Football Ups and Downs

By HAROLD KEITH

FOR 47 consecutive years now, the an- essary and beneficial part in promoting man right out on the prairie north of the nual autumnal mania known as football an over-all efficiency by relieving the present Fine Arts Building . Wearing has fevered stu- strains of war and work ." home-made uniforms, the University boys dents, faculty, alumni, and thousands of Football made its start at Norman were soundly licked, 0 to 34 . Harts outsiders as well to such a sweltry pitch back in 1895, twelve years before state- twisted a knee and had to retire, and be- of excitement that until the gridiron season hood. Then the country we now know fore it was over, the befuddled Norman ends in late November, all the ice in Ant- as Oklahoma was still in its frontier stage . boys were borrowing the arctica probably could not cool them back On the west was the brash young Repub- subs so they'd have a full lineup . A to normalacy. lican upstart known as Oklahoma Terri- large crowd watched the fun with mixed Great holiday throngs of gay, smartly- tory whose prairies had been freshly emotions and wondered what devilment attired people sometimes numbering more peopled by a series of runs; on the east, the giddy Norman college boys would than 30,000 now move from all over Okla- struggling with the splendid tragedy of think up next. homa in a single golden October after- its doomed tribal governments was the In 1897 studious, be-spectacled Verne noon to the big red-tiled Sooner stadium much older Indian Territory. Bill Doolin, Parrington, a young modern language at Norman to see with bated breath and the outlaw, was still robbing territory professor from Emporia, Kansas, who had to cheer with shrill pealing that some trains and banks on horseback which played some football at Harvard, joined times carries several miles the skillful in- gives you an idea of how far back in its the Oklahoma faculty and was drafted tercollegiate version of this rough, clean chrysalis the modern state of Oklahoma to coach football. He met the challenge sport that is so deeply rooted in the state's was tightly tucked when football was brilliantly and before Governor Charles high schools and ward schools . born at the three-year-old territorial uni- N. Haskell booted him off the faculty in Even war hasn't killed it, probably be- versity down at Norman, O . T., in the 1908 and started him towards a notable cause football as a spectacle is so much autumn of '95 . teaching career at the University of Wash- like war without entailing war's tre- The game here was spawned in Bud Ris- ington and a Pulitzer prize in history, mendous causalities. Football at the Uni- inger's green-front barber shop on Nor- Parrington's University of Oklahoma versity lived through both the Spanish- man's West Main street where John A . teams of 1897, '98, '99 and 1900 won nine and tied one of the total of 12 games played those four years . Some of the better-known players of the Parrington regime were Fred Roberts, a 190-pound farm boy from Mayfield, Kansas, who Norman old-timers declare was the greatest back ever developed at Norman; two fine tackles in rugged Joe Me kle, another hard-twisted farm lad, and Ed Barrow, a mixed-blood Indian from the Chickasha country ; Jap Clap- ham, a plucky end who still lives at Nor- man; Tom Tribbey, a 230-pound young Goliath from the Pottawatomie country who had never ridden on a railroad train prior to the Texas game of 1900, C . C. Roberts, Clyde Bogle and others. In 1901 Professor Parrington felt the press of teaching duties and passed his TROPHIES WON BY O . U . ATHLETES coaching toga on to Fred Roberts . In 1902 and 1903 Mark McMahan, a Texas Shown here is a small part o f the trophies won through the years by the University's player who wore a walrus mustache, took . Represented in the impressive group of shiny gold and silver victorious athletes the coaching job to make expenses toward awards are major and minor sports included in O . U . 's athletic program . his enrolment in a law school. In 1904 the Sooner coach was Dr. of American and first World Wars and prob- Harts, a long-haired expression student Knox college. ably will exist through the present all- from Winfield, Kansas, who had played That was the year the Sooners met the planet struggle as well . the game in his home state, organized a Oklahoma Aggies for the first time and President Roosevelt was shooting at the team at the University, spiking it with won, 75 to 0. However, the score won', reason for its necessity when he recently Fred Perry, who drove the prancing steeds be remembered nearly so long as will an told his press conference : "It has been that drew the Norman fire wagon, and incident of the game during which the proved beyond doubt that human beings other non-students. There was no both- Sooners scored a touchdown in a creek. cannot sustain continued and prolonged ersome Big Six conference eligibility com- The game was played at old Island park work for very long, without obtaining a mittee to plague the football set-up in in Guthrie . A harassed Aggie punter proper balance between work on the one those raw days. standing almost on his goal line, kicked hand and vacation and recreation on the This first University team ignominiously the ball straight up in the air . The rag- other. Such recreation may come by par- failed to score a point. Its only game ing north wind carried it back over his ticipation in or attendance at various was with the bigger, rougher -and vastly head. With both teams pursuing it, the sports, motion pictures, music, the drama, more experienced Oklahoma City Town leather bounded into flood-swollen Cot- picnics, et tetra . All of them have a nec- Team. The contest was played in Nor- tonwood creek . Both teams fearlessly

