Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber receiver and Canadian Football Hall-of-Famer, James Murphy, who played high school football in Florida in the 1970’s, asked a question at the annual Blue Bomber Alumni meeting in December of 1999 – “Why isn’t there an all-star game for Manitoba’s graduating high school football players?”

That’s all it took for the Blue Bomber Alumni, led by President, Trevor Kennerd, to begin to organize the first ever Senior Bowl which would be a showcase for graduating high school seniors to cap off their high school or Bantam (changed to Midget in 2001) football career. The Senior Bowl would be one way that the Winnipeg Blue Bomber Alumni could put something back into the game which had such a profound impact on their lives.

The inaugural Senior Bowl game was played at Winnipeg Stadium May 27, 2000. It was also decided that the game could serve the amateur football community as a fundraiser. The teams played for the coveted Gerry James Trophy which was designed and created by the instructors and students of the Industrial Maintenance Technician and Industrial Welding programs at Winnipeg Technical College.

The Blue Bomber Alumni organizing committee was assisted by Ron Gustafson, the Commissioner of the Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL) and later that year by the in-coming Executive Director of Football Manitoba, Rob Berkowits. (Source: Winnipeg Blue Bombers Alumni Web Page)

Winnipeg Blue Bomber Alumni Web Site and Senior Bowl Information

Senior Bowl Archives