Big 33 sees 3 alumni reach Super Bowl, extends streak to 54 years

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, January 19, 2020 | 11:16 PM

The Big 33 Football Classic’s Super Bowl streak continues with help from a former WPIAL athlete.

All 54 Super Bowl matchups have included at least one former player from the high school football all-star game, a streak that San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Kevin Givens and kicker Robbie Gould, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Chad Henne will extend this year.

Their teams meet Feb. 2.

Givens, an Altoona graduate and former Penn State player, was selected for the Big 33 game in 2015. Altoona competed in the WPIAL when he was on the football team.

Givens, signed as an undrafted free agent, is a rookie for the 49ers and was active for one game this season, a Week 17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. He was inactive for both playoff wins.

Gould, a Central Mountain graduate, kicked a game-winning field goal for Pennsylvania in the 2001 Big 33.

Henne, a Wilson West Lawn graduate chosen for the 2004 Big 33, is a backup quarterback for the Chiefs.

The Super Bowl streak was already safe entering Sunday’s conference championship games because the Green Bay Packers also had a Big 33 player on the roster, Corey Linsley of Boardman, Ohio. The offensive lineman was picked for the 2009 all-star game.

According to Big 33 records, Philadelphia native Herb Adderley started the streak as a member of the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I and II. Adderley played in the inaugural Big 33 in 1957.

This year’s Big 33 game is May 25 at Central Dauphin’s Landis Field in Harrisburg.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Altoona