Illustrated by Caroline Kurt | The Collegian
The Hillsdale football team will play for a major award—a replica of the leg lamp from the 1983 film, “A Christmas Story,” at the Albanese Candy Bowl against Upper Iowa University Dec. 6 in Hobart, Indiana. The bowl game will be Hillsdale’s first since 2021.
“A Christmas Story” has a local connection to Hobart because the movie is set in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana, which is based on Hammond, Indiana, about 15 miles from Hobart, according to Jimmy Nelson, director of sports for the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority. In addition, Jean Shepherd, who narrated the film and wrote the book upon which the movie is based, grew up in Hammond.
The film also has a connection to Hillsdale College, as its director, Bob Clark, was a Hillsdale College student and played for the Chargers football team in the early 1960s.
“Almost nobody at Hillsdale knows that ‘A Christmas Story’ was directed by a Hillsdale football player,” Lecturer in Journalism Buddy Moorehouse said. “It’s really cool that the Hillsdale football team is playing for a trophy from a movie that was directed by a Hillsdale football player.”
When the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Valley Conference created their bowl game in 2019, they wanted to have a traveling trophy with local flair, according to Nelson.
“Because of their love for the movie and because they love our bowl game so much, they decided the leg lamp would be an awesome trophy to pass around,” Nelson said.
In the film, the main character’s father wins a “major award” from a newspaper contest, which turns out to be a leg lamp.
South Shore CVA created giant animatronic window scenes in Hammond to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “A Christmas Story” in 2003. Afterward, South Shore and Warner Bros. created a contract to sell Warner Brothers’ merchandise, which included leg lamps from the movie, according to Nelson.
Moorehouse said the bowl game will have an extra significance due to the connection between the film and the college.
Clark, who died in 2007, was the starting punter and backup quarterback as a freshman, before becoming the starting quarterback for Hillsdale and later transferring to the University of Miami, according to Moorehouse.
Clark also directed “Porky’s,” a raunchy comedy in 1981, and “Rhinestone,” a musical comedy starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton in 1984.
The Chargers bring a 6–5 regular season and 5–4 conference record into the game and have three players who won awards for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference this year.
Freshman tailback Ben Ngishu won GMAC Freshman of the Year, junior receiver Shea Ruddy won GMAC Special Teams Player of the Year, and junior tight end Noah Larrick won the Elite 26 Award, which is given to the student athlete with the highest cumulative GPA.
The Chargers also had six players on the GMAC First Team All-Conference and two on the Second Team All-Conference. The team as a whole won the GMAC Sportsmanship Award for the 2025 season.
Upper Iowa University went 8–3 this season and 6–2 in conference play. The bowl game will be the first meeting between the two teams.
“I am excited to play another great team and have the chance to get a good win for the season,” Ruddy said. “It is also helpful that we get to play late into the season to learn how to play in a longer season. It should help going forward to next year as we look to make a playoff run.”
