The Citrus Bowl is undoubtedly the most iconic and memorable tradition at Hamilton. Hearsay has the tradition dating back decades. But what does ‘decades’ really mean? When asked for comment, the Hamilton College Sports Information Director Jim Taylor said he “didn’t know how far back the tradition goes.” The college communications department and athletics are not allowed to publish material related to the Citrus Bowl or discuss it on official campus materials due to its violent nature and past incidents involving frozen citrus harming players and coaches. Using old issues of The Spectator, the Hamilton Sports Editors have been able to trace back some of the origins of the Citrus Bowl. Here are our findings.
The Citrus Bowl, the game we have come to know and love took its final form in the late 1990’s. Many mentions of an “orange bowl” appeared in winter issues of The Spectator previewing the first Hamilton men’s hockey home game. The first time the words “orange bowl” were used to describe the event was in a 1997 advertisement in The Spectator officially asking students to not throw oranges on the ice or else campus security would take action. The next issue included an iconic photo of the Hamilton food service employees cleaning up dozens of oranges with a shovel. It is important to note that, during this time, the oranges being tossed on the ice would result in Hamilton being given a two minute minor penalty, therefore having a tangible impact on the game. This was constantly brought up in warnings addressed to students about the game through most of the 1990’s.
A 1994 article in The Washington Post explained how the “ice was littered with oranges, apples, live mice, a dead squirrel and kielbasa.” 1990 saw a various array of fruits and vegetables including the now iconic orange being thrown on the ice. Through the 1990’s, the Citrus Bowl was mentioned with enough regularity and weight that it had become a classic Hamilton tradition by the turn of the century. Articles have been written discussing the frisking of students and the impact the tradition had, but none have mentioned its origins. Likewise, stories graced mainstream publications like The Boston Globe and The Washington Post discussing the variety of objects and injuries that happened but again, failed to address the tradition’s origins.
1987 is the first year The Spectator mentions any form of orange or citrus in the context of a hockey game. Referred to as the ‘orange toss,’ it was discouraged by the paper. As written in the Nov. 3 1987 issue of The Spectator, “Coach Grady and the rest of the squad would like all Hamilton hockey fans to put an end to the traditional ‘orange toss’ following Hamilton’s first goal at all home games. The debris delays the game (possibly giving Hamilton a penalty), takes away the Continentals’ momentum, and could result in serious injury—whether it be an opponent or a Continental skater.” Though it was the first mention of oranges or citrus in any Hamilton publication, it indicates a long standing tradition, one which we have toned down to only performing in the first home game. An issue of The Spectator from 2000 dates the practice to an even earlier time. While reminiscing on the 2000 Citrus Bowl, Head Coach Phil Grady mentions that the practice was already in place when he started 16 years ago (or 1984), albeit with fewer oranges.
The oldest mention of anything related to the Citrus Bowl comes in the Nov. 17 1978 issue of The Spectator where an old practice of throwing items onto the ice, including live chickens, is detailed to have occurred years ago in the first game of the season which tended to be against Army College. This caused a decade-long period in which Army allegedly refused to play Hamilton out of fear. As reported by The Spectator “a traditional foe of the Continentals, the Army team took the Blue off their schedule after various objects were thrown on the ice by Hamilton fans. Live chickens are not the easiest things to remove from a hockey rink.” Any mention of this chicken event has been lost to time.
Given these factors, it is not surprising that much of the Citrus Bowl’ s history has been lost. But it is a loss that is a detriment to Hamilton culture and the few traditions we still continue to this day. The other sports-related Hamilton tradition is the Old Rocking Chair Classic against Middlebury—an event that has become forgettable as the Hamilton football team has become uncompetitive in these matchups in recent times. The winner of the matchup would earn an actual rocking chair as a trophy. The rivalry started in 1980—something the college knows and proudly displays. Hamilton has not won it in the last 28 seasons (neither team played football in 2020 due to Covid) and Hamilton has only won eight of these Classics in their rivalry’s history. Statistics on the Citrus Bowl are unknown; however, if the Citrus Bowl started in 1997, Hamilton Hockey’s record would be better than that of the Old Rocking Chair Classic.
If you or someone you know has any information about the origins of the Citrus Bowl, please email The Spectator at [email protected].