68 Ventures Bowl Honors Mobile Teacher With Grant as Gulf Shores High Unveils New LED Displays

MOBILE, Ala. — The 68 Ventures Bowl is best known for one December afternoon of college football, but the game’s organizers spend the rest of the year working in classrooms, on practice fields and at community events across the area. Their latest effort put a $1,000 grant in the hands of a Mobile third-grade teacher and opened nominations for 10 more educators to receive the same award this fall.

Meanwhile, across the bay in Baldwin County, the new Gulf Shores High School has finished installing a suite of LED display technology designed to modernize game nights and keep students, staff and visitors informed from the moment they walk in the door.

More than a football game

For many fans, the 68 Ventures Bowl means a postseason matchup at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus. Bowl officials say community service is just as central to their mission as the game itself.

“While the game itself is a big event, the community events are the best part of our job,” said John Clark, director of operations and integrated communications.

That commitment was on display recently when bowl representatives surprised Jenna Williams, who teaches reading and social studies to third-graders at O’Rourke Elementary School, with a $1,000 grant. The award was presented as part of Extra Yard for Teachers Week, an initiative of the College Football Playoff Foundation, and recognized Williams’ dedication to her students and to the teaching profession.

An O’Rourke Elementary teacher honored

Williams is in her eighth year in the classroom, and every one of those years has been spent teaching third grade. She is a graduate of the University of South Alabama, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

“I am so thankful for a job where I am able to teach students not only academics, but life skills that will help them be successful all through life,” Williams said. “Getting to be silly, have fun and love on kids who need it the most are some of the most rewarding moments I think life has to offer. I truly love what I do every day, including the people I spend my days with!”

Third grade is widely regarded by educators as a pivotal year. It is often described as the point where students shift from learning to read to reading to learn, and Alabama has placed particular emphasis on early reading in recent years through its statewide literacy push. Teachers in those grades play an outsized role in setting children up for success in later years.

About Extra Yard for Teachers

Bowl officials said they were proud to take part in Extra Yard for Teachers Week, which the CFP Foundation organizes to give back to educators whose hard work is essential to inspiring young minds. The College Football Playoff Foundation is the charitable arm of the College Football Playoff, the system that determines the national champion in the sport’s top division, and teacher support is the foundation’s signature cause.

The foundation works with DonorsChoose, a nationwide online platform where public school teachers post requests for classroom supplies and projects that donors can help fund. Through those efforts, the CFP Foundation has invested more than $92 million in support of education, according to bowl officials.

Ten more $1,000 grants — and how to nominate a teacher

Williams will not be the only local educator recognized this season. The 68 Ventures Bowl announced it will award $1,000 grants to 10 additional teachers.

• Beginning Oct. 12, the bowl will select one teacher each week.
• The community can help identify deserving educators through the bowl’s Nominate a Teacher program.
• Nominations are open now and will be accepted through Oct. 31.

Parents, students, colleagues and neighbors who know a teacher going above and beyond may want to submit a nomination before the window closes at the end of the month.

A year-round slate of community events

The teacher grants are just one piece of a broader community calendar sponsored by the bowl staff. Other programs include:

• Student art competition: Young artists compete to design the cover of that year’s official game program.
• Youth golf clinic: Held in partnership with Topgolf Mobile, the free clinic for boys and girls in grades 3 through 8 drew more than 200 local young people to learn the fundamentals of golf in a fun, engaging setting.
• Youth soccer clinic: A free event at the Mobile County Sports Complex for children from K-5 through eighth grade, featuring players from the men’s and women’s teams at Spring Hill College.
• Mobile County Spelling Bee: Presented by the 68 Ventures Bowl and the Mobile County Public School System.
• “1st & 10” club meetings: Sponsored by the bowl staff and C Spire for more than two decades, the series brings in guest speakers including sports celebrities, broadcasters and college and professional football coaches.

Several of those partnerships connect the bowl to long-standing local institutions. Spring Hill College, the Jesuit school in west Mobile founded in 1830, is the oldest college in Alabama. The Mobile County Public School System is one of the largest school districts in the state, serving tens of thousands of students in schools stretching from the city to the county’s rural communities.

The game: Dec. 26 at Hancock Whitney Stadium

The 68 Ventures Bowl was founded in 1999 and has carried several different sponsor names over the years. It has built a reputation for producing some of the most competitive and exciting games of bowl season, including record-setting performances by players who went on to become NFL standouts.

The game moved to Hancock Whitney Stadium, South Alabama’s on-campus stadium, after the venue opened in 2020; before that, it was played at Mobile’s Ladd-Peebles Stadium. In recent seasons, the bowl has typically matched teams from the Sun Belt Conference and the Mid-American Conference.

This year’s game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 26, at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised live nationally. Participating teams will be determined once the regular season wraps up and bowl pairings are announced.

Gulf Shores High adds LED display technology

GULF SHORES — On the Baldwin County side of the bay, Boostr Digital Displays, working in partnership with BSN Sports, has completed installation of a full suite of LED display technology at the new Gulf Shores High School.

The equipment is part of the district’s new $131 million, 287,000-square-foot campus at 21656 Coastal Gateway Blvd. Gulf Shores City Schools operates independently from the Baldwin County Public Schools system after the city formed its own district in recent years, and the new high school represents one of the largest investments the young system has made.

According to an announcement from Boostr, the project includes three major installations intended to elevate the game-day atmosphere and showcase school pride throughout the building:

• A 17-foot LED scorer’s table courtside in the competition gymnasium, capable of displaying dynamic digital graphics, sponsor recognition, player introductions and game-day content during basketball and volleyball events.
• A 15-by-10-foot indoor LED display in the main gymnasium, giving fans high-resolution live video, instant replays, team graphics and real-time scoring.
• A custom LED video wall in the main lobby that can highlight student achievements, school announcements, upcoming events, championship moments and community messages.

Together, the displays give the school a flexible digital communication platform that goes well beyond keeping score, connecting students, staff and the wider community from the front doors to the final buzzer of a home game. Digital scorer’s tables and video boards have become increasingly common in high school gyms, in part because sponsor messaging on the screens can help athletic programs offset costs.

Athletic director praises installation

“We had an outstanding experience working with Boostr Displays at Gulf Shores High School,” said Jason Watts, athletic director at Gulf Shores High. “From start to finish, their team did a fantastic job installing our video boards and LED scorer’s table. They were professional, knowledgeable, dependable and made the entire process smooth and easy.

“We have reached out to them numerous times with questions, and they have always been quick to respond and willing to help. We highly recommend Boostr Displays to any school or organization looking to install video boards. They have been great to work with, and we truly appreciate everything they have done with our new facilities at Gulf Shores High School.”

From a Tuscaloosa garage to all 50 states

Boostr Digital Displays traces its roots to 2012, when Greg Crowe, a high school basketball coach, began building equipment in a garage in Tuscaloosa. Crowe and an assistant coach created one of the first TV-monitor scorer’s tables as a way to tackle the fundraising challenges facing their program.

That idea has since grown into a national player in LED display manufacturing. The company now serves schools and organizations in all 50 states and is headquartered in Coker, a community in Tuscaloosa County.

For Gulf Shores families, the new displays will be on full view as the school’s basketball and volleyball teams play home games in the new gymnasium.