Chicago Prep Bowl

The Chicago Prep Bowl is an annual contest played between American football teams representing the Chicago Catholic League and the Chicago Public League. For most of its history, it was played at Chicago's Soldier Field.

History

The game was first played in 1927. After a forfeit in 1928, it was not played again until 1933. It was the premier high school football event in Illinois until the IHSA formed the state championship football playoffs in 1974. The 1927 game between Mt. Carmel and Carl Schurz High School drew an estimated 50,000 fans; the largest crowd to see a prep football contest in American history up to that time.
In subsequent years, larger crowds were drawn to the annual game. General admission tickets to the charity game were sold at all of the city's fire stations, and the city's firemen were encouraged to push the sales of tickets to the game, and did so with great success. The 1937 game attracted a high school football record crowd as large as 120,000. It was not until the Battle at Bristol that any match of American football surpassed 120,000.
The game was not played in either 1929 or 1930. In 1930, a Public League championship at Soldier Field effectively substituted for the inter-league matchup, with 20,000 spectators attending it. The game was made an official annual event in 1934 after receiving the backing of mayor Edward J. Kelly. In the years that immediately followed, the game was initially known as the "Mayor's Charity Game" and the "Kelly Bowl". The game took on the name "Prep Bowl" in 1947, with Kelly leaving office earlier that year having not sought reelection in the 1947 Chicago mayoral election.
Mayor Richard J. Daley was a major supporter of the game. Shortly after his 1976 death, the city ceased sponsoring the event, and attendance began to drop. Within a few years, attendance was under 5,000. Also contributing to the declining interest in the annual game was the predictability of its outcomes. Between 1953 and 1981, the Chicago Catholic League teams won 27 games while the Chicago Public League teams won a mere two games. The advent of the state high school football playoffs further contributed to the decline in interest in the Prep Bowl. In 1979, the Prep Bowl was retooled. Before this, it was a standalone game that pitted the champion of the Chicago Catholic League against the champion of the Chicago Public League. The retooled Prep Bowl game became the final game of an Prep Bowl invitational playoff. In 1979, both the finals and semifinals were held at Soldier Field.
In 1981, the IHSA membership voted to adopt a policy that prohibited member schools from participating in more than nine games. The Prep Bowl was given a special exemption from this policy. With the advent of the IHSA state series, the Prep Bowl was contested by the winner of a special playoff in each league played by teams not qualifying for the state playoffs and teams that were eliminated in early rounds of the state playoffs. It is traditionally played on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the same day which the IHSA plays its smaller school state championships in football.
In the 1980s, there were discussions about possibly ending the annual game. The city government helped to keep the game at Soldier Field after organizers considered moving it to Gately Stadium. J. W. Smith became head of the Public League in the 1990s, he worked to revive interest in the game. Smith more intensely marketed the game it, and revived the tradition of hosting pre-game dinner for the participating teams. In 1999, Dick Jauron, coach of the Chicago Bears, promised several of his players would be present at the game. The 1990s also incidentally saw more competitive games and a more equal split in victories between Chicago Catholic League and Chicago Public League teams. This all brought about a brief period of resurgent annual interest in the game.
Before 2015, games were held at Soldier Field. In 2015 however, with organizers unable to afford Chicago Park District rental fees for the use of Soldier Field, the game ceased being held there.

Television coverage

The game was first televised in 1949, beginning the era of televised Prep Bowl games. Television was regularly blamed with causing as much as a 20,000 decrease in annual attendance at the games compared to the pre-television era.
In 1955, a decision was made not to broadcast that year's game on television.
Different broadcasters have carried the game of the year. In 1979, the game was broadcast by Chicago-based NBC station WMAQ-TV. In 2023, the Marquee Sports Network regional cable channel broadcast the game.
Among the commentators that have provided play-by-play for broadcasts of the game is the late Tim Weigel.

Entertainment

In its history, some editions of the game have featured entertainment. For instance, in 1937 pre-game entertainment included a performance by Paul Whiteman.

