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After more than 35 years when the idea of the Fiesta Bowl was proposed, the game and festival of events keeps getting bigger and better.
Since the first game in 1971, the Fiesta Bowl has generated an economic impact of more than $1 billion to the state's economy, paid more than $282 million to universities and colleges, and hosted five national championship games.
In addition, 18 of the past 19 Fiesta Bowl games have been sell-outs. All of this is because of the efforts of the incomparable group of Fiesta Bowl volunteers, some 2,900 proud, who work year-round to make the Fiesta Bowl the nation's top bowl game.
It all started in 1968 when former Arizona State University President G. Homer Durham spoke to an athletic awards banquet and proposed that Phoenix should have a football bowl game.
The idea could have died right there, as it had several times in the past. But Arizona Republic sports editor Verne Boatner wrote a column supporting the idea, and several Valley of the Sun business leaders banded together to bring a bowl game to Phoenix.
Getting a bowl game anywhere is a long shot. Countless contingencies from cities all over the country had paraded before the NCAA's Extra Events Committee, lavish presentations in hand, only to be told, "No, the NCAA doesn't need another bowl game."
And in December of 1968, a bowl game for Phoenix was merely an idea, let alone a well thought out plan to place before the NCAA.
But then things started to roll. Prominent Valley sports enthusiast Glenn Hawkins called a meeting of the area's top community leaders, who ultimately put together the package that was to become one of the most phenomenal stories in bowl history.
"There was a lot of interest," Boatner said at the time. "A lot more than I thought there would be. I didn't believe that so many influential people could be brought together in one place."
Jack Stewart, who was one of the driving forces for bringing the game to Phoenix, was elected to head the effort. He and the current original members of the Executive Committee -- Hawkins, George Isbell, Jim Meyer, Donald D. Meyers, Karl Eller, Bill Shover and George Taylor, later to be joined by Don Dupont -- put together the successful plan that would get an NCAA sanction for the game.
Key to the Fiesta effort was to win over the Western Athletic Conference for a tie-up. Then WAC Commissioner Wiles Hallock provided the direction to achieve that -- his immediate past position had been that of Director of Public Relations at the NCAA's headquarters in Kansas City.
With Hallock along, the Phoenix group appeared before the NCAA Extra Events Committee on Jan. 10, 1970, in Washington D.C. It was at that time that the group proposed to make the bowl a charitable venture, with portions of the proceeds committed to the fight against drug abuse. This was to be a key point for the Fiesta Bowl. The NCAA had granted only one new bowl during the 1960s -- Atlanta's Peach Bowl, also a charity game.
The Fiesta's effort, however, was thorough. Then Washington State athletic director and chairman of the NCAA Extra Events Committee Stan Bates said that he never had seen a group as well prepared. A few months later, Bates would become commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference after Hallock moved to the Pacific-8 Conference.
The group stressed vital points in its presentation. They told the NCAA that the Rose Bowl was the only bowl game outside of the South and that Arizona had the population and the climate, the game would be played for a worthy cause and they hastened to add that good WAC teams had been overlooked for bowl appearances in the past.
"Your presentation was so well received that I can think of no important questions to ask," Bates said afterwards.
But victory was to be farther away. On April 27, 1970, the NCAA Council, the official policy-making body of the organization, rejected six bowl bids, including one for the Valley of the Sun.
The group could have taken the defeat and moved on in their lives. Instead, they kept on fighting. A year later, on April 26, 1971, the NCAA Council approved a bowl game in Arizona, and the Fiesta Bowl was born.
Highlights of the Fiesta Bowl include:
Dec. 19, 1969 -- A committee of nine community leaders is formed to coordinate efforts to start a bowl game in Arizona. The nine original members of the Fiesta Bowl board of directors were: Don Dupont, Karl Eller, Glenn Hawkins, George Isbell, Jim Meyer, Don Meyers, Bill Shover, Jack Stewart and George Taylor.
April 26, 1971 -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approves the application made by the Arizona Sports Foundation for an Arizona-based bowl game at the annual NCAA meetings held in Houston.
