The Southwest Conference (1914-1996) Quiz

Answer: Texas

Teams may have come and gone from other regions, but the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M in College Station, Rice University in Houston and Baylor University in Waco were there at the start and finish of the conference (apart from Rice, who dropped out in 1916, then rejoined in 1918). Southwestern University in Georgetown was also a charter member, but dropped out after two years, replaced by Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Later on, additional Lone Star teams came from Texas Tech in Lubbock, the University of Houston and Texas Christian in Fort Worth.

Answer: Louisiana State

At the outset back in 1916, LSU and Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi) were courted by SWC officials, but declined. Oklahoma and OSU (then called Oklahoma A&M) started with the conference, but both were gone by 1925 (despite this, Oklahoma and Texas continued scheduling games into what is now a historic rivalry). Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma joined for the 1920 season only, leaving the University of Arkansas as the only SWC school outside of Texas.

Answer: Houston

With teams members consisting of future NBA greats Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, the Houston Cougars went all the way to the NCAA Championship game twice in a row, only to lose first to North Carolina State 52-54 in 1982, then to Georgetown 75-84 in 1984. They made it to the Final Four in 1982, losing 63-68 to North Carlina.

Answer: Arkansas

With Frank Broyles coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks and Darrell Royal manning the helm of the Texas Longhorns, the two teams were soley or jointly the SWC champions in 8 of the preceding 10 years. Played at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, AR, the Hogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead through three quarters of play, only to have the Longhorns fight back and win the game 15-14.

The Horns went on to win the 1969 National Championship.

Answer: The Cotton Bowl

The Cotton Bowl actually started in 1937 at the Texas Fairgrounds, with TCU winning the first game over Marquette 16-6. It wasn't until 1941, that the game became the championship bowl for the Southwest Conference. In that inagural game, the Texas A&M Aggies won the title by beating Fordham 13-12.
Before the BCS Bowl system, the Sugar Bowl was the main bowl venture for the Southeastern Conference, the Orange Bowl was tied with the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the 'Grand-daddy of them all', the Rose Bowl, pitted the Pacific-10 champion against the Big-12 champion.

Answer: The Cardinal

At first, the Arkansas Cardinals plowed through several uneventful seasons before going 7-0 in 1909, scoring 186 offensive points and allowing only 18. After Arkansas beat LSU in Memphis, football coach Hugo Bezdek exclaimed the team played 'like a wild band of razorback hogs' and the name stuck. Some famous teams from the past include the 1954 '25 Little Pigs' under Bowden Wyatt, and the 1964 National Championship, which Arkansas had to share with Alabama because polls then did not include post-season play (the undefeated Hogs beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, while the Crimson Tide lost to Texas, a team Arkansas beat, in the Orange Bowl).

Incidentally, the razorback, or feral pig, was a common sight in the early days of Arkansas history, brought over from Europe by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto.

Answer: SMU

Southern Methodist had an enviable position as a great football college, despite being the second-smallest school in the SWC, ahead of TCU. The Mustangs won the 1935 National Title (beating the rival Horned Frogs) and claimed such graduates as 'Dandy' Don Meredith, Craig James, Doak Walker and Eric Dickerson.
An investigation in 1986 revealed several teams used a number of illegal means to entice prospective stars (in the SWC, only Arkansas, Baylor and Rice escaped punishment), but it was revealed some SMU officials had set up a 'slush fund' to pay players while it was still on probation for past offenses. The 'death penalty' wiped out the entire 1987 season and the college canceled the '88 season as well when the majority of the players transferred to other schools. Through the dissolution of the SWC (in 1996), the Mustangs never again contended for a conference title.
For the record, the 'death penalty' was also previously imposed on Kentucky in 1952 and Southwestern Louisiana in 1973, both for basketball scandals.

Answer: Rice

The story of naming the mascot for the Rice Owls came from a time when competing schools regularly 'kidnapped' opposing mascots. Back in 1917, the sport symbol for the school named for William Marshall Rice was a huge canvas construction that was stolen by students at rival Texas A&M.