12 SOONER MAGAZINE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS OF 1915 One of the several great teams outstanding in the University of Oklahoma's football history .

splashed in after it but while Sooner Tom almost as fast as Mexican presidential ad- handidaps. In 1908 he developed his B. Matthews ducked an Aggie who was ministrations after Diaz. Next to Owen, first formidable team at Norman, a big about to lay hands on it, Sooner Ed Cook the Sooner football coach who held his Sooner outfit that whipped Texas 50 to 0, captured it and swimming to the opposite job the longest was Ad Lindsey and his at Norman . Built around Willard Doug- bank, shiveringly touched it down for a stint, from 1927 through 1931, lasted only las and Ralph Campbell, greatest pair of score. five years . offensive tackles in the school's history, When the game was ten years old at At first, Owen met far more obstacles this Sooner team romped through its ten- Norman, the players began to look around at Oklahoma than he had encountered at game schedule, losing only to Kansas . for a permanent coach. Everybody's Bethany, due to lack of playing talent Tackles Douglas and Campbell not only choice was , a soft-spoken and a schedule that took his club all over smashed enemy plays on defense, but their little Irishman from Arkansas City, Kan- the midlands. He struggled six years be- vicious ball-carrying on Owen's "tackle sas, who played quarterback under Field- fore defeating mighty Kansas, the scourge around" plays was murderous . In the ing H. Yost at Kansas in '99 . The Uni- of the old Missouri Valley in those days, Texas triumph Douglas and Campbell versity at Norman could personally vouch but he beat Texas 2 to 0 at Oklahoma not only scored four touchdowns but each for Owen's football coaching ability. In City the first year he coached . He had proved his speed afoot by catching fleet 1903 and 1904 Owen's hard-fighting Beth- financial worries, too . Trips were long Texas backs from behind after long any Swedes from Lindsborg, Kansas had and gate receipts light. To circumvent chases to prevent Texas touchdowns . met Sooner teams at Oklahoma City and this, Owen had to book as many as three The most convincing proof of Owen's expertly administered two drubbings, 12- games on one trek and his small, light greatness as a football coach lay in his 10 and 36-9. Owen had earlier been called squads would be simply too exhausted ability to adapt his offensive style to his to Michigan where he helped Yost de- to handle it. sketchy material . A comparison of his velop the famous point-a-minute Michi- For example, in 1905 Owen's squad four greatest teams, the Sooner aggrega- gan team built around the great Willie played Kansas, the Kansas City Medics tions of 1908, 1911, 1915 and 1920 whose Heston . and Washburn, at Lawrence, Kansas City combined record was only one defeat in In 1905 Owen was hired. The first and Topeka during a bruising five-day 35 games, illustrates this. two years owing to a reduced financial trip. In 1909 the Sooners rode a chair budget he came to Norman in the autumn car to St. Louis, defeating St . Louis Uni- The 1908 team, built around Douglas only, returning after the football season versity 11-5, then continued by rail to and Campbell, the salty ball-lugging tack- to Arkansas City to manage his restau- Dallas, Texas, where they were spanked les, was primarily a power outfit with a rant, but eventually the University Ath- four days later by the Texas Aggies, 0-19, large assortment of plays from the old- letic Association adjusted its finances so and that night entrained for Austin, Tex- style mass game. It operated from both that Owen could stay on full-time . Owen as, where two days later they were easy a balanced and unbalanced line with the made Oklahoma a superb coach. He had prey for the Longhorns, 0-30 . All three quarterback, squatted behind center, tak- to be to satisfy the "wolves" for 22 con- games were played in six days. Now ing the ball on nearly every play and secutive years. Since his retirement, Soon- days college teams play only once a week . feeding it to the other backs or to the er football coaches have come and gone But Owen eventually overcame these (CONTINUED ON PAGE 54)

