Mineral Water Bowl

Roosevelt Field at Excelsior Springs High School which was home to the bowl until the school moved in 2003. The stadium is on the banks of the Fishing River near downtown Excelsior Springs blocks from the Hall of Waters Historic District and Elms Hotel

Tiger Stadium at the new Excelsior Springs High School on the edge of Excelsior Springs

From 1948 to 1951, the Mineral Water Bowl was a high school bowl game to showcase the Excelsior Springs High School team against another Missouri high school squad in the school's Thanksgiving contest. The Missouri High School Athletic Association never officially sanctioned the contest and forbade Excelsior Springs from playing in the game after 1950 (why Excelsior Springs was singled out while the association continued to sanction other Thanksgiving football games in the state such as the still active Kirkwood vs. Webster Groves was never explained), and after the 1951 contest featuring two different schools, the high school Mineral Water Bowl was no more.

In 1954, the game was revived as a small-college game. As of 1957, it was one of 11 NCAA sanctioned bowl games. The bowl game continued until 1975, when declining interest lead to the game being discontinued for a second time.

In 1992 the bowl was again revived, this time as a National Junior College Athletic Association bowl game.

After 1999, the bowl was reclassified as an NCAA bowl game, this time for Division II. Representatives from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference are chosen yearly for the game. The top-placing team in each conference not receiving a bid to the NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs receives an invitation to compete.

In 2009 the MIAA announced plans to also compete in the Kanza Bowl in Topeka, Kansas against teams from the Lone Star Conference. Due to financial difficulties and lack of finding a core sponsor, the Kanza Bowl was cancelled for the 2013 season.[1] The Live United Texarkana Bowl, the Heritage Bowl, and the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl are the only other NCAA Division II bowl games at this time. The Pioneer Bowl in North Carolina was suspended following the 2012 game. The Dixie Rotary Bowl in Utah was suspended in 2009.[2]

This list is for appearances in the Mineral Water Bowl since the 2000 edition, when the bowl became a postseason NCAA Division II game.

• Official website