The first Mercy Bowl was played in Los Angeles, California on November 23, 1961 as a special fundraiser in memory of 17 Cal Poly football players killed in a plane crash following a Bowling Green vs. Cal Poly game a year earlier. The game raised $200,000 for the surviving widows and children and to dedicate a memorial in their honor. Fresno State beat Bowling Green 36-6.
A second Mercy Bowl was not played until 10 years later. The 1971 edition was staged in memory of the 14 surviving children of three Fullerton State assistant coaches and a pilot who died in an airplane crash a month earlier. Fullerton State came from behind for a 17-14 victory over Fresno State.
It was the sixth consecutive bowl loss from Notre Dame and the Irish remained winless in the postseason since a 1993 triumph in the Cotton Bowl.
It was the third consecutive bowl win for the Bulldogs who were playing in their fifth straight bowl game but their first trip to anything other than the Silicon Valley Classic since the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl.
Tragically, the MercyBowl was played again in 1971 in memory of 14 surviving children of three Fullerton State assistant coaches and a pilot who died in an airplane crash only a month earlier.
While Fresno State defeated Bowling Green 36-6, what overshadowed the game shortly after it was played was a plane crash that killed members of the Fresno State delegation.
A second MercyBowl was played on December 11, 1971, which commemorated the plane crash victims in 1961.
Ironically, three assistant coaches for Fullerton State, Fresno State's opponent in the second MercyBowl, were killed in a plane crash in November 1971.
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