If you attend football games in Annapolis, you might know about the Military Bowl presented by Northrup Grumman, a post-season NCAA sanctioned Division I college football game held each year since 2014 at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in late December. Last year, more than 32,000 fans attended the game, enduring winter cold and sheets of rain to cheer on Virginia Tech and Cincinnati.
The Military Bowl Foundation (MBF) is the founding nonprofit organization and manager of the Military Bowl game. In the five years since the foundation moved the event to Annapolis from Washington, D.C. (where it was called the Congressional Bowl), the city, Anne Arundel County, and the state of Maryland have realized direct financial and commercial benefits to the tune of millions of dollars.
Besides hotel rooms, parking, and sales tax revenue, the Miracle on Annapolis Street Food Truck Festival with the Budweiser Clydesdales and the game-day parade down West Street provide the city an economic boost during the holidays. The events also offer locals and visitors a fun way to spend an otherwise slow winter day.
Perhaps most importantly, as the Military Bowl has grown in attendance and therefore revenue, the MBF has been able to donate a significant portion of their bottom line to help sick and injured veterans. Whether it’s making tickets to the game possible for free through the USO, donating directly to military service organizations, treating hospitalized veterans to a night out, or creating their own private retreat, the foundation is singularly focused on touching the lives of our veterans, most in need of safety, security, and support.
In 2015, the Congressional Research Service submitted an official report to members and committees of congress outlining casualty statistics for our most recent military conflicts, including in their analysis data from 2001 to 2015. The report indicated that throughout military action in Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Inherent Resolve, and Freedom’s Sentinel, 52,351 service members returned home physically injured. The incidence of reported and diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder increased year over year by the tens of thousands to 138,197 cases. Brain injuries likewise increased during the years of these conflicts, peaking at 32,907 in 2011 and totaling more than 344,000 cases. Amputations totaled 1,645 cases. Estimates suggest that more than a half-million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer from psychological injuries
Although the foundation has donated funds to many worthy organizations, it wanted to do more to support returning service members that needed a safe place for comfort, healing, and camaraderie. In 2016, led by President and Executive Director Steve Beck, the Taishoft Family Foundation of Annapolis, and board member Stuart Plank, the MBF worked with the state of Maryland to purchase Patriot Point, a 290-acre estate that the foundation intended to transform into a retreat for wounded or ill service members, their caregivers, and family.
“Patriot Point will be a place for the men and women who serve our nation so selflessly to take the time to recharge,” Beck said when the deal was announced. “We look forward to welcoming these brave men and women to the Eastern Shore and allowing them to enjoy themselves and relax.” Patriot Point has hosted nearly 600 guests since it was purchased in 2016.
Patriot Point is located about 1.5 hours from Annapolis, past Cambridge and the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The property boasts 2.3 miles of shoreline along two pristine waterways, a pond, woodlands, wetlands, and fields of cover crops for raising and hunting waterfowl. James Bugg, chairman of the Yellow Ribbon Fund, previously owned the land. Bugg frequently used his Eastern Shore estate, which he called Poverty Point, to host wounded service members, and the MBF intended to further his efforts.
The property has interesting roots. Once owned by the Carrington family, proprietors of a shipping line based in New York, actress Clara Bow purchased the property in the mid-1920s. Bow was notorious for wild parties fueled by bootleg liquor, reportedly shipped in via the Chesapeake Bay during Prohibition. She named the estate Happy Days and had a log cabin built with a substantial three-story stone fireplace. That cabin, with the fireplace intact, remains today and serves as the main house for guests of Patriot Point.
In 2018, the Military Bowl Foundation embarked on a three-year capital campaign intended to raise money for operations, refurbishment, and new construction. The first phase of the campaign wrapped up in September and proved to be a pivotal time for Patriot Point. A large barn with a caretaker’s residence and a welcome center were erected and a large patio with firepits was installed. The main house has new windows and siding, an entrance lift, and widened doorways for improved mobility and accessibility.
Maryland Building Industry Association’s Home Builders Care Foundation was instrumental in sourcing donations of money, materials, and labor in this effort. Under Armour donated a large gym with equipment for typical and adaptive sports, called the Under Armour Freedom Fitness Center. 3M helped to rebuild the 225-foot pier in time for summer. Volunteer coordinator Mike Mattingly, a veteran of the Air Force and a former Washington, D.C., firefighter, helped round up Annapolis and Dorchester County firefighters, law enforcement, military service members, and others to hand-build a new pier, spiffy up the shooting range, clear the 3-D archery course, and keep the property in ideal shape for the visitors they hosted over the season.
The second phase of the capital campaign includes continued renovations to the main house and improvements to the art studio that currently occupies the third floor of the house. Improvements to the shoreline and wetlands conservation will include implementing an erosion control plan, landscaping with native plants, and rebuilding the pond, which will be stocked for fishing. Eventually, the foundation hopes to create a museum to highlight the property’s history.
A visit to Patriot Point offers every opportunity for outdoor recreation in a safe and relaxing environment. Entry to the property is secure, and only folks previously vetted by a partner organization or the foundation are allowed access. Twenty-two acres of the property are set aside for the planting of milo, a cover crop used to feed the 2,000 ducks raised for hunting each year. Sunflowers are planted over five to 10 acres, enjoyed all season long by the dozens of sika deer that live on the land. Canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding, shooting archery, skeet shooting, fishing, and crabbing are just a few activities guests can enjoy when not quietly taking in the waterfront view from the patio. Mattingly offers tours of the property and can help coordinate visits to area wellness providers, such as Talisman Therapeutic Riding, an ADA accessible and adaptive stable in Grasonville.
Beck has long envisioned that Patriot Point could be accessible to the communities the Military Bowl touches the most, including those in Annapolis. Last August, 24 children from Annapolis were invited to the property for a day on the water and a barbecue. Patriot Point hosted every aspect of the event, including boating, crabbing, fishing, ATV riding, and the cookout. “These are kids from various areas of Annapolis who would not necessarily have had the opportunity to participate in all that Patriot Point provides if it wasn’t for the Military Bowl and Patriot Point,” says Kevin Simmons, Director of the City of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management. “[The kids] got to see a different place, different atmosphere, and people who catered to them. It does a lot for the kids. It does a lot for their esteem, lets them see another side of life they don’t see very often, and participate in things they don’t [usually] get to participate in.” Beck and his team are excited about the potential for impacting young lives and look forward to more visits with local children. “Patriot Point has evolved into way more than we thought it would be originally. We’re doing an awful lot of good things down there,” he says.
Beck says there is no other bowl game in the country with a passion project like Patriot Point. Beck, along with his colleagues Josh Barr, Director of External Relations, and Mike Mattingly, Volunteer Coordinator, are not compensated for the work they do on behalf of the property. They spend hours there each week, greeting guests, working on construction projects, and thinking hard about how to best reach the communities they serve. Every year is a tenuous adventure in covering fees, finding sponsors, developing engagement and fundraising plans, and partnering with service organizations, let alone entertaining 35,000—plus people at a college football game. Despite the complications and challenges, the Military Bowl Foundation perseveres, knowing that the tagline of their signature fundraising event, “Home of the Free Because of the Brave,” is truer now more than ever, and that the work they do directly impacts the health and wellness of individuals, families, and communities.
If you want to learn more about Patriot Point, become a volunteer, or join the Military Bowl Foundation as a sponsor, please visit patriotpoint.org or email Steve Beck at sbeck@militarybowl.org.
