1994 LEGEND - HARRISON KOHL

HARRISON D. KOHL
Executive Director of the Sun Bowl
1963-1974

Harrison D. Kohl was at the forefront of taking the Sun Bowl to a new level in the 1960s and 1970s. He set the tone as the executive director of the Sun Bowl Association as it embarked on opening Sun Bowl Stadium in 1963. He also was a key leader in finding a national television audience for the Sun Bowl.

Kohl graduated from Drake University where he competed for four years on the Bulldog’s nationally-ranked track and field  team. Following World War II service, where Kohl served in the United States Army, he entered the home building business.

In 1963, he was approached to become the executive director of the Sun Bowl Association, a position he held for eleven years. He was the first full-time executive director of the Sun Bowl Association.

He expanded the cavalcade of events surrounding the game, making it a week-long festival, culminating with the Sun Bowl. He was instrumental in securing national television exposure for the Sun Bowl, first with TVS, then NBC, before finally obtaining CBS Sports to televise the Sun Bowl Football Classic in 1968. The groundweork he laid in 1968 still exists today, as the Sun Bowl has the longest tenured partnership between a college bowl game and a television network, which is more than four decades.

Recognized as one of the most influential bowl administrators in the nation during his tenure, Harrison is credited with enhancing the stature of the Sun Bowl Association to what we know it as today. Kohl was honored with the Bud Dudley Bowl Executive Award at the All-American Football Foundation’s Banquet of Champions in 1999.