June 10, 1971 – A contest is co-sponsored by the Arizona Sports Foundation and the Arizona Republic to “Name the Bowl Game.” More than 6,500 entries are received, and 73 of the entries choose the name Fiesta. In a blind drawing of the 73 winning entries, Gary Keltner is the lucky winner and walks away with four lifetime tickets to the Fiesta Bowl Football Classic.
Dec. 21, 1971 – The First Annual Fiesta Bowl Ice Cream Eating Contest is held at Diamond’s Department Store at the Thomas Mall. A team of five girls defeats a team of five boys who each had to eat a bowl of ice cream that consisted of vanilla, raspberry sherbert, almonds and chocolate sprinkles.
Dec. 26, 1971 – Arizona State University student Patricia Fierro is crowned the first Fiesta Bowl Queen at an event held in conjunction with the Martha Mitchell Fashion Fiesta and Goldwaters’ Style Show at the Mountain Shadows Hotel in Scottsdale.
Dec. 27, 1971 – The first Fiesta Bowl Marathon is held and attracts 127 runners. The winners of the race are introduced at halftime during the First Annual Fiesta Bowl Football Classic.
Dec. 27, 1971 -- The years of hard work finally payoff when Arizona State plays Florida State in the inaugural Fiesta Bowl game. The Sun Devils win a 45-38 shootout over the Seminoles in front of 51,098 fans. A record $168,237 is paid to each team, which at that time was the highest payout ever for a first-year bowl game.
Dec. 16, 1972 -- The inaugural Fiesta Bowl Parade is held and begins an era for the Fiesta Bowl that shows a tremendous growth in pageantry-oriented events. The first Parade features 45 balloon-type entries, including a four-story Santa Claus, that are guided down the route by more than 300 Boy Scouts in front of 25,000 street spectators.
Dec. 27, 1973 -- The Fiesta Bowl begins a National Junior Tennis Tournament that has featured some of the game’s best, including Tracy Austin, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi.
Dec. 27, 1974 – Bleachers are erected for the first time along Central Avenue, and the Fiesta Bowl Parade attracts more than 100,000 street spectators.
Dec. 28, 1974 -- CBS televises the first national network telecast of the Fiesta Bowl, as Oklahoma State grinds out a 16-6 victory over Brigham Young. CBS covered Fiesta Bowl games from 1974 through 1977 and returned to televise the Fiesta Bowl during the Bowl Alliance from 1996 through 1998.
Dec. 28, 1975 -- Arizona State and Nebraska, with respective records of 11-0 and 10-1, combine for the best overall regular season record of any non-New Year's Day game. The Sun Devils hang on for a thrilling 17-14 victory, and finish second in the final national polls. Many believe this was the game that put the Fiesta Bowl on the map.
Dec. 17, 1977 -- The Fiesta Bowl Parade is syndicated for television coverage on a national basis, with an estimated viewing audience of 1.2 million people. Syndicated coverage of the parade grew steadily from that point, with Broadcast Communications Inc., of Indianapolis, signing on for a three-year contract.
Feb. 19, 1978 – A Tucson Fiesta Bowl Committee is established to help promote the Phoenix-based Fiesta Bowl on a statewide basis.
April 24, 1978 -- NBC wins the rights to televise the Fiesta Bowl and begins a long relationship that lasts from 1978 through 1995.
Dec. 17, 1978 -- The Fiesta Bowl National Pageant of Bands is born, and features 31 bands in the inaugural event – 16 from Arizona and 15 out-of-state hopefuls. All 31 bands marched in the Fiesta Bowl Parade and competed in a field competition at Scottsdale Municipal Stadium.
Dec. 26, 1980 -- The Fiesta Bowl celebrates its Tenth Anniversary with a then-record crowd of 66,738 on hand to watch Penn State defeat Ohio State, 31-19, in beautiful 80-degree temperatures under a clear blue Arizona sky.
Oct. 21, 1981 – The Tucson Fiesta Bowl Committee presents the inaugural Tucson Fiesta Bowl Golf Invitational with proceeds benefiting the Fiesta Bowl Youth Development Program, a program designed to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson.
Jan. 1, 1982 -- Kicking off on New Year's Day for the first time, the Fiesta Bowl is a resounding success with a sellout crowd of 71,053 on hand for a matchup between Penn State and Southern Cal. Penn State slips past USC and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen, 26-10, in a game that recorded a 19.3 rating, still the second highest in Fiesta Bowl history.
