Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 August 2009 20:54 Written by Tom Eastman Monday, 24 August 2009 18:06

‘Creature Muddy Feature’ Mud Bowl Sept. 11-13, 2009 Nashua Mud Gumbys seek 5th title in 13-game, three-day tourney

The Nashua Mud Gumbys will seek their fourth straight and fifth overall title at the 2009 Creature Muddy Feature-themed World Mud Bowl in North Conway, N.H., Sept. 11-13. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)

Mud Bowl 3-day advance tickets offer chance to win raffle prizes

By Tom Eastman ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — The Nashua Mud Gumbys will be seeking their fourth straight and fifth overall World Mud Bowl championship when they splash off in world-renowned Hog Coliseum at the 2009 Creature Muddy Feature-themed World Mud Bowl, Sept. 11-13.

The tourney features eight teams from throughout New England in three days of two-hand touch mud football fun. with all funds benefiting local charities. In the event's 34-year history in North Conway, the Mud Bowl has raised nearly $500,000 for local charities.

This year's World Mud Bowl will celebrate a theme of “Creature Muddy Feature,” Friday through Sunday, Sept. 11 through 13, and will feature spirit award competitions, cheerleading teams, the 27th annual Tournament of Mud Parade Saturday, Sept. 12, at 10:30 a.m. on North Conway's Main Street, a Mud Bowl Ball at the New England Inn in Intervale Saturday evening, Sept. 12, halftime skits, belly dancers, choreographed mud swimming routines, and three days of exciting two-hand touch mud football action.

Advance three-day tickets serve as a raffle ticket. Mud Bowl fans will have two chances to win one of two $500 drawings, the first to be held Saturday, Sept. 12, and the second on Sunday, Sept. 13. One need not be present to win.

Advance three-day tickets cost $10.

Advance tickets are available in advance at Hannaford, North Conway; the Met, and the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce.

This year's 13-game, double-elimination World Mud Bowl is set to be held Friday through Sunday, Sept. 11 through 13, at North Conway's Hog Coliseum. The 27th annual Tournament of Mud Parade is set to proceed at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, from the John Fuller Elementary School south down North Conway's Main Street to the judges' reviewing in Schouler Park in front of the North Conway Train Station.

Daily admission to the World Mud Bowl is $6 for adults (14 and older); $4 for children (ages 6-13); and free for ages 5 and under. Three-day tickets are $10 at the gate. A family pass (two adults, two children) is available for $15.

Charitable groups interested in selling advance three-day World Mud Bowl tickets are encouraged to call ticket chair Jackie Howe at the North Conway Day Care Center at 356-5213.

Non-profit organizations selling advance three-day tickets receive 25 percent of their gross sales for their organization, according to Howe.

In addition to the four-time champion Gumbys, this year's field includes the hometown 11-time champion Mount Washington Valley Hogs, the 16-time champion Muddas Football Club of Amherst, N.H., the Carrabassett Valley Rats of Kingfield, Maine; the past champion Merrimack (N.H.) Mudcats of Franklin, N.H., the Peabody Predators of Peabody, Mass., the past champion North Shore Mudsharks of Massachusetts, and the Cumberland, R.I., Muckaneers.

For further information about Mud Bowl, call Howe at (603) 356-5213 or the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce at 1-(800) 367-3364 or www.mtwashingtonvalley.org/calendar

Schedule of Events

The Board of Directors of the World Championships of Mud Football would like to thank all the volunteers, businesses, organizations, players, cheerleaders, fans and sponsors, without whom the weekend of Mud Bowl would be impossible. We invite you to keep score with us in the 13-game, double-elimination tournament at the Mud Bowl as we celebrate this year’s theme of “Muddy Creature Feature!”

