Since 1925, the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl has benefited Shriners Children’s and its mission to provide excellent specialty care for children. This unique health care system provides excellent care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families’ ability to pay for services. This special game helps raise the profile of Shriners Children, so that we can continue to offer hope and healing and reach more kids in more places.
Through the experience, everyone connected with the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl gains a deeper understanding of the amazing patients who receive care at Shriners Children’s and the ways that they can support the health care system.
The Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl has come a long way from its humble beginnings in San Francisco. Prior to 1925, the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl was a baseball game held several times between the Islam Shriners and the Elks. While the game raised money for each of their respective charities, Shriners team captain E. Jack Spaulding thought there must be a way to generate more exposure for the organizations, and came up with the idea of replacing the baseball game with football. He determined that an all-star football game, featuring the best college players competing against one another, might be more successful, and the concept of the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl was born, with all net proceeds from the game benefiting Shriners Children’s.
On December 26, 1925, at San Francisco’s Ewing Field, the top college football players from the East and West coasts came together in an exciting match-up of extraordinary talent, and the Shriners hosted the very first college all-star football game in the nation, before an audience of 25,000 fans — the largest crowd in the ballpark’s history. The game raised $25,000, which was donated to Shriners Children’s. The game has continued to benefit Shriners Children’s throughout its 100-plus year history.
Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl fans are familiar with the event’s logo. The image of a football player walking with a young girl appears on game posters, billboards, T-shirts, and on the event’s website. It’s an iconic image that tells the story of the special bond between college football and Shriners Children’s.
In 1974, a 2-year-old patient named Nicole was receiving care at Shriners Hospitals for Children® – San Francisco (later Shriners Children’s Northern California). She was born with Holt-Oram syndrome, a genetic condition that affects bones in the arms and hands. For Nicole, this meant that her thumbs had not fully developed. To provide more functionality, surgeons removed her thumbs and repositioned her index fingers in their place. This procedure would allow Nicole to comb her own hair, button a shirt, hold a cup and be independent.
On the same day she was recovering from her first surgery, football players from the 1974 East-West Bowl visited the hospital. A tradition during the week of events leading up to the big football game, the visit gives players the opportunity to interact with patients and learn more about Shriners Children’s.
One of the players, Mike Esposito, noticed Nicole because she appeared scared and was crying. Esposito took her hand to calm her down and they walked down the hallway together. A photographer from a local newspaper noticed the scene and snapped a photo of the two new friends. The image perfectly depicts our mission, and became the inspiration for the official logo of the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl.
The newspaper image of Nicole and Mike Esposito taken by Ken Yimm, Peninsula Times-Tribune, at the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl players visit to Shriners Children’s. in 1974.
Mike and Nicole have stayed connected to the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl ever since that December day. 1988 At the 63rd game at Stanford, they reunited at halftime and walked across the field hand-in-hand in front of an emotional crowd — just as they had down that hospital hallway fourteen years earlier. “I remember Mike being extremely calm and comforting,” Nicole recalled, “just like when I first met him.”
For the 100th East-West Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Mike and Nicole came together once more — their first time since 1988. What Mike was most looking forward to, he said, was simply seeing Nicole again.
Nicole grew up to become a special education teacher in Stockton, California, working with children designated “medically fragile” — most of them patients at Shriners Children’s Northern California. Years later, her son, Collin, was born with the same Holt-Oram syndrome that had brought Nicole to Shriners Children’s as a child. He, too, received care at the same hospital, where some of his mother’s original doctors were still practicing. When Nicole walked back through the front doors with Collin, a favorite nurse spotted her immediately.
“I was surprised that most of the staff was still there and remembered who I was. I think that’s what separates Shriners Children’s from everybody else; instead of treating you as a patient, they treat you as part of their family.”
The first game in Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl history, then known as the East-West Shrine Game, is played at Ewing Field in San Francisco.
Baseball legend Babe Ruth performs the honorary kickoff at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco
Future U.S. President Gerald Ford, playing center for the University of Michigan, participates in the East-West Bowl.
The game ends in the only scoreless tie in East-West Bowl history.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the game is relocated from San Francisco to New Orleans with just three weeks remaining before kickoff.
Bob Waterfield of UCLA becomes the first recipient of the William M. Coffman Award for Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
The game is televised in San Francisco on KPIX. The San Francisco Examiner and Philco donated a television to Shriners Hospitals for Children–San Francisco so patients can watch the game.
Carlton Massey of the University of Oklahoma becomes the first recipient of the E. Jack Spaulding Award for Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
The East-West Shrine Game becomes a nationally televised event on NBC.
The legendary “Mud Bowl” is played at Kezar Stadium as players battle through rain, wind and three inches of mud.
The iconic Shriner Children’s East-West Bowl logo is adopted, inspired by a 1974 photograph of Boston College player Mike Esposito walking hand-in-hand with patient Nicole during a hospital visit.
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre earns the William M. Coffman Award for Most Outstanding Player.
University of Michigan quarterback Tom Brady visits patients at Shriners Children’s prior to the game. Brady went on to win six Super Bowl championships and was named Super Bowl MVP four times.
Utah defensive back Morgan Scalley becomes the first recipient of the Pat Tillman Award.
The game relocates to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Kansas State kicker Matthew McCrane becomes a member of Suez Shriners after being fezzed at the banquet before the game.
The event is renamed the East-West Shrine Bowl, reflecting its growing prominence in college football.
The East-West Bowl joins NFL Pro Bowl Week for the first time, moving to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and further strengthening its role in the NFL Draft process.
Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers is selected 22nd overall by the Baltimore Ravens, marking the East-West Bowl’s first first-round NFL Draft pick in a decade.
The Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl celebrates its historic 100th game at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The centennial game marks 100 years of showcasing college football’s top talent while supporting the mission of Shriners Children’s.
The game evolves with a name that more closely reflects our commitment to Shriners Children’s and the patients we serve.
Shriners Children’s is a health care system with locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Our staff is dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, conducting innovative research, and offering outstanding teaching programs for medical professionals. Children up to age 18 with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care, regardless of the families’ ability to pay.
Within these broad service lines, many types of care are provided. For example, some locations offer reconstructive plastic surgery, treatment for craniofacial abnormalities or care for sports injuries. Generally, care is provided until age 18, although, in some cases, it may be extended to age 21.
Shriners Children’s is committed to conducting high quality, innovative research in the areas of burns, orthopedic/musculoskeletal and neurological injury and disease in order to improve the care and quality of life of children with these conditions and challenges.
Shriners Children’s is proud of its role in medical education. By maintaining relationships with several medical teaching facilities, Shriners Children’s fosters an academic environment committed to providing high-quality education for its medical staff and excellent care to all patients.
