Pioneer Bowl (HBCU)

Not to be confused with the Pioneer Bowl (1971–1982), an NCAA College Division, Division II, and Division I-AA game held in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The Pioneer Bowl was an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game contested between NCAA Division II teams from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), two athletic conferences traditionally consisting of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Between 1997 and 2012, the game was played 14 times in five different cities in the South.

Pioneer Bowl (defunct)
Logo for the 2012 game
Stadium	A. J. McClung Memorial Stadium (2010–2012) Charlie W. Johnson Stadium (2007–2009) Memorial Stadium (2005–2006) Ladd–Peebles Stadium (2004) Georgia Dome (1999–2003) Herndon Stadium (1997–1998)
Location	Columbus, Georgia (2010–2012) Columbia, South Carolina (2007–2009) Charlotte, North Carolina (2005–2006) Mobile, Alabama (2004) Atlanta, Georgia (1997–2003)
Operated	1997–2012 (no game 2002 & 2008)
Conference tie-ins	CIAA & SIAC (1997–2012)

History

The Pioneer Bowl was created in January 1997 to match teams from the CIAA and SIAC that did not qualify for the NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs.^[1] It was first contested that December, ending a period of eleven seasons (1986–1996) in which no Division II postseason game had carried the "bowl" designation. The Pioneer Bowl ushered in a new era of Division II bowl games which, by the 2012 season, grew to include four other games, all of which are also now defunct: the Mineral Water Bowl (2000–2019), Dixie Rotary Bowl (2006–2008), Kanza Bowl (2009–2012), and C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl (2012–2018).

The Pioneer Bowl was held 14 times in 16 years (with cancellations in 2002 and 2008). The SIAC won nine of the games and the CIAA five. The bowl only included champions of the CIAA or SIAC when those schools failed to meet the criteria for postseason playoff bids (a possibility in Division II, which has no automatic qualifiers). A perennial exception was Tuskegee, whose traditional regular season finale against Alabama State in the Turkey Day Classic on Thanksgiving Day came after the first round of the playoffs. The Pioneer Bowl thus served as Tuskegee's only postseason opportunity in several cases when it would have qualified for the Division II playoffs, most notably in 2000 and 2007, seasons in which the Golden Tigers finished a perfect 12–0. Overall, Tuskegee appeared in the bowl ten times, winning seven.

Throughout its history, the Pioneer Bowl suffered from instability with promoters, sponsors, and venues. Its fourteen games were held in six stadiums in five cities, across four states. The first six contests were in Atlanta, two at Herndon Stadium on the campus of Morris Brown College, then four at the Georgia Dome, home of the Atlanta Falcons. After one year in Mobile, Alabama, the bowl was played twice in Charlotte, North Carolina and twice in Columbia, South Carolina, before the CIAA and SIAC signed a three-year contract to hold the game in Columbus, Georgia from 2010 through 2012.

The 2013 game was to be played on the home field of the CIAA representative but was cancelled on short notice "due to budgetary restraints."^[2] In 2014, the two conferences again waited until November before cancelling the game, issuing a joint statement: "While the Pioneer Bowl stands as the longest running bowl game in the history of black colleges and a national showcase for student-athletes, we decided that it is in the best interest of our membership, fans and student-athletes to not hold the game this year. We are currently undecided if we will reinstate the Pioneer Bowl game in the future."^[3] The game was never played again.

The CIAA–SIAC postseason rivalry was revived in 2023 with the creation of the Florida Beach Bowl.

Game results

Winning teams and their scores appear in bold font.

Date played	SIAC team		CIAA team		Venue	Location
December 20, 1997	Kentucky State	30	Livingstone	26	Herndon Stadium	Atlanta, Georgia
December 19, 1998	Tuskegee	23	Livingstone	9	Herndon Stadium	Atlanta, Georgia
December 18, 1999	Tuskegee	7	Winston-Salem State	23	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia
December 16, 2000	Tuskegee	12	Winston-Salem State	9	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia
December 22, 2001	Tuskegee	28	Virginia Union	0	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia
2002	Cancelled
December 20, 2003	Albany State	52	Fayetteville State	30	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia
December 4, 2004	Tuskegee	28	Shaw	30	Ladd–Peebles Stadium	Mobile, Alabama
December 3, 2005	Tuskegee	28	Bowie State	26	Memorial Stadium	Charlotte, North Carolina
December 2, 2006	Tuskegee	17	Johnson C. Smith	7	Memorial Stadium	Charlotte, North Carolina
December 1, 2007	Tuskegee	58	Virginia Union	51	Charlie W. Johnson Stadium	Columbia, South Carolina
2008	Cancelled
December 5, 2009	Tuskegee	21	Elizabeth City State	7	Charlie W. Johnson Stadium	Columbia, South Carolina
December 4, 2010	Fort Valley State	9	St. Augustine's	20	A. J. McClung Stadium	Columbus, Georgia
December 3, 2011	Miles	33	Johnson C. Smith	35	A. J. McClung Stadium	Columbus, Georgia
December 4, 2012	Tuskegee	13	Elizabeth City State	28	A. J. McClung Stadium	Columbus, Georgia

Of the 14 games played between HBCUs, SIAC teams won 9 and CIAA teams won 5.

Cancelled games

Date scheduled	SIAC team	CIAA team	Venue	Location	Ref.
December 15, 2002	Tuskegee	Bowie State	Raymond James Stadium	Tampa, Florida	[4]
December 6, 2008	Tuskegee		Charlie W. Johnson Stadium	Columbia, South Carolina	[5]
December 7, 2013	Albany State				[6][7]
2014					[8][9]

See also

• List of college bowl games
• Heritage Bowl, a contemporary HBCU bowl game, which operated from 1991 to 1999
• Celebration Bowl, a current bowl game for HBCUs within the Football Championship Subdivision
• Florida Beach Bowl, a bowl game for CIAA and SIAC teams, introduced in 2023