Bayou Bowl History
The Bayou Bowl, with a successful 20 year history, is an All-Star Football Game. The game originally featured athletes from the Greater Houston Area versus athletes from Louisiana, an excellent rivalry game. After the 2013 contest, won by Texas, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association mutually agreed to end the series. As a result of this decision, the GHFCA Board of Directors, wanting to continue with an All-Star Football Game for the players in the Greater Houston Area, adopted the following format. We divided the city into an East-West alignment using I-45 as the dividing line. The U.I.L. High School districts were used to determine the direction of the member schools.
The 2014 game was played in Sugarland, a West side venue, the 1st game played using the new format. It featured 72 players from the Greater Houston Area, 36 per squad, from 72 different member schools. The game is live streamed on Dave Campbell’s Texan Live. The 2015 game returned to the East side of Houston and Stallworth Stadium, Baytown. The 2016 game was played at Rhodes Stadium with the City of Katy serving as the 2016 Bayou Bowl Host. The 2017 game was played at Turner Stadium, Humble ISD, Humble, TX. The Kingwood Mustang marching band performed as well as the National Champion Dance Team, the Fillies. The 2018 game once again returned to Baytown’s Stallworth Stadium, the original site for the 1st Bayou Bowl Game played in 2003. This was the most exciting game to date with a defensive stop on a
2 point play giving the East a 37-36 victory. The game was played in front of 7,346 fans that remained in their seats until the final 2 point pass attempt was broken up by the East Defense preserving the win. The 2019 game was played at Clear Creek ISD’s Challenger Stadium, and the 2020 game in Cy-Fair (cancelled by Covid). The 2021 game returned to Baytown and Stallworth Stadium. The 2022 game will be played at Traylor Stadium, Rosenberg, on June 11th, 7 PM Kickoff. Wade Phillips and Jackie Sherrill will serve as Honorary Coaches. Coach Phillips will coach the East and Coach Sherrill the West.
The game is sponsored by the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association (GHFCA), a 501(c) (3) organization, with the proceeds going to scholarships for athletes, male/female, in the Greater Houston Area. Awards range from $1500-$2500 per recipient. We presented 15 scholarships in 2014, 17 in 2015, 16 in 2016, 19 in 2017, 16 in 2018, and 17 in 2019, 18 in 2020, and 16 in 2021. Every athlete that applies for a scholarship receives a scholarship. Prior to the Bayou Bowl, only 2 recipients were awarded $500 scholarships. Sponsorships from the Bayou Bowl Game allow the GHFCA to offer monetary assistants to numerous athletes in the Greater Houston Area.
