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Ice Bowl 1950
Alaska, Fairbanks 3 Ladd Air Force Base 0
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In the days preceding the game, snowplows crawled across the hard tundra of Griffin Stadium to keep the field as clear as possible. The temperature was a killing 45 degrees below zero on January 31 with colder weather predicted for the New Year’s weekend. The University team took the season seriously in 1949 turning out for preseason practice, training hard, and even raising money through exhibition matches. They had no collegiate level competition available in the area and played who they could. But, the team struggled. The Bears defeated Fairbanks High School 32-0, but lost to Big Delta and Eilson Air Base.
Fairbanks Coach Jim Welsch and Air Force Coach Lt. Ralph Phelps said the cold would not stop the game. The coaches delighted the press by asserting that conventional attacks would not work in such weather. Welsch noted that deception was the key to winter football in Fairbanks. "The old plays would bog down in the snow," Welsch claimed. Welsch devised what he called an “Artic V” formation and Phelps announced he would use what he described as an “Atomic Attack” formation. The throwing of snowballs was prohibited as a way of faking that the quarterback was passing the ball.
The buildup included the publication of a thirty-eight page program. And, halftime would feature Ice Bowl Queen Susie Williams circling the field on a dog sled. On January 2, ten inches of snow covered Griffin Park in downtown Fairbanks. Despite the deep snow at game time, hundreds of spectators crowded the stadium, while others listened to KFAR Radio's live play-by-play broadcast by Jack Warshauer, an instructor in business administration. The Associated Press, a film crew and about 1,200 fans watched. The weather at game time was a balmy 10 degrees. Spectators seats were warmed with airplane heaters.
In the third quarter, the Polar Bears plowed through the snow and managed to get the ball to the Ladd 35 yard line. On fourth down, a place was cleared on the field for a field goal attempt. Safetyman Leo Helsby, who wore #39, came on the try the kick. Helsby's foot swung straight and true resulting in the first points scored in the history of the bowl. The Fairbanks News-Miner reported that Helsby "kicked himself right into Alaska grid immortality." It was the only points to be scored on the afternoon and Fairbanks had pulled off the 3-0 upset. Helsby would from thenceforth be known as Leo “The Toe” Helsby. UAF had a final chance to score following an interception deep in Ladd territory, but the Flyers held them out of the endzone.
The scoreless game in 1949 had been the butt of jokes in the States as it seemed predictable given the inclimate site. The field goal and victory by Fairbanks lent credibility to the Ice Bowl. The Associated Press headlines on January 3 read, “Alaska Mushes to 3-0 Victory in Ice Bowl.” The Ice Bowl had its first victor and first upset. It would survive two more years before fading into the annals of college football history.
Today, Ladd Air Force base is known as Fort Wainwright and is still a very important military outpost housing some 4600 soldiers and their families. The University of Alaska at Fairbanks, now known as the Nanooks, no longer plays football with the major sports being hockey, basketball and shooting. The rifle team won the NCAA championship in 2006. It was their seventh in the last eight years. The men's basketball team plays at the Division II level and routinely qualify for the NCAA tournament.
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Action from the 1950 Ice Bowl. UAF runner tries to elude almost entire Ladd defense.
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Students practicing football at the University of Alaska around 1950 |
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Snowplows got to work clearing the field the day before the game. It did little good. |
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Other famous "Snow Bowls" in history. WIMPS! |
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Attendance: 1,500
Scoring Summary
Third Quarter UA- FG Helsby 35
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The
second annual Ice Bowl was played on January 2, 1950 in Fairbanks,
Alaska. The game, which pitted the
University of Alaska Polar Bears against the Ladd Field Air Force Base
Flyers, had been suggested by newspaper editors in 1949 and drawn the
support of the University of Alaska administration and the commanding
general of Ladd Air Force Base. The first game, a 0-0 tie, had been
played on January 1, 1949. The game was viewed as such an oddity by
American press agencies that it instantly received publicity. The
headlines fittingly called it “the Weirdest Bowl Game”. As bowl time
arrived, so did the hype. The University invited President Harry Truman
(he did not attend) and Gov. Ernest Gruening. Gruening dubbed the game as the "farthest
north gridiron championship in the world." 
From the outstart, neither the "Arctic V"
nor the "Atomic Attack" proved highly successful in the elements.
Reporters noted that the snow drifts on the field made the location of
the ball obscure. The first half ended in a 0-0 tie. The consensus at
the half was that any score would be a miracle. The game would probably
end in a non-scoring affair as it had in year one.