SEPTEMBER, 1942 13 Football Ups and Downs

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13) big tackles rumbling laterally to right or tackles in Paul Johnston and Roy Smoot, Sooner team built around Hugh McCul- left behind him . Since the two fine guards in Erl Deacon and Bill lough, a great triple-threater who mule- had just come in, the team did very little McKinley and a swell center in Dow skinned the players as though he were a passing. Its strength lay in its stout line, Hamm. coach . Those were the days of what were Ends Vernon Walling and Claude Pick- Phil White, a 190-pound triple threat probably the roughest Sooner defensive ard, Guards Porter English and Key Wolf, who could kick as high as a chorus girl lines of all time, ends like Pete Smith, Centers Roy Campbell and Cleve Thomp- and gamely played with a shoulder out Waddy Young, Pop Ivy, John Shirk and son and the indestructable tackles . of socket, did the punting, passing and Alton Coppage, the first three All-Ameri- But in 1911 Owen came out with some- plenty of running, Roy Swatek was the cans. There were also Jud Bowers and thing new, a lightweight team built upon dreaded blocker and line-backer, tank-like Gilford "Cactus Face" Duggan, a pair of speed. His backfield of Hubert Ambris- Harry Hill did the climax running and rough 225-pound tackles, Harold Lahar, ter, Ray Courtright, Claude Reeds and dependable Arlo Davis and Frank Ogilvie a 215-pound guard who blocked himself Captain Fred Capshaw averaged only 150 the quarterbacking. It was a team that into a berth with the Bears and pounds that year but every man" was started slowly but finished with a pitiless the 220-pound center Mickey Parks, a rough as a corncob and could run 100 surge. Against Washington it trailed 3- modern standout at his position . yards in less than 11 seconds . With such 14 yet won 24-14, it lagged behind Kans- In 1939, they deserved an undefeated swiftness of foot available, Owen junked as at the half yet won 21-9 . season, a Big Six championship and a his indirect pass through the quarterback With Owen's retirement after the 1926 Sugar Bowl bid and had it in the bag too, and introduced the direct pass to the ball- season, the University went into its foot- until Bob Seymour, big fullback, sus- carrying back, varying it with vicious ball dog days, chiefly because of its policy tained a brain concussion in the first min- cross-bucks and quick-opening plays that of refusing to enlist leading Oklahoma ute of the Missouri game. In 1941 Luster were the terror of the midlands . With high school players who were escaping succeeded Stidham as head coach when its quarterback frequently calling his sig- to California and other states. Ad Lind- the latter resigned to accept the Marquette nals from the bottom of a pile-up, this sey, who like Owen came to Norman job. team ran off and left its opposition . Al- from little , struggled five Meanwhile had occured the injection of though it forward passed some, it was years against this discouraging setup and big business tactics into the game . Until primarily a swift-cruising, hard-hitting finally walked out in disgust . The bars 1923 Sooner teams had played before rel- running team. It finished all-victorious were dropped somewhat for Lewie Hard- atively thin crowds who sat in small although playing all its important games age the Vanderbilt backfield mentor who wooden stands. Financing the sport (against Missouri, Kansas and Texas) succeeded Lindsey, but when he won but wasn't such a problem then because the away from Norman . 