2009 Mudmerican Bandstand

Mud Bowl Schedule

Friday, Sept. 11

Game 1: 10:30 a.m. 2005 champion North Shore Mudsharks vs, def. champion Nashua Mud Gumbys Game 2: 11:30 a.m.: 11-time hometown champion Mt. Washington Valley Hogs vs. 2001 champion Merrimack Mudcats Game 3: 12:30 p.m. Cumberland (R.I.) Muckaneers vs. Peabody Predators Game 4: 1:30 p.m. 16-time champion Muddas Football Club vs. Carrabassett Valley Rats Game 5: 2:30 p.m. Winners of Games 1 and 2 Game 6: 3:30 p.m. Winners of Games 3 and 4 NOTE: Winners of Games 5 and 6 earn a bye to Sunday’s semi-finals

SATURDAY, Sept. 12

10:30 a.m. 27th Tournament of Mud Parade, Main Street, North Conway, proceeding south from John Fuller Elementary School. 11:30 a.m. Game 7: Loser Game 1 Fri. vs. Loser Game 2 Fri. 1-2 p.m.: Game 8: Loser Game 3 Fri. vs. Loser Game 4 Fri. 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Game 9: Loser Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7 4-5 p.m.: Game 10: Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 8 8 p.m.: Mud Bowl Ball at Tuckerman's at New England Inn, Route 16A, Intervale. DJ Audley Williams. A silent auction will be held at the dance— items may be previewed at Hog Coliseum Saturday.

SUNDAY, Sept. 13

11 a.m.-12 noon: Semi-finals: Game 11: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 10 12:30-1:30

p.m.: Game 12: Semi-finals: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 6 2:30 p.m.: Game 13 Mud Bowl Championship: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12 And the winner is ...

TICKET INFORMATION: Advance three-day tickets serve as a raffle ticket. Mud Bowl fans will have two chances to win one of two $500 drawings, the first to be held Saturday, Sept. 12, and the second on Sunday, Sept. 13. One need not be present to win. Advance three-day tickets cost $10. Advance tickets are available in advance at Hannaford, North Conway; the Met, and the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce. Daily admission to the World Mud Bowl is $6 for adults (14 and older); $4 for children (ages 6-13); and free for ages 5 and under. Three-day tickets are also $10 at the gate. A family pass (two adults, two children) is available for $15. Call 1-800-367-3364 or 356-5213 for further ticket information. LODGING: Call the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce at 1-(800) 367-3364 or go to www.mtwashingtonvalley.org

