National Academic Super Bowl
This tournament involved six-person high school quizbowl teams standing on the football field at Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, answering speed tossups such as "Name the longest river in Europe."
The event was founded in 1976 for Jacksonville-area public schools and became a national tournament starting in 1981. It was televised on at least a local basis in that year.
Freeman won the competition in 1981 over Sandalwood after a controversy over whether the game-deciding final tossup, asking for who said, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute," had the correct answer on the page or not.
The Duval all-stars won in 1983 over East Baton Rouge of Louisiana, 196-52, answering questions such as "Who was the poet whose most important work was 'Andrea del Sarto'?"
The Duval County public schools all-star team won the tournament in 1984 over the Birmingham, AL all-stars.
Over four thousand "fans" filled the stands to watch the finals in 1984, and marching bands, cheerleaders, and television cameras were present. Sponsored by the Duval County School Board and directed by superintendant Herb A. Sang, it involved 18 teams from 8 states.
The 1983 tournament included sitting Secretary of Education Terrel Bell as a spectator.
By 1987, the format had changed such that all the non-Duval teams played a regular invitational tournament, whose winner faced the Duval County all-stars in the Super Bowl. In both 1987 and 1988, the tournament had eighteen teams, and Duval's opponent was the Fayette County all-stars from Kentucky. The 1987 Super Bowl was televised on The Learning Channel.
The 1988 Fayette team included Brian Reed, Eric Brooks, Greg Koerner, and Andrew Joseph from Lafayette, Brennan Gaunce of Henry Clay, and Jason Hall, Jeanie Krause, and Akbar Aksan from Tates Creek.
Some accounts of the tournament refer to individual schools participating, and others to all-star teams representing countywide public school systems. It is possible that the rules changed from year to year.
It is unknown how long this tournament lasted after 1988 or who else won it.