Dec. 31, 1982 – The First Annual Fiesta Bowl 10K is held in downtown Phoenix before the Fiesta Bowl Parade. More than 3,500 competitors take part in the first race, which was televised nationally by 100 markets. American record-holder Thom Hunt wins the initial event.
Dec. 31, 1982 -- The Fiesta Bowl Parade continues to grow in stature, as more than 10 million viewers from across the nation tune into the syndicated television broadcast.
Jan. 2, 1984 -- A crowd of 66,484 watches one of the most exciting finishes in Fiesta Bowl history, as Ohio State scores the game-winning touchdown with just 39 seconds on the clock to defeat Pittsburgh, 28-23.
Dec. 7-16, 1984 – The first Fiesta Bowl Million Dollar Hole-in-One contest is held at the Arizona Biltmore Country Club, and the champion of the finals fails to nail an ace but still drives away in a Ford Mustang.
Dec. 29, 1984 – The Fiesta Bowl 10K features more than 5,000 runners, making it the largest race in Arizona, and is named one of the 20 best in the nation by Runner’s World magazine.
Sept. 26, 1985 – Sunkist Growers enters a five-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement with the Fiesta Bowl as title sponsor of what will be called the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Football Classic and Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade. It marks the first-ever title sponsorship of a college football bowl game and increases the Fiesta Bowl’s payout to more than $1 million per team.
Dec. 7-15, 1985 – The Fiesta Bowl takes its fans to the ballpark with two new softball events, the Fiesta Bowl Softball Classic and the Fiesta Bowl Homerun Derby, increasing the bowl’s calendar to 46 events.
Dec. 27, 1985 – The Tucson Fiesta Bowl Committee hosts the inaugural Fiesta Bowl Basketball Classic, featuring the hometown Arizona Wildcats against Boston College, Princeton and Wisconsin.
Dec. 31, 1985 – Eight of the top world-class milers, including past Olympic medalists and marathon champions, compete in the first Fiesta Bowl Mile. Steve Scott, a NCAA champion and Olympic long-distance runner, wins the inaugural event.
Oct. 19, 1986 -- Michael Andretti captures the inaugural Fiesta Bowl 200, a 200-mile Indy car race in October at the world's fastest one-mile oval track at Phoenix International Raceway.
Jan. 2, 1987 -- The Fiesta Bowl is in the world’s spotlight when it hosts its first national championship game between No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Penn State, the nation’s only undefeated and untied teams. “The Battle for Number 1” comes down to the final seconds when Penn State’s Pete Giftopoulos intercepts Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde’s pass to preserve the victory. More than 52 million people watched the historic game, which is still the most watched college football game of all time with a 25.1 rating.
Sept. 15, 1988 -- The Fiesta Bowl moves its kickoff time to mid-afternoon, filling the void created by the Rose Bowl's move to ABC. A new NBC television contract allows the Fiesta Bowl's team payout to approach the $3 million mark per team.
Nov. 3, 1988 – The Fiesta Bowl joins forces with Phoenix International Raceway and Checker Auto to present the Checker 500, the first ever NASCAR Winston Cup Race in Arizona.
Dec. 30, 1988 -- The Fiesta Bowl stages a "Takedown One" wrestling competition between the national teams of the United States and Soviet Union at ASU's Activity Center. The Soviet Union wins a convincing decision in front of approximately 8,000 fans.
Jan. 2, 1989 – The Fiesta Bowl hosts its second game in three years that decides college football’s national champion. Notre Dame jumps out to a 23-6 halftime lead over West Virginia to cruise to a 34-21 victory and the school’s 11th national championship. It marks the fourth consecutive year that the Fiesta Bowl champion finishes first or second in the final polls.
Jan. 1, 1990 -- The Fiesta Bowl becomes the first bowl game ever to award money solely to academic departments within universities that participated in its football game. The Fiesta Bowl established $100,000 educational endowment chairs within the University of Nebraska's Department of Agronomy and Florida State University's Department of Meteorology.
Dec. 29, 1990 – The Fiesta Bowl enters a joint partnership with the Scottsdale Prevention Institute to stage the Third Annual Fiesta Bowl Duck Race. Throughout the years, the duck race has become the world’s largest of its kind with 75,000 ducks racing down the Salt River Project canal in one of the bowl’s top events.
