The Unified Bulldogs and Unified Rebels square off in the 2015 Unified Egg Bowl for Special Olympics Mississippi Monday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Ole Miss’s intramural athletic fields.
The Unified Bulldogs flag football team, led by MSU students who are playing alongside Special Olympics athletes, held final practice Wednesday on the Mississippi State University intramural flag football fields.
It takes a mission as strong as the Special Olympics Play Unified movement to mend a rivalry as deep as the divide between MSU and Ole Miss, if only for one day. The Unified Egg Bowl accomplished the feat in 2014, and it’s back this year to bring communities together and raise awareness of the importance of Special Olympics in the development of individuals who have intellectual disabilities.
Special Olympics Mississippi athletes with intellectual disabilities will take the field again this year to play flag football on teams alongside traditional college students from MSU and Ole Miss, while sharing in the fanfare and passionate competition of this storied rivalry. MSU won the Unified Egg Bowl Fan Fundraising Challenge in the inaugural 2014 game, but the unified Ole Miss team won the game 23-17,
Last fall, Mississippi came together to raise more than $12,000 in support of the athletes as part of the Unified Egg Bowl. Fans of both schools can use this opportunity to donate directly to benefit the athletes and programs of Special Olympics Mississippi in support of the unified Ole Miss and Mississippi State teams. The school that raises the most money will get a three-point advantage to start the game Monday. As of Thursday, MSU led Ole Miss in fundraising.
Donations may be made at specialolympicsms.org/unified-egg-bowl, or call 601-856-7748.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.