A Muddy Look Back at Three Decades of of Mud Bowl History

By Tom Eastman NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — Thirty-seven years of mud, all for good fun and charitable causes — that’s what we are celebrating at the 2009 “Muddy Creature Feature” Mud Bowl at North Conway’s Hog Coliseum, Sept. 11 through 13. It was in 1972 that the first Mud Bowl was played in Kingfield, Maine. In 1975, Steve Eastman, a former Carrabassett Valley resident and newspaper editor who had moved to North Conway, was asked to put together a team — something which he did with friend Richard DeAngelis of the old Alpine Funspot of the North Country, located near the base of Cranmore. They christened the team the Mt. Washington Valley Hogs. The Hogs traveled to Kingfield, and won that 1975 World Mud Bowl, 6-0, over the Rats, and in keeping with then tradition, got to host Mud Bowl the following year. Members of that first Hogs squad included: Co-Captain Richard DeAngelis, now of Andover, Mass.; the late Co-Captain Steve Eastman (1949-2008), later co-founder of the Mountain Ear newspaper, and whom the Mud Bowl community lost to brain cancer in 2008; Curt Bartlett, Ricky Tibbetts, the late Bob “Tanaka” Tara, Vinnie DeMattio, Craig Nichols, John Duggan, Andy McCarron and Coach Don Kennedy. The rest, as they say, is history — muddy history, with more than $450,000 having been raised for local charitable causes over the years since that first splashoff. The event’s longtime sponsor is Amoskeag Beverages, distributors of Lite Beer from Miller. The company has helped to make Mud Bowl the success it is today, and their longstanding support cannot be overtated. Among the stalwart players added to the Hogs over the ensuing years were such legendary Mud Bowl Hall of Famers as Gary “Hog of Steel” Sheldon, who co-chaired Mud Bowl with Steve Eastman in the 1980s to mid-1990s; Rich Moulton, who spearheaded the building of Hog Coliseum in 1981 and reorganized Mud Bowl under the eight-team, 14-game format in 1997; Jim Donatelli, Alan Perkins, Bill “Boomer” Benson, Peter Mead, Brian Day, Tinker Shely, Clint Rand, Dave Alden, Randy “Freddie Go-Nuts” Jones, David Cianciolo, Bobbie Bean, Phil Haynes, Skip Moody, Danny Grant, Ricky Rapone, John “Who Cares?” Gorman, Duck Skolfield, Mike “Smiley” Perreault, Paul Maltacea, Carl Farnum, Bob Maute, Jeff Perry, Matt Mezquita and countless others, right on up to the present Hog teams led by Danny Ryan, Blair Lynch, Wayne McDonald, Jason Veno, Sean Guinnard and Larry Day. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Mud Bowl, we salute the past Mud Bowl legends attending this year’s games, and thank all who have volunteered their time over the years to this unusual but fun-spirited endeavor. We also thank all the fans for their support. Mud Bowl — what a long strange (and muddy!) trip it’s been! MUD BOWL THRU THE YEARS Legend has it that the Carrabassett Valley Rats started the annual Mud Bowl in Kingfield, Maine, after a few University of Maine fraternity brothers moved there 37 years ago. According to the story, alumni of a fraternity had challenged their college student brothers to a touch football game in a muddy field back on the Orono campus in the early 1970s. When a few of the alumni moved to the ski resort of Sugarloaf/USA in northwestern Maine in 1972, they brought their unusual sport with them. Local Carrabassett Valley residents in need of some fall fun took a liking to the games. But when interest wanes a few years later, it was up to newspaper publisher Dale Rolfe to rescue the sport, and that he did by founding a mud football league. That was in 1975. The Mt. Washington Valley Hogs were one of two expansion franchises invited to head up to Sugarloaf to enter a team that year. The season in those years consisted of two weekends, with teams traveling to Jay Peak, Vt., for the first weekend and then to Sugarloaf for the final weekend. Those first Hogs defeated the host Carrabassett Valley Rats in the finals, 6-0. Under the rules of mud football back in those days, the Hogs — as the winning team — then got to host the next Mud Bowl in 1976. As a result, the first Mud Bowl came to North Conway that year as well as the next three years, because the Hogs kept right on winning Mud Bowls. Games were played in a variety of cornfields back then. Things were a lot more low-key then