Feb. 5, 1991 -- Sunkist Growers consolidates its sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl Football Classic after a huge citrus freeze in December 1990 hinders its winter citrus crop. Sunkist, however, continues its sponsorship of the nationally televised Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade.
July 10, 1991 -- The Fiesta Bowl is invited to join college football's Bowl Coalition, which includes the Cotton, Orange and Sugar Bowls. Champions from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Eight, Southeastern and Southwest conferences, along with Notre Dame and two at-large teams will annually fill the eight slots in the four games.
Dec. 31, 1991 -- Comedic writer and humorist Erma Bombeck, a Paradise Valley resident, serves as grand marshal of the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Parade. The Parade attracts more than 300,000 spectators and receives a 5.1 rating/16 share on NBC's national telecast.
Dec. 21, 1992 -- IBM signs an agreement with the Fiesta Bowl making IBM, which is a worldwide leader in the development of sales of business systems, software and services, title sponsor of the IBM OS/2 Fiesta Bowl Football Classic. IBM associates its OS/2 "Operating System/2" line with the football classic.
Dec. 31, 1992 --The First Annual Motorola Mile is held on the Parade route in front of more than 300,000 spectators. Nearly 1,000 runners compete in a participant mile, which was followed by Arizona's top high school boys and girls milers competing in a one-mile run down Central Avenue.
Jan. 17-24, 1993 -- More than 2,000 volunteers, many affiliated with the Fiesta Bowl, work 18 hours a day for eight days to stage and promote the 1993 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at America West Arena in Phoenix.
June 26, 1993 -- Approximately 100 Fiesta Bowl volunteers and staff members assist in planning and staging a parade in downtown Phoenix to honor the NBA's Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns. Nearly 300,000 spectators line the parade route on a day when temperatures reach 114 degrees.
Dec. 5, 1993 -- The Fiesta Bowl and the Dial Corp stage the inaugural "Dial Invitational - A Fiesta Bowl Event," a collegiate basketball doubleheader at America West Arena. Arizona State plays Big East foe Boston College in the first game, while Arizona battles Oklahoma State in the second game.
Dec. 7, 1993 -- Tempe-based MicroAge, Inc., becomes the title sponsor of the MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade, marking the first time in the parade's 23-year history that an Arizona company has served as title sponsor of the event. MicroAge, a public company founded in 1976, is among Arizona's top 10 public companies by revenue.
Dec. 31, 1993 -- The 23rd Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade is the biggest and most successful in the event's history with nearly 400,000 people lining Central Avenue. George Brett, a 13-time all-star with the Kansas City Royals and future baseball Hall of Famer, is the grand marshal. John Teets, chairman, president and CEO of the Dial Corp, is selected as the parade's first ever-honorary grand marshal.
Jan. 1, 1994 -- The Arizona Wildcats record the first shutout in Fiesta Bowl history by blanking the favored Miami Hurricanes, 29-0. Arizona's defense, known as "Desert Swarm," has four sacks, three interceptions, causes two fumbles and forces Miami to punt a Fiesta Bowl record 10 times.
Jan. 18, 1994 -- Sherry Henry becomes the first woman president of one of the five major bowl games and the first in the 23-year history of the Fiesta Bowl. Henry, general manager of the Fiesta Inn, was also the first woman to be selected to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors in 1986.
April 17, 1994 -- A record 740 teams compete in the annual Fiesta Bowl 3-on-3 State Championships street basketball tournament. The tournament, which attracts over 3,000 participants, is held at the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix.
June 21, 1994 – The Fiesta Bowl announces that the telecast of its game will return to CBS, beginning in January 1996. CBS televised the Fiesta Bowl from 1974 through 1977, the first national telecast of the Fiesta Bowl.
Aug. 4, 1994 -- The Fiesta Bowl receives official notification that it will be a part of a new College Football Bowl Alliance, consisting of the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls. The Bowl Alliance guarantees the three bowls a national championship game on a rotating basis, unless a team from the Pac-10 or Big Ten is ranked first and/or second in the final regular season polls.