The Rice student body ponied up funding for a private investigator, who quickly found the mascot at College Station and sent back a secret message of the rescue, using the code-name 'Sammy' for the mascot. The name has been in place ever since.

Answer: Texas

Of the 17 sports titles won, Texas led with the most football and baseball championships, as well as men's and women's swimming, volleyball and tennis. The most track and field awards went to Arkansas, with the majority of them under long-time coach John McDonnell. Houston claimed the most golf championships.

The Lady Aggies of Texas A&M won the softball title on three occasions. Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor and SMU also claimed national titles in different sports on various occasions.

Answer: Edwin Moses

At the 1968 Mexico City Games, Randy Matson of Texas A&M won gold with a throw of 67 ft 4.75 inches. He had became the first shot putter to throw over 70 feet back in May 1965, holding the world record for 8 years until May 1973. Baylor alumnus and track star Michael Johnson set world records in the 200 and 400 meters at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Carl Lewis, a former Houston Cougar, won four gold medals in 1984 (the first time that was done since Jesse Owens in 1936) and five more between 1988 and 1996.

Moses, perhaps one of the greatest track stars of all time, attended school at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Answer: The Matadors

According to the official Texas Tech athletic website, they were almost called the Dogies (a name given to stray or motherless cows), but changed in 1926 to the Matadors at the request of Mrs. Ewing Freeland, wife of the head football coach. At the same time, the student body picked the team colors of scarlet and black. Six years later, Lubbock sportswriter Collier Paris wrote of the 'red raiders' descending on a hapless New Mexico team in a blowout victory. By 1936, the Matadors were all but forgotten, and the Masked Rider, his horse, Raider Red, and the famous 'Bangin' Bertha' bell had become permanent fixtures on the campus.

Answer: The first '12th Man'

On January 2, 1922, the Aggies football team were in sore need of help against top-ranked Centre College of Kentucky. Coach Dana X. Bible remembered that Gill, a former squad member, was doing statistics in the press box. He brought Gill down, suited him up and had him stand by if any more players were injured.

As it turned out, Gill didn't need to help the Aggies in their 22-14 win, but the sight of the lone man standing on the sidelines fueled the student body spirit. To this day, all supportive A&M students remain standing throughout the game.

Answer: TCU

Before accomplishing that, Hinkley got his M.A. from another SWC school, SMU. Other academic achievements came from two Pac-10 schools, Southern Cal (where he got a B.A.) and UCLA (where he got his B.S.). According to Johnson's book, 'Here on Gilligan's Isle', he was aboard the ill-fated S.S. Minnow to do field study for a new book, 'Fun With Ferns'.

Answer: 'The Junction Boys' (2002)

'Junction', released as a made-for-TV movie by ESPN, centered on the 1954 Texas A&M Aggies, who endured a brutal summer camp under extreme heat and drought conditions, led by then-new coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant (Tom Berenger). Out of over 100 varsity players, only 35 made it to the end of the camp to win the SWC Championship two years later. Among the 'survivors' were future coaches Gene Stallings (who would replace Bryant at A&M and again at Alabama) and Jack Pardee (who would lead the Houston Cougars after his stint with Chicago and Washington in the NFL).

'Rudy' was the true story of Daniel Ruettiger (played by Sean Astin) and his efforts to become a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 'Marshall' (with Matthew McConaghey) centered on the efforts of the 1971 Marshall Thundering Herd to recover their football program after a plane crash killed most of the team the year before. 'Gridiron' (with Dwayne Johnson) was loosely based on the real-life Kilpatrick Mustangs of Malibu, California.

Answer: Texas Tech

The Southwest Conference met for the last time June 30, 1996, when they officially disbanded. Most feel the final blow came when Arkansas left to join the SEC in 1992. After the dissolution, A&M, Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech joined the Big 8 Conference to form the new Big 12. Houston moved to the new Conference USA. Rice and SMU joined the Western Athletic Conference before eventually joining former rival Houston in Conference USA. TCU also went to the WAC, but then broke away to join the new Mountain West Conference in 1999.