than they are now. Hats were passed around at halftime, for example, to raise money for the Hogs’ official charity, the North Conway Community Center. (The take was a few hundred dollars — a far cry from the $28,000 average that Mud Bowl has annually taken in these past few years). When the Hogs lost a game in overtime played at the base of Mt. Cranmore in 1979 to the upstart (and talented) New York State Hamslammers, 6-0, that sent the 1980 Mud Bowl to the Hamslammers’ field in Holland Patent, N.Y. The Hogs and other teams traveled the eight hours from North Conway to the games, with the Hogs bringing home the bacon by winning back the Mud Bowl Cup when they beat the Hamslammers in an exciting battle, 8-7. With the 1980 Mud Bowl played in upstate New York, Mt. Washington Valley organizers came up with the idea of putting on the 1980 Mud Olympics back here in North Conway the week after the Mud Bowl as a way to keep the charitable aspect of mud football going here for local charities. It wouldn’t be an official Mud Bowl, mind you — but it would be fun ... •••• A big step in the evolution of mud football occurred at those 1980 Mud Olympics when NBC-TV’s “Real People” program covered the event. Suddenly, Mud Bowl was national — even international, when the Associated Press ran a few photos which were carried around the globe. Played at the base of Mt. Cranmore, it was at those Mud Olympics that the Mass Muddas (now Muddas Football Club, the 2004 defending and 15-time world champs) made their first appearance in a mud football game in North Conway. They pummeled the Hogs on national television. Another big step occurred in 1981, when a group of teams formed the National Mud Football Association to further oversee the sport’s growth. Also that year, 1981, as was noted earlier, the Hogs and volunteers teamed up with the North Conway Community Center to transform a former swamp into Hog Coliseum. The jewel of a facility was so nice, that Mud Bowl officials voted in 1983 to hold all future Mud Bowls in North Conway, regardless of which team won. The first “Tournament of Mud Parade” was held, also in 1981, adding more color to the games’ overall entertainment appeal, founded by Steve Eastman to be a takeoff on the Rose Bowl's Tournament of Roses parade. When the Hamslammers dropped out after the 1981 games, two teams were invited to join in 1982 — the Mass Muddas and the P.J.’s Pub Mudsharks (now the North Shore Mudsharks). The field was increased from four teams to eight in the 1983, with a four-team Class A Division and a four-team World Class Division. The three-day format was also implemented. The problem with that setup was that the winner of the Class A Division never got to play against the winner of the World Class Division, causing some dissension among the Class A teams who wanted to go for all of the muddy marbles by playing in the World Class Division's World Mud Bowl finale. That situation was rectified in 1997 with the implementation of a double-elimination 13-game “flight” tourney format. No longer were there two separate divisions. All teams could now vie for the championship. EIGHT-TEAM FORMAT That format was revised from 14 games to 13 games in 1998 so that teams are no longer required to play as many back-to-back games on Mud Bowl Sunday. Teams now playing include the 1999, 2006, 2007 and 2008 defending champion Nashua Mud Gumbys of Nashua, N.H.; the 2005 champion North Shore Mudsharks of Peabody, Mass.; the 16-time champion Muddas Football Club of Amherst, N.H.; the 11-time champion Mt. Washington Valley Hogs, who last won in 1992; and the Merrimack Mudcats of Franklin, N.H., who upset the Muddas at the 2001 Mud Odyssey Mud Bowl, 20-14. Other teams include the founders of Mud Bowl, the Carrabassett Valley Rats of Kingfield, Maine; the Peabody Predators of Beverly, Mass., and the Cumberland Muckaneers of Cumberland, R.I. The period after Labor Day used to be a slow one Mt. Washington Valley in terms of tourism, but no more — Mud Bowl has helped to make the local economy grow while aiding charitable causes, with approximately $503,000 raised over the years. Through the efforts of all who have served as volunteer organizers and helpers over the years, the Mud Bowl continues to be a lot of muddy fun. Thanks for the trip down Muddy Mud Bowl Lane. And let's hear it for Muddy Creature Feature in 2009!