Sept. 8, 1994 –The Fiesta Bowl announces that it will host the first Bowl Alliance national championship game on January 2, 1996, at Sun Devil Stadium. As the highest finisher in the bidding process, the Fiesta Bowl has the option of which year to host the title game.
Sept. 8, 1994 -- The Dial Corp agrees to serve as the Fiesta Bowl's "backup" sponsor for a six-year period, beginning with the 1996 Fiesta Bowl and extending through the Fiesta Bowl in 2001, unless a new title sponsor is found. The agreement between The Dial Corp and the Fiesta Bowl supplants title sponsorship by IBM OS/2, which continued through the 1995 game.
Oct. 5, 1994 -- NBA superstar Charles Barkley is introduced at a press conference at the Fiesta Bowl office as the Grand Marshal for the 24th Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade.
June 28, 1995 -- The Phoenix & Valley of the Sun Convention & Visitor’s Bureau honors the Fiesta Bowl by awarding it the Silver Phoenix Award, which is given to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to the community and to Valley tourism.
Aug. 5, 1995 -- Frito-Lay, Inc. and the Fiesta Bowl announce at a press conference that Frito-Lay has signed a comprehensive marketing and media agreement with the Fiesta Bowl that includes title sponsor of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. This unprecedented agreement positioned the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl as the highest-paying college bowl game of all time.
Oct. 28, 1995 -- The Eighth Annual Bank of America Fiesta Bowl Duck Race smashes its own world record with 75,000 rubber ducks sold for the non-profit Scottsdale Prevention Institute and the non-profit Fiesta Bowl.
Nov. 15, 1995 -- Don Meyers, one of the Fiesta Bowl’s original founders, is given the first ever Fiesta Bowl Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fiesta Bowl Founder’s Reception. The reception highlights the bowl’s first 25 years and recognizes the nine original founders, all 25 presidents and the 2,500 Fiesta Bowl volunteers.
Nov. 16, 1995 -- Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football history, is named the grand marshal for the 25th Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade.
Jan. 2, 1996 – More than 25,000 fans attend the first-ever Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Tailgate Party, an event held just north of Sun Devil Stadium during the hours leading up to the game.
Jan. 2, 1996 -- The highly-anticipated national title clash between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Florida surprisingly turns into a blowout, as the Cornhuskers rush for a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl record 524 yards and use a smothering defense to post a 62-24 victory and claim its second consecutive national championship. Nebraska’s Tommie Frazier rushes for 199 yards, an NCAA bowl game record for a quarterback, which includes a dazzling 75-yard touchdown run that is named college football’s play of the year.
April 2, 1996 -- The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl announces that it has paid a college football bowl record $27.2 million to Nebraska and Florida for the national championship game. It is also announced that the national title game and surrounding events generated an economic impact of $96.8 million of new money and attracted nearly 50,000 out-of-state visitors to Arizona.
April 14, 1996 -- The Eighth Annual Fox 10 Fiesta Bowl 3-on-3 Street Basketball Tournament smashes its own record with 962 teams battling for great prizes and bragging rights. Jill Williams of Glendale nails a 3-point basket and walks away with a $5,000 scholarship as part of the Fiesta Bowl $5,000 shot. Nick Moore of Dallas, Texas, claims the slam-dunk title with an electrifying dunk over three chairs and a ball rack.
Sept. 21, 1996 -- The Fiesta Bowl is awarded the coveted Pinnacle Award, considered the most prestigious award in the festival industry, for the 25th Anniversary campaign at the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) convention in Orlando, Fla. The award was the bowl’s first ever and included competition from 834 entries from around the globe.
Oct. 30, 1996 -- Olympic gold medalist and Arizona native Kerri Strug is announced as the grand marshal for the 26th Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade. Strug earned international attention when her vault on an injured ankle in the final portion of team competition helped the U.S. gymnastics team seize its first-ever gold medal during the 1996 Olympic games.
Dec. 31, 1996 -- The Fiesta Bowl takes over full operations of the Tempe Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party, and the event is a huge success with national and local eyes focused on Tempe, Arizona. Highlighting the evening is a 225-pound replica of a Tostitos tortilla chip plunged into a giant jar of salsa at midnight to officially ring in the New Year. National entertainment acts, including the Gin Blossoms, Monkees, Del Amitri and LeAnn Rimes, rock downtown Tempe in the most celebrated Block Party ever.
