Poi Bowl

The Poi Bowl was a college football bowl game played during the late 1930s in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Honolulu Stadium. The game featured the then-Hawaii Rainbows and, usually, an invited team from the Pacific Coast Conference.

The game was contested in early January from 1936 to 1939. The bowl was named after poi, a traditional taro-based staple food in Polynesia, on suggestion from Vernon "Red" McQueen, sports editor of The Honolulu Advertiser.^[1] In December 1938, the contest was renamed as the Pineapple Bowl at the request of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.^[1]

The university invited teams from the Pacific Coast Conference to participate in the Poi Bowl every year except for 1937, when they played a local all-star team.^[2] The game was normally contested on New Year's Day, except in 1939 when the holiday fell on a Sunday, and by mutual agreement of the teams in 1937 due to heavy rain.^[3]

For the 1937 game, Hawaii's opponent was to be determined by a Christmas Day contest between Kamehameha alumni and the "Town Team".^[4] However, when that game ended in a tie, an all-star roster of players from those two teams was selected.^[5]

The University of Hawaii went 1–3 in the Poi Bowl.^[6]

While NCAA records indicate the January 1939 edition was staged as the Poi Bowl,^[11] contemporary newspaper reports indicate it was held under the Pineapple Bowl name.^[1][12]

The media guide of the now-Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football program does not include any Poi Bowl games in their bowl game history.^[13] Results do appear in the NCAA's bowl game history, in the "Unsanctioned Or Other Bowls" section.^[11]

• Pineapple Bowl (1940–1952)
• Aloha Bowl (1982–2000)
• Oahu Bowl (1998–2000)
• Seattle Bowl (2001–2002)
• Hawaii Bowl (2002–present)
• Hula Bowl (1947–2008; 2020–present)
• List of college bowl games