List of results

Number of CCL victories: 63
Number of CPL victories: 28
Number of tied games: 2

Year	CCL team	CPL team	Score	Winner	Attendance	Notes
1927	Mount Carmel	Schurz	6–0	CCL	50,000
1928	DePaul Academy	Tilden	12–0	CPL
1931	Mount Carmel	Harrison	44–6	CPL
1933	Mount Carmel	Harrison	7–0	CCL		The event was made official for the first time, and was promoted by Chicago Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly
1934	Leo	Lindblom	6–0	CPL	50,000
1935	Leo	Lindblom	6–0	CPL	75,000
1936	Fenwick	Austin	19–19	Tie	75,000
1937	Leo	Austin	26–0	CPL	120,000	The most-attended high school football game of all-time
1938	Mount Carmel	Fenger	13–0	CPL	80,000
1939	Mount Carmel	Fenger	13–13	Tie	75,000
1940	Leo	Fenger	13–0	CPL	75,000
1941	Leo	Tilden	46–13	CCL	95,000	Leo would be named High School Football National Champions this year
1942	Leo	Tilden	27–14	CCL	75,000
1943	Saint George	Phillips	19–12	CCL	80,000
1944	Weber	Tilden	13–7	CPL	65,000
1945	Fenwick	Tilden	20–6	CCL	80,000
1946	Weber	Fenger	13–7	CPL	85,000
1947	Leo	Austin	13–12	CPL
1948	Fenwick	Lindblom	13–7	CPL
1949	Fenwick	Schurz	20–7	CPL
1950	Mount Carmel	Lane Tech	45–20	CCL		Mount Carmel was coached by Terry Brennan and led by quarterback Tom Carey
1951	Mount Carmel	Lindblom	19–6	CCL		Mount Carmel was coached by Terry Brennan
1952	Mount Carmel	Austin	27–19	CCL		Mount Carmel was coached by Terry Brennan
1953	Saint George	Austin	38–12	CCL
1954	Mount Carmel	Fenger	20–13	CPL	46,728–54,000
1955	Weber	Chicago Vocational	6–0	CPL
1956	Leo	Calumet	12–0	CCL		Jim Arneberg, who was a star lineman for the 1941 and 1942 Leo teams coached the Leo Lions in this Prep Bowl, becoming the first person to both play and coach in the Prep Bowl
1957	Mendel	Calumet	6–0	CCL	71,157	Mendel scored the game's only points with a Hail Mary pass in the final play
1958	Fenwick	Austin	20–7	CPL	53,000
1959	Fenwick	Lane Tech	19–0	CPL
1960	Mount Carmel	Taft	27–8	CCL	71,178	Mount Carmel was coached by Tom Carey. Carey became one of the first individuals to both play and coach in a Prep Bowl, having won it as a quarterback exactly ten years earlier
1961	Weber	Lane Tech	14–12	CCL	83,750	Weber defeated Lane Tech after a muffed punt snap in the last minute after Lane fumbled the ball far in its own territory with only minutes remaining.
1962	Fenwick	Schurz	40–0	CCL	91,328	This was the third most-attended Prep Bowl to date. The game ended a 10–0 season for Fenwick. In the game, Fenwick's Jim DiLullo ran for 224 yards and scored five touchdowns on just 12 carries.
1963	St. Rita	Chicago Vocational	42–7	CCL	81,270	St.Rita halfback John Byrne scored five touchdowns and six extra points
1964	Weber	Chicago Vocational	34–13	CCL		Critical to the success of Weber's 1964 season and Prep Bowl victory was defensive back Rich "Chico" Kurzawski
1965	Loyola Academy	Chicago Vocational	33–13	CCL	75,400	By the time of the preceding Chicago Catholic League championship game Loyola was down to their third-string quarterback and a sophomore running back due to injuries of quarterback Tim Foley and all-state running back Randy Marks, but Loyola nonetheless won both the Catholic League championship and Prep Bowl under these circumstances