July 22, 1997 -- The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl receives official notification that it has been selected to the new College Football Bowl Alliance, guaranteeing one national championship and games with the nation’s top teams over at least the next four years. The Fiesta Bowl is joined by the Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls in this new system, which will guarantee a true national championship game for the first time ever.
Sept. 23, 1997 -- In an unprecedented move in college athletics, the Arizona Sports Foundation, the entity that owns and operates the Fiesta Bowl, signs a letter of intent to acquire the Tucson-based Copper Bowl. It marks the first time in history that two bowl games will be operated under the same umbrella.
Oct. 9, 1997 -- The Fiesta Bowl announces that it will host college football’s first unified national championship game on Jan. 4, 1999, at Sun Devil Stadium. As the highest finisher in the bidding process, the Fiesta Bowl has its choice of which year to host the title game.
Nov. 6, 1997 -- The Arizona Sports Foundation announces that Tucson’s bowl game will be called the Insight.com Bowl, after signing Insight Enterprises, Inc., as the title sponsor to a multi-year agreement. Formerly known as the Copper Bowl, the Insight.com Bowl becomes the first known sporting event named after a World Wide Web site.
Dec. 31, 1997 – For the first time in the Fiesta Bowl’s history, the game is held on New Year’s Eve, creating an electrifying evening in downtown Tempe with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Tempe Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party being held at the same time. Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop is the star of the game, while The B-52’s highlight the Block Party, which attracts a record 175,000 people.
Sept. 28, 1998 – The Fiesta Bowl calendar of events, featuring 51 year-round spectator and participatory events, is branded the Fiesta Bowl Festival.
June 1, 1998 – The Fiesta Bowl reaches an agreement with the Football Writers Association of America to host an annual Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet in the Phoenix area beginning in January 1999. The banquet will recognize the nation’s top coach, as selected by the FWAA, and Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in college football history.
Dec. 15, 1998 – Heisman Trophy winners Ricky Williams and Tony Dorsett are announced as co-grand marshals for the 28th Annual MicroAge Fiesta Bowl Parade. The two running backs were the talk of the college football season, as Williams broke Dorsett’s 22-year-old record for career rushing yards. It is also announced that the STS-95 NASA Astronaut crew, featuring American hero John Glenn, will serve as the Honorary Grand Marshals for the parade.
Jan. 4, 1999 – Tennessee completes its best season in school history with a 23-16 victory over Florida State in front of a Fiesta Bowl-record 80,470 fans in the first unified national championship game in college football history. Tennessee’s Peerless Price proves worthy of his name with four receptions for a career-high 199 yards, including a 79-yard game-clinching touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. Vice President Al Gore is one of several celebrities on hand in a game that ABC televises in prime time on Monday night.
Jan. 14, 1999 – Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer is presented with the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year trophy at the inaugural America West Airlines Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.
May 13, 1999 – The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl announces that the 1999 national championship game between Tennessee and Florida State generated a record economic impact of $133 million and attracted 69,000 out-of-state visitors, according to a study by the Arizona State University College of Business.
July 19, 1999 – The Fiesta Bowl announces that the STS-93 NASA astronaut crew, featuring Commander Eileen Collins, the first American female to command a space flight, will participate in the 1999-2000 Fiesta Bowl game week activities.
Dec. 31, 1999 – A record crowd of 200,000 people usher in the new millennium to the sounds of Sugar Ray and Billy Idol at the Tempe Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party. MILLennium Avenue is the place to be on this special night, as the crowd enjoys six stages of music, pep rallies, fireworks, carnival rides and food and beverage booths.
Jan. 13, 2000 – Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer is named the 1999 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year at the America West Airlines Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Banquet. Beamer beats out finalists Glen Mason of Minnesota and June Jones of Hawaii at the event, which is televised nationally on Fox Sports Net and held at The Phoenician Resort.
April 26, 2000 – The Fiesta Bowl announces that the Insight.com Bowl will be the first football game ever played at Bank One Ballpark when the game moves to Phoenix beginning this year. The ballpark will be reconfigured to make it football friendly for the fans, with seats added along the playing field, bringing the special seating capacity to 50,000.
