March 18, 1981

After winning the Regional College Bowl Championship, the Vassar College Bowl team: Paul Bartlett ‘81, Neil Buchanan ‘81, Chuck Harris ‘81, William Hoffman ‘83 and Saiyid Abu Rizvi ‘81, competed in the National College Bowl Championships. Defeated in the first round of the national competition, Vassar tied with eight other teams for last place.

A popular radio program, the College Bowl, competitions—“The Varsity Sport of the Mind”—were broadcast between October 1953 and December 1955. Two four-person teams from college’s and universities competed in each episode of the program, answering questions on a range of topics, from literature, history and philosophy to science, the arts and religion. Revived for televison in 1959 by the General Electric Company, the games appeared on Saturdays and Sundays through June of 1970. Competition was reinstated under the sponsorship of the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) and continued until 2008.

Vassar’s 1981-82 team lost a play-off with the University of Wisconsin for third place and fourth place nationally, and the Vassar team for 1983-84 tied with Princeton for third place.