Mosquito Bowl

The Mosquito Bowl was a football game played December 24, 1944 between two regiments of Marines at Guadalcanal during World War II.^[1] Buzz Bissinger in 2022 wrote an account, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, which was widely reviewed.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Members of the 6th Marine Division, many of whom had played college football, were training on Guadalcanal during the final months of 1944.^[6] Many had been named to all-conference or all-American teams.^[6] Both of the division's 4th and 29th regiments could field a team of such prominent players, and a game was organized for Christmas Eve with sixty-five players, including John McLaughry and Tony Butkovich.^[6]

The game ended with a scoreless tie.^[4]

Terry Frei's "Third Down and a War to Go" (2004/2007) and his newspaper work earlier included extensive material on the Mosquito Bowl, relying on many interviews with then-surviving Marines who played in the game or served with those who did. In his book's backmatter, Bissinger thanked Frei for allowing him access to Frei's research and/or contacts. Frei's book featured his father's 1942 Wisconsin Badgers, including two of Jerry Frei's teammates -- Dave Schreiner and Bob Baumann -- who played in the Mosquito Bowl and were killed on Okinawa.