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Charting the 2009 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl & Post-Season Play

Fort Worth, Texas, January 8, 2009 – With the 20 days of bowl competition for 34 post-season college football games at 30 sites in two countries concluding Thursday, here are notes associated with the action highlighting the 2009 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl facts and figures.

 The post-season was played in 14 states and the District of Columbia with Texas tying California for the second-most games (five) behind Florida (six).  Five Texas cities (Arlington, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio) hosted post-season games to match Florida’s five (Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, St. Petersburg and Tampa).  California’s five games were held at three sites (Pasadena, San Diego and San Francisco).

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MARINES BRING ADVENTURE TO THE 2009 ARMED FORCES BOWL

FORT WORTH, Texas — A dedicated group of leathernecks from several Marine Forces Reserve units in Texas and Louisiana sacrificed some of their holiday vacation to showcase their equipment at the 2009 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl at Texas Christian University (TCU) here Dec. 30-31.

“The Marine equipment is tremendously instrumental at the Adventure Zone,” said Brant Ringler, the executive director of this seventh annual Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.  “It lets families come out and see what the military is all about.  When people meet the Marines and see, feel and touch the equipment they get a better idea of what it is all about, what our service members do.” Continue Reading

2009 BHAFB Post-game Recap – Air Force 47, Houston 20

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Cowboys cheerleaders interact with U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

By Brian Hilderbrand, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 30, 2009 – Ally Traylor, a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for three years, was having the time of her life Wednesday afternoon playing “Guitar Hero” with U.S. Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan via webcam.  Judging by the reaction of the troops who were taking part in the “Guitar Hero Challenge,” which played out on a large-screen TV in the Armed Forces Insurance booth at the Armed Forces Adventure Area outside Amon G. Carter Stadium on the TCU campus, Traylor wasn’t the only one having a blast.  Traylor was one of six Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders taking part in Fort Worth for the program that was administered by Pro vs. GI Joe, a nonprofit organization that provides troops serving all around the world with an opportunity to take on professional athletes and celebrities in head-to-head video game competitions.  “We normally do it with professional athletes but today we’ve got the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” Greg Zinone, founder of Pro vs. GI Joe, said. “I’ve never seen troops overseas so excited. I have to thank AFI for bringing us down here because we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. This is one of our best events ever.”

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AFA hopes to end losing skid, spike MWC prestige

By Jim Benton, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 30, 2009 – New Year’s Eve is generally a time when people enjoy themselves but Air Force football players Peter Lusk and Ben Garland have not had much fun the past two years.  Air Force has lost the past two Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl games, both played on the morning of New Year’s Eve, but the Falcons will get a chance to snap its losing streak Thursday morning when they take on Houston at Amon G. Carter Stadium.   ”We’ve had fun during the week but at end of the day, it’s a football game and whether you win or lose it’s how you feel afterwards,” Lusk a 250-pound senior offensive lineman said during Wednesday’s pre-game press conference. “I think back to the last two years and after the game, it’s New Year’s and we all want to go out and have fun but we felt rotten. All we did is sit in the hotel room and get the night over with.  We all really want to pull out a win here.’’

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Ringler Issued “State of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl” Address

By Troy Phillips, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 30, 2009 – Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl officials expect record attendance on New Year’s Eve day for the game’s seventh edition, as well as continued robust growth despite difficult economic times.  BHAFB executive director Brant Ringler touched several issues during his “state of the bowl” address on Wednesday, starting with his prediction Thursday’s game will surpass last year’s record crowd of 41,127. Houston (10-3) and Air Force (7-5), both in their third BHAFB and a rematch of last year’s game, are scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. at TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium.  Bowl officials expect a crowd in excess of 42,000, based on tickets sold or distributed so far. “We still have tickets available, but it’s the upper-deck seats at this point,” Ringler said. “I think we can push it to past a sellout. Sellouts breed sellouts. If we continue to do these numbers each year, it continues to grow and it’s the event to go to on New Year’s Eve, these numbers shouldn’t change.”

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Cougars have a great amount of respect for Air Force

By Brian Hilderbrand, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 30, 2009 – To listen to University of Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin and his players talk, you can throw out the adage “familiarity breeds contempt” when it comes to the Air Force Academy.  For the Cougars, who will meet Air Force for the third time in the past 16 months in Thursday’s Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, familiarity breeds respect.  “I’ve said many times that Troy (Calhoun) does a fantastic job, he and his staff,” Sumlin said of the Falcons head coach. “They’re an extremely disciplined football team. You look at statistics (and) this is a team that has only turned the ball over 11 times. They’re number one in the country in pass defense and top 10 in the country in total defense.

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Healthy Jefferson Hopes to Help AFA Contain Houston

By Jim Benton, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 29, 2009 – Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson is feeling good these days, which is a departure from the way he’s felt most of the season.  Jefferson, the sophomore who was the Mountain West Conference’s freshman of the Year last season, didn’t play in three games and missed part of two others because of nagging injuries.  He is rested, healthy and hopes to make an impact when Air Force meets Houston in Thursday’s Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium.  “It was an up and down season for me,” said Jefferson who averaged 100.4 yards rushing and passing this season.  “Getting hurt early in the season set me back for the rest of the year.  It kind of lingered and lingered.  I couldn’t really get over it.”

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Houston’s Cleveland making the most of second chance

By Brian Hilderbrand, www.armedforcesbowl.com

Fort Worth, Texas, December 29, 2009 – One year after playing his freshman season in the Big Ten for Iowa, James Cleveland found himself at Trinity Valley Community College in Terrell, Texas, with little hope of ever playing in the national spotlight again.  “When I was leaving the University of Iowa, I didn’t think anybody would ever pick me up because that’s just how the process goes sometimes,” Cleveland said.  “There were some guys that never played another down of football that were at the University of Iowa with me; the dice can just roll like that sometimes.  “I didn’t even have a community college to go to when I initially started the whole process of trying to find a school. Schools were telling me ‘no,’ and I was just worried that I wouldn’t be able to play again.”  Trinity Valley gave Cleveland an opportunity to return to his native state and play football.  University of Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin, who recruited Cleveland out of high school when Sumlin was an assistant at Oklahoma, liked what he saw and gave Cleveland the second chance he thought would never come.

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An Early Texas Shootout at Billy Bob’s for Air Force, Houston

Fort Worth, Texas, December 27, 2009 – A Texas shootout is anticipated Thursday in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl when Houston’s top-ranked passing offense goes against the nation’s fourth best rushing attack in Air Force.  However on Sunday night there was a preliminary shootout of sorts between the teams at Billy Bob’s, the world’s largest Honky Tonk in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards.  Billy Bob’s is the 127,000-square foot facility where such musical icons as the Gatlin Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Jamie Fricke, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Ringo Star, the Beach Boys and Gloria Estefan were among the many headline performers that have performed on the showroom stage.  On Sunday night, Chris Whatley (pictured with Houston linebacker coach Leon Burtnett) directed a quick draw competition between the schools. Continue Reading

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