1966	Loyola Academy	Chicago Vocational	20–14	CCL	61,133
1967	Mount Carmel	Dunbar	37–0	CCL	58,354	This was the final year of Frank Maloney's tenure as Mount Carmel's coach
1968	Mendel	Chicago Vocational	41–19	CCL
1969	Loyola Academy	Lane Tech	26–0	CCL	67,483
1970	St. Rita	Lane Tech	12–8	CCL	65,735	Members of the St. Rita team included Billy Marek and Dennis Lick; the team was coached by Pat Cronin
1971	St. Rita	Morgan Park	18–12	CCL		Members of the St. Rita team included Billy Marek and Dennis Lick; the team was coached by Pat Cronin. Despite Morgan Park losing, its coach won the vote for the "Coach of the Year Award"
1972	St. Laurence	Taft	24–7	CCL	41,371
1973	St. Laurence	Phillips	40–24	CCL	40,000–55,385
1974	St. Laurence	Chicago Vocational	34–0	CCL
1975	Brother Rice	Chicago Vocational	26–0	CCL
1976	St. Rita	Chicago Vocational	13–6	CPL		First CPL victory since 1959
1977	St. Rita	Lane Tech	20–8	CCL
1978	St. Laurence	Sullivan	34–8	CCL	23,000
1979	Joliet Catholic	Julian	30–22	CPL
1980	Brother Rice	Julian	39–6	CCL
1981	Mount Carmel	Robeson	14–6	CCL		Mount Carmel were defending IHSA champions, having won the state title in 1980
1982	Gordon Tech	Julian	24–0	CCL
1983	Mount Carmel	Simeon	28–6	CCL
1984	De La Salle	Julian	25–20	CCL
1985	Mount Carmel	Lane Tech	19–14	CCL
1986	Loyola Academy	Simeon	14–12	CCL
1987	Gordon Tech	Julian	29–14	CCL
1988	Loyola Academy	Julian	21–6	CCL	2,500
1989	Fenwick	Julian	48–14	CPL		First CPL victory since 1979.
1990	Gordon Tech	Robeson	8-7	CPL
1991	Fenwick	Bogan	27–0	CCL
1992	Brother Rice	Mather	15–6	CPL
1993	Mount Carmel	Bogan	34–14	CCL
1994	Brother Rice	Dunbar	28–22	CCL
1995	Loyola Academy	Julian	15–14	CCL	1,100
1996	Loyola Academy	Dunbar	28–8	CCL
1997	Marian Catholic	Dunbar	28–21	CPL
1998	Joliet Catholic	Hubbard	28–16	CPL	6,273
1999	De La Salle	Hubbard	20–13	CPL	35,000
2000	Marian Catholic	Simeon	23–14	CCL	18,000
2001	Mount Carmel	Morgan Park	50–0	CCL		Last game before the 2000s renovation of Soldier Field
2002	Carmel	Dunbar	50–20	CCL		Played at Hanson Field
2003	Loyola Academy	Simeon	22–14	CCL
2004	Brother Rice	Lane Tech	25–14	CCL
2005	Brother Rice	Morgan Park	13–14	CPL		Overtime win
2006	Brother Rice	Hubbard	24–14	CCL
2007	St. Rita	Morgan Park	31-7	CCL
2008	Loyola Academy	Lane Tech	17–0	CCL
2009	St. Rita	Simeon	34–20	CCL
2010	Fenwick	Curie	6–0	CCL
2011	Mount Carmel	Simeon	34–20	CCL
2012	Brother Rice	Simeon	14–12	CPL
2013	St. Rita	Simeon	35–20	CCL
2014	Loyola Academy	Curie	14–7	CCL
2015	Mount Carmel	Curie	49–15	CCL		Held at Gately Stadium
2016	Mount Carmel	Simeon	42–28	CCL		Held at Gately Stadium
2017	St. Ignatius	Simeon	19–16	CPL		Held at Gately Stadium
2018	St. Rita	Taft	56–6	CCL		Held at Gately Stadium
2019	St. Laurence	Simeon	35–34	CCL		Held at St. Laurence's home stadium
2021	Notre Dame	Kenwood	35–6	CCL		Held at Gately Stadium
2022	Fenwick	Simeon	33–30	CPL		Held at Lane Stadium
2023	St. Rita	Kenwood	21–7	CCL		Held at Lane Stadium
2024	St. Ignatius	Whitney Young	47-8	CCL		Held at St. Ignatius
2025	St. Ignatius	Morgan Park	40-12	CCL		Held at Morgan Park	-