A Brief History of the Coconut Bowl

As Lely attempts to end Naples’ 15-year winning streak in the Coconut Bowl, we thought it might be a good time to look back on the history of the game that is the third-longest continuous high school football rivalry in the state.

While Naples currently holds a decisive 36-15 lead in the series, it wasn’t always that way. In fact, upstart Lely won the first Coconut Bowl, 22-13, played on Thanksgiving Day, at Naples High School. Robbie Van Hise scored three times for the Trojans. Lely quarterback Jackie Miller, who also punted for the Trojans, helped preserve the victory on a fake punt when he slipped the ball to running back Nate Phillips, who picked up a first down that helped Lely run out the clock. Lely’s coach that day, Bill Broxson, later had the Broxson Trophy named in his honor. The Broxson Trophy has been awarded to the top all-around player from Collier County since 2000.

In 1974, Lely and Naples students attended Naples High School together in split sessions while Lely High School was being constructed. The Naples students attended the morning session with the Lely students attending the afternoon session. But the prior year, all of the juniors and seniors attended the morning session at Naples High while the freshmen and sophomores attended the afternoon session. In 1973, some underclassmen sports were divided into Blue and Gold squads. When the students were separated in 1974, separate Naples and Lely teams were created.

Lely principal Clyde Quinby and Naples principal Dave Jacobs came up with the idea of naming the game the Coconut Bowl. The unique trophy was made by students in the shop class. The Coconut Bowl trophy is now named in honor of Joe Klimas, a former Marco Islander who was a beloved local football announcer for many years.

Naples and Lely split the first 24 Coconut Bowls, but since then, Naples has dominated the series, 24-3. Naples’ current 15-game winning streak is the longest in the series. Lely’s best run was a four-game win streak from 1991-1994. That came on the heels of a three-game win streak from 1987-1989. In fact, Lely was 9-2 against Naples from 1984-1994. Naples has an impressive 24-2 record in the series since 1999. Lely’s only other win during that time was when former Wisconsin star Culmer St. Jean quarterbacked the Trojans to a 21-14 win in 2005.