Mud Bowl in its 33rd year grows into multi-generational sport

Hello Mudda; hello father ... Mud Bowl in its 33rd year grows into multi-generational sport By Tom Eastman NORTH CONWAY — Mud Bowl, now in its 33rd year in North Conway, has grown into a multi-generational sport. Not only are second generations of players and cheerleaders now involved with the charitable event, taking place this weekend, but there are more than a few father-and-son combinations now playing for the eight respective teams. And as Mud Bowl has evolved over the years from a zany spectacle to a more family-oriented event, so have the teams evolved into extended families of sorts. Take the case of the 11-time hometown champion Mount Washington Valley Hogs, who feature the father-and-son team of former Mud Bowl Committee chair Mike Lynch, 48, and his son, Hogs co-captain Blair Lynch, 24. Blair's mom, Diana, is a former Mud Bowl security official and former Hoggette. Mike and Diana’s daughter, Amanda, 19, has long been a mud helper, even going as far as helping Unknown Mud Man Del Bean with his synchronized mud swimming routines in the mud and cheerleading with the Hoggettes. Mike's sister, Elizabeth Estey, also served for many years as a Mud Bowl registrar. Mike has passed on not only his love for the game, but also his artistic touch when it comes to creating the world's finest mud. “I have not made mud now for a good three or four years — Blair has taken that on,” said Mike, who works with Blair in their family business, Lynch Landscaping. Mike credited Blair and co-captain Wayne McDonald for recruiting many fine new players to the Hogs, including Tony Day, son of former Hog Brian Day. “Blair and Wayne have done a good job getting new players who have gelled into a team," Mike Lynch said. "They understand what Mud Bowl is all about, which is more than just mud football — it's about the community fund-raising for nonprofit groups such as the North Conway Community Center, North Conway Day Care and Carroll County Retired Senior Volunteer Program, camaraderie, and sportsmanship." Another father-and-son — make that “sons” — representation is Ronk Beedy of the Carrabassett Valley Rats and his sons, Chad and Donnie. Ronk is a logger in the wilds of Maine, where the sport of mud football originated back in the early 1970s near Sugarloaf, USA ski resort. Ronk is 59 and still plays; Donnie is 37; and Chad — the team's quarterback — is 32. Like their dad, the Beedys are big Maine boys, with Donnie tipping the scales at 300-plus pounds and having played semi-pro ball for the Central Maine Storm. Ronk has played mud football both at the charitable Kingfield Days Games in Maine every July and at the Mud Bowl in North Conway for 28 years. “I think it's pretty amazing of my old man to still be playing. I hope I can still walk to the field when I'm 59, let alone play!” said Chad. Chad and Donnie both played — would you believe? — junior mud football as kids. “I had a junior league for kids for a while up in Maine — sort of a feeder program,” laughed Ronk. The Rats first hosted the then-fledgling Mount Washington Valley Hogs in 1975. The Steve Eastman- and Richard DeAngelis-led Hogs defeated the Rats 6-0, thus leading the Hogs to host their first Mud Bowl in a cornfield in Mount Washington Valley in 1976, as the team that won in those days got to host the next year's Mud Bowl. That all changed in 1983, after Hog Coliseum was built in 1981, as all eight teams agreed that the valley was well-suited to always host the games, regardless of who won the championship. Another team sporting a father-and-sons trio is the 16-time champion Muddas Football Club of Amherst. Dad Jason “Dr. J” Holder, 60 going on 35, is one of Mud Bowl's most colorful players, having exhibited an ageless verve for the sport while serving as its most eloquent spokesman. A Plymouth State University college friend and TKE frat brother of late Mud Bowl and Hogs co-founder Steve Eastman of Kearsarge, Holder played his first mud football game in 1980 when the mud Olympics were held at Cranmore Mountain Resort. The Muddas trounced the Hogs, 40-0, in the finals, but — as Hogs fans will tell you — the Hogs had already won the Mud Bowl played in upstate New York the weekend before. The Muddas took care of that asterisk of a distinction in ensuing years, winning their first of 16 championships in 1983 over the Hogs, 7-0. Dr. J, who is a child-adolescent family therapist in southern New Hampshire, said his two sons grew up in the mud, watching him play and their mom, Anne, cheerlead for the Muddas' squad, the M&Ms. Jay, 30, and Ryan, 26, enjoy getting to play with their dad. “Dad and I are both pretty competitive type guys, so I get a little wound up, but he is very good at calming me down,” said Jay, the team's quarterback. Dad Jason also played quarterback back in his younger years, and helped start the football team at Plymouth State during his years there. “He just knows so much about the sport. We look to him and Donnie Woodworth [another veteran] for advice on plays,” said Jay, who plays defensive end. Others on the Muddas who are the sons of former players are Ryan Paul, son of former player Dave Paul; Josh Phillips, son of Billy Phillips (the latter of whom wed Wendy Mace during half-time at Hog Coliseum of one game in the 1990s); and former coach Rick Holder's son, Chris Curro. As for Dr. J, he says he still plays because he loves the sport — and he also loves playing with the new crop of Muddas. “A couple of years ago, Donnie Woodworth and I stayed on to lend some continuity as the team was going through some transitions. But now, I just like playing with these kids — they are a great bunch of guys, and they do understand that Mud Bowl spirit, about doing some good for the community. I do it not only for the sportsmanship and camaraderie with our guys, but with all the other guys on the other teams as well. That's Mud Bowl,” said the ever-quotable Dr. J. Mud Bowl has several generations of volunteers as well, led by the example of the Sprague-Kenyon family, who have been coming for decades to help out with security and other duties. They have long planned their family vacations around Mud Bowl, and we all salute them for their dedication and spirit! This year's Mud Bowl, with the theme, "Muddy Creature Feature," runs Friday through Sunday, Sept. 11 through 13. Call 356-5213 or 356-5701 for ticket information.