Aug. 25, 2000 – Kristy Kay Stover is crowned the 30th Fiesta Bowl Queen at the Wells Fargo Fiesta Bowl Queen's Gala presented by JCPenney. Stover, a junior at Arizona State University, is joined on the court with Robyn Lende, April Lonigro and Rebecca McCartney.
Oct. 6, 2000 – The Fiesta Bowl and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation announce a long-term partnership with the Fiesta Bowl Parade. The parade, which has been called one of the top six parades in the nation by USA Today, will now be titled the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade presented by Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
Dec. 20, 2000 – The Fiesta Bowl announces its support of Arizona’s law enforcement officers and firefighters through a scholarship program to assist the surviving children of fallen public servants. The Fiesta Bowl commits $100,000 to the 100 Club, a non-profit organization that provides immediate financial assistance to the families of Arizona law enforcement officers and firefighters in cases of critical injury or death in the line of duty.
Dec. 28, 2000 – Bank One Ballpark is rocking and rolling as Iowa State gets its first-ever bowl victory in a hard-fought 37-29 victory over Pittsburgh in the Insight.com Bowl. Billed as "College Football Like You've Never Seen It Before," the Insight.com Bowl is all that and a whole lot more in its Bank One Ballpark debut. Energetic fans, hard-hitting action and plenty of surprises are the norm where nothing is left standing, including the goal posts, which were dismantled in record time by the more than 25,000 Cyclone fans.
Jan. 1, 2001 – The third largest crowd in Tostitos Fiesta Bowl history, and the largest for a non-championship game, watch the Oregon State Beavers put an exclamation point on their remarkable season with a 41-9 victory over Notre Dame. The Oregon State faithful have plenty to celebrate, as the Beavers finish the season with an 11-1 record, their best in school history, and their first bowl victory in 39 years.
Sept. 25, 2001 – The Fiesta Bowl and Fox Sports Net join forces to produce a new weekly college football television show entitled the Fiesta Bowl Roundtable presented by Alltel. The show is devoted to the national college football scene and includes roundtable discussions with host Brad Cesmat of KTAR Radio and other Phoenix-area media members.
Dec. 7, 2001 – Luis Gonzalez of the World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks is introduced as the grand marshal for the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade. Gonzalez had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the D-Backs to a thrilling Game 7 victory and World Series championship over the New York Yankees at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix.
Dec. 29, 2001 – The Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade is the most emotional in the event's history, as the parade's participants and spectators wear red, white and blue to honor the nation after the tragedies of September 11. The parade theme is "Spirit of America" and honors New York City's firehouse members of Engine 22, Ladder 13 and officers of New York Police Department's Midtown South Precinct.
Jan. 1, 2002 – The 31st Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl is branded the "Just In Case National Title Game", as Oregon and Colorado enter the game ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls. It's the Ducks, however, who provide the "quack" during the game, as Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington leads a convincing, 38-16, victory with 350 yards passing and four touchdowns.
Nov. 7, 2002 – Baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr., whose remarkable consecutive games streak was voted Major League Baseball's Most Memorable Moment by baseball fans worldwide, is announced as the Grand Marshal for the 32nd Annual Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade. In addition to leading the Parade, Ripken will also serve as a special guest and be involved in the coin toss at the national Championship Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Dec. 8, 2002 – Ray Mills of Phoenix nails a hole-in-one and wins $1 million in the AT&T Fiesta Bowl Million Dollar Hole-in-One presented by Ernst & Young. It's the first time in the 18-year history of the event, someone is able to record an ace and win the cash prize. Mills used a seven-iron on the 158-yard hole, bouncing the ball on the front of the green before it rolled in the hole.
Jan. 3, 2003 – In what many people call one of the greatest games in college football history, Ohio State upsets the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes in a double-overtime instant classic. The Buckeyes, who finish with a school best 14-0 record, rely on a tenacious defense that forces five turnovers and stops the potent Miami offense on three consecutive plays from the one-yard line in the second overtime to claim the school's fifth consensus national championship.
May 5, 2003 – The 32nd Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and surrounding events generate a record economic impact of $228 million to the state's economy, according to a study by the W. P. Carey Sports Business Program at Arizona State University. The national championship game between Ohio State and Miami reaches a record $153.7 million, while attracting 90,094 out-of-state visitors to the Valley of the Sun.