11 games in three years, the wolf pack small Sooner coaching staff also doubled Owen's all-victorious 1915 team ex- figured he was just spinning his wheels at physical education and was paid out ploited still another phase of the offense and set up a loud yapping that fetched of state funds . Also, the student athletic that was brand new in the old Southwest, his scalp. ticket was compulsory in those days and the forward pass . Although several of Then out of the chaos came order . A the athletic department always had a con- its players could pass and receive, "Spot" strong man was needed to revitalize foot- siderable cash fund to draw against after Geyer, a stoop-shouldered fullback from ball at Oklahoma and in Capt. Lawrence enrolment. It was Owen who envisaged Norman High School was its ace pegger "Biff" Jones, whose old Army teams had dramatization of the sport into a great and End Homer Montgomery and Quar- given Knute Rockne's Notre Dame public spectacle . He built the 30,000 ca- terback Montford "Hap" Johnson its crack squads four terrific games and whose pacity concrete stadium, and supervised receivers. Although its backfield lacked modern Louisiana State juggernauts had purchase of the spacious grounds that the four-main versatility of the Reeds- been the talk of the South, a strong man now surround it. Hard times prevented Courtright-Ambrister-Fred Capshaw quar- was secured although Jones was terribly consummation of his dream. That came tet of 1911, it had four halfbacks to go handicapped in that he had to give one- years later when, after Captain Jones had with Geyer and Johnson and two great half his time to the University R . O. T. wisely built the foundation for strong linesmen in End Montgomery and Tackle C. unit. The gruff army man stayed at modern-day teams, the Stidham-Luster- Willis Hott. Its aerial wizardry was un- Norman only two seasons . Neither of Haskell staff produced the powerful Okla- stoppable. It averaged approximately his Sooner teams those two years were homa teams everybody had been waiting 250 yards on forward passes alone in its world-beaters but the public will never for, drawing huge crowds of 20,000 to major games and conquered its ten-game know what a far-reaching transformation 30,000 fans to what had been the lonely schedule with only two close shaves, 14- the practical Jones wrought in the athletic Sooner stadium . And it was a good 13 triumphs over both Texas and Henry department's administration, finances and thing they did because ever since the Kendall on those teams' home fields . methods in those two seasons . The whole Bill Murray gubernatorial administration, In 1920 Owen took Oklahoma out of football program was placed on the solid, football coaches were taken off the state the Southwest conference and into the sensible footing so necessary for success payroll and the student athletic ticket was Missouri Valley league and his biggest in modern times. made optional . Football at Oklahoma football team of all time up to then won The rest of the story is common now has to earn every penny of its own the Missouri Valley championship in a knowledge . In 1937 Tom Stidham, Jones' way. breeze with no defeats and only one tie hefty, jovial Creek Indian line coach went Just a few days after Coach Luster's against it . Whereas the 1908 team had in as head coach with diminutive Dewey first Sooner team completed its 1941 been known for its corking line, the 1911 "Snorter" Luster handling the backfield season, the Japanese treacherously bombed team for its speedy hard-running back- and Lawrence "Jap" Haskell the line . Pearl Harbor, the angry United States de- field and the 1915 team for it marvelous They made a great trio, winning all but clared war, scores of the University's forward-passing, the versatile 1920 team two games their first season and tying finest players forsook football to enlist as seemed to combine all these elements. Its Texas and Nebraska, both of whom they fliers, sailors, soldiers, and marines and powerful line had a great quartet of ends slightly out played . that brings the 47-year old story of foot- led by Tarz Marsh, an excellent pair of In 1938 they hit the jackpot with a ball at Oklahoma up to date .

54 SOONER MAGAZINE