Past Mud Bowl Champions

By Tom Eastman

Mud Bowl — according to the dark and somewhat mud-dled legend — began in a muddy field behind a fraternity house when some of the frat’s alumni challenged their brothers to a game of touch football at the University of Maine, Orono campus in the early 1970s. When some of those mud football enthusiasts moved to Sugarloaf, USA, in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, in 1972, they brought their dirty sport with them. When interest waned a few years later, Dale Rolfe of Sugarloaf came to the sport’s rescue by founding a mud football league in 1975, featuring a two-weekend season. Among the teams which played that first year were the Mt. Washington Valley Hogs — and they won, defeating the Carrabassett Valley Rats, 6-0. In those years, the team that won the finals got to host the event the following year, so the Hogs were the host in 1976 — the first year that mud football was played in North Conway. The games were played in North Conway until the Hogs lost the title to the New York Hamslammers in OT in 1979, thus forcing a road trip to New York State in 1980. In 1981, the Hogs built Hog Coliseum. In 1983, it was decided to keep the games in North Conway, rather than let other towns host the event, because it was deemed a perfect place for hosting the sport’s championships. The defending champion Nashua Mud Gumbys have won the title in 1999, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In one of the most exciting finals ever, they defeated the 2005 champion North Shore Mudsharks 20-18 in double overtime at the 2007 World Mud Bowl and at the 2008 Mud Bowl, the greenies defeated the 16-time champion Muddas Football Club of Amherst, N.H., 20-14. The hometown Mount Washington Valley Hogs have won 11 championships, but have not won a title since 1992. The Merrimack Mudcats of Franklin, N.H., defeated the Muddas, 20-14, to win their first world title in 2001. The North Shore Mudsharks won their first World Mud Bowl title in 2005 by defeating the Muddas, 20-18.

•••••

1975 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-6 Carrabassett Valley Rats-0

1976 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-8 Carrabassett Valley Rats-6

1977 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-22 Carrabassett Valley Rats-20

1978 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-12 Carrabassett Valley Rats-0

1979 New York Hamslammers-6 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-0

1980 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-8 New York Hamslammers-7

v1981 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-7 New York Hamslammers-0

1982 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-6 Mass Muddas-0

1983 Mass Muddas-7 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-0

1984 Mass Muddas-12 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-0

1985 Mass Muddas-12 P.J’s Pub Mudsharks-7

1986 Mass Muddas-13 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-6

1987 Mass Muddas-20 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-6

1988 Mass Muddas-13 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-12

1989 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-19 Mass Muddas-6

1990 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-19 Mass Muddas-6

1991 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-12 Office Lounge Mudsharks-6

1992 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-19 Mass Muddas-13

1993 Mass Muddas-7 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs-0

1994 Mass Muddas-24 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs - 7

1995 Mass Muddas - 31 Carrabassett Valley Rats - 6

1996 Mass Muddas - 44 Merrimack Mudcats - 6

1997 Hampshire Hills Muddas - 32 North Conway Hogs - 10

1998 Hampshire Hills Muddas-14 North Conway Hogs-12

1999 Nashua Mud Gumbys - 20 Merrimack Mudcats - 12

2000 Hampshire Hills Muddas - 28 Merrimack Mudcats - 12

2001 Merrimack Mudcats - 20 Muddas Football Club - 14

2002 Muddas Football Club - 20 MWV Hogs - 12

2003 Muddas Football Club - 18 MWV Hogs - 0

2004 Muddas Football Club - 26 Nashua Mud Gumbys - 20

2005 North Shore Mudsharks - 20 Muddas Football Club - 18

2006 Nashua Mud Gumbys - 20 Mt. Washington Valley Hogs - 0

2007 Nashua Mud Gumbys - 20 North Shore Mudsharks - 18 (Double OT)

2008 Nashua Mud Gumbys - 20 Muddas Football Club - 14