One of Mobile’s longest-running youth sports traditions returns this weekend as the 67th annual Toy Bowl Classic takes the field, once again raising money for local Catholic Youth Organization programs.
The main event is set for Saturday, Nov. 15, at Archbishop Lipscomb Field in west Mobile. The gathering caps a week of competition and celebration that brings together young athletes from parochial schools across the region.
Eleven parochial schools from Mobile and Baldwin counties are taking part in this year’s games, which span football, soccer and volleyball. Division winners from the CYO fall program will be honored earlier in the week at the traditional Toy Bowl Mass and banquet, a longstanding companion event to the games themselves.
At Saturday’s halftime, organizers will present the annual Toy Bowl Court, with a queen and king chosen from among students at the participating schools. The court draws its members from seven of the schools involved in the season, a nod to the community spirit that has kept the event going for decades.
The stakes go well beyond bragging rights. Officials with the Catholic Youth Organization noted that the 2013 edition of the Toy Bowl raised roughly $88,000 to support CYO programs, underscoring the fundraiser’s importance to youth activities throughout the area.
Saturday’s schedule is packed. Senior all-stars kick off at 8:30 a.m., followed by a matchup between St. Dominic Catholic and the junior all-stars at 10 a.m. Admission is a modest two dollars. Soccer games round out the day, with contests at St. Dominic in the morning and additional matches at Lipscomb Field beginning in the early afternoon. Bantam and Midget division games were played midweek at Lipscomb Field.
The Toy Bowl carries a deep history in Mobile. The first game was played in 1948, and for many years the contests were staged at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. That changed in 2008, when the Archdiocese of Mobile opened Lipscomb Field, giving the event a permanent home on the west side of the city.
The tradition has taken some memorable turns over the years. During the 1960s, the Toy Bowl was played four times inside the main arena of the Mobile Civic Center, where organizers trucked in more than 1,000 cubic yards of compacted sand and clay to shape a playing surface indoors. Nearly seven decades on, the event remains a fixture of the local calendar and a reminder of how youth sports can knit a community together.