1991.6, 1940s; P1991.7, 1940s.
• Kenneth S. Mink, Sr. Football Playbook, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• Richard L. Morton Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• Wilford Kale Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• Acc. 2008.01: Cheerleaders Scrapbooks, 1983-1989, University Archives Scrapbook Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• Cunningham interview p. 2, 16-20, University Archives Oral History Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• Emily Harrell Lynch Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
• University Archives Audiovisual Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary. The collection includes 100s of recordings including the following which have been digitized:
  • "Ode to Cary Field", an anti-stadium expansion song from 1979:
  • An interview from the radio program "Williamsburg Weekly" with

Athletic Director Ben Carnevale on [http://hdl.handle.net/10288/1522 "College Athletics as Big Business--Where to Now?"]

• • Audio recording of the rally after the 1967 College of William and Mary football team defeated Navy.
  • Zable Stadium Dedication, 1990

• Many, many scrapbooks in the SCRC include photographs, tickets, and references to football and other athletics, but football may not necessarily be mentioned in the brief description of these items, so deeper investigation of these individual items would be worth a researcher's time. Results for the search term "football" in the SCRC Collections Database: http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=core%2Fsearch&q=football&x=0&y=0&content=1

Need help?

To search for further material, visit the Special Collections Research Center's Search Tool List for an overview of the Special Collections Database, W&M Digital Archive, Flat Hat-William & Mary News-Alumni Gazette index, card catalogs, and other tools available to help you find material of interest in William & Mary Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

Questions? Contact the Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090, or visit the Special Collections Research Center in the Earl Gregg Swem Library at William & Mary.

A Note About The Contents Of This Wiki

The information available in this wiki is the best available from known documents and sources at the time it was written. Unfortunately, many of the early original records of William & Mary were destroyed by fires, military occupation, and the normal effects of time. Information in this wiki is not complete as new information continues to be uncovered in Swem Library's Special Collections Research Center and elsewhere. Researchers are strongly encouraged to use the Special Collections search tools for their research as the information contained in this wiki is by no means comprehensive.