On a more serious note:
1) it was the first Liberty Bowl....played back then in the cradle of liberty in Philly
2) it was our first game against a black player. Bryant had to deal with that. I recall reading that he was torn because he didn't want to draw attention to it, but he also wanted to make sure none of the stereotyped crackers had plans to injure the guy, either. Bryant just made the point every one on the field was a football player and treat them all the same.
3) Bowl games back in the day were more prestigious - even the lesser bowls.
As hard as it is to believe now, there were only NINE bowl games in 1959...and that was a large number given that only two years earlier there had only been seven.
Unlike today when 5-7 teams with good GPAs go, you had to be a GOOD team to get a bowl berth in 1959. Back then, even the Gator Bowl and Tangerine Bowl (now the Citrus Bowl) were BIG deals.
It might be that every team that participated in a bowl game DID get a trophy because unlike today we didn't have a bunch of losers in bowl games.