SALEM TO MAKE STAGG BOWL BID

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993                   TAG: 9302050008
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SALEM TO MAKE STAGG BOWL BID
Salem will make its formal bid Wednesday to the NCAA Division III Football Committee to hold the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl at Salem's 8,000-seat stadium in mid-December for the next three years.
At the Salem Rotary Club meeting on Thursday, Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter unveiled an 8 1/2-minute video that will be part of the city's sales pitch next week at Marco Island, Fla. The only other location bidding for the Stagg Bowl, the Division III football championship game, is Bradenton, Fla.
Bradenton has played host to the game the past three years, after it was played for 15 of its first 17 years in Phenix City, Ala. The other two games (1983 and '84) were played in suburban Cincinnati, at the College Football Hall of Fame stadium.
Salem's Division III sponsor is the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Harveycutter and ODAC commissioner Dan Wooldridge said the city's bid will be based on the proximity of the region to Division III schools. There are no Division III programs in Florida.
"The Stagg Bowl is the only Division III championship not played on a Division III campus or in an area where Division III schools are located nearby," Wooldridge said.
Salem's video, produced by WDBJ (Channel 7), includes testimonials from Division III coaches Hank Norton of Ferrum and Lou Wacker of Emory & Henry.
The only perceived drawback for a December game locally - the potential for cold and inclement weather - is touched upon in the video. It reveals the average mid-December high temperature in the Roanoke Valley as 50-54 degrees, with a 30 percent chance of rain and only a .5 percent chance of snow.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB