By Bartee Haile
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he University of Texas lived up to its lofty billing as the best college team in the land on Nov. 2, 1941 by crushing SMU 34-0 for the sixth straight victory of the season.
Dana X. Bible’s Longhorns looked invincible even to near-sighted sportswriters back east, who always tried to ignore the superior brand of football played in the Southwest Conference. But after Texas blew out Colorado, LSU, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Rice by a combined score of 196-27, the Associated Press had no choice but to award the Austin juggernaut the Number One ranking.
The Horns went to Dallas on the first Saturday in November mindful of the fact that no UT eleven had tallied a touchdown on the Mustangs’ home turf in eight years. Their 34-point rampage made a believer out of Southern Methodist coach Matty Bell, who called Bible’s bunch “the greatest team in Southwest Conference history.”
That same afternoon, Texas A&M shut out Arkansas to stay undefeated and unscored upon in conference play. The stingy Aggie defense had given up a mere seven points in six contests with the offense averaging 35 an outing, yet no one seemed to be paying much attention to the Farmers.
In the week preceding the Baylor game, the Horns interrupted practice to pose for photographers from Life. The magazine planned on running a cover with the mug shots of 14 star players followed by an eight-page spread in its next issue.
The Longhorns figured they could spare the time since the hapless Bears, 48-point losers to the Aggies, were bound to be pushovers. Even Jinx Tucker, sports editor at the Waco News Tribune, did not give the Baptists a chance. He predicted Texas would win by at least 50 and announced he was going to College Station to see A&M play Rice.
But Frank Kimbrough, the new Baylor coach and brother of Aggie immortal John Kimbrough, had a trick up his sleeve. The defense he designed just for the Longhorns gave them fits. By the time they finally scored in the third quarter to go ahead 7-0, Kimbrough had the Bears believing they could burst the visitors’ bubble.
Baylor marched the length of the field in the final minutes, but the drive stalled at the Texas 19 yard line. With 18 seconds left on the clock, Kit Kittrell threw a desperation pass into the end zone and Bill Coleman made a diving catch for the TD.
Jack Wilson was sitting on the Baylor bench with his injured right foot in a bucket of ice. “Go in and kick the extra point!” yelled Coach Kimbrough grabbing him by the shoulder pads. “If you miss it, keep going!”
[pullquote]Wilson squeezed his swollen foot into a shoe and limped onto the gridiron. As the two teams lined up for the conversion attempt, the Bears’ right guard taunted Texas All-American Childs Daniels. “What the hell are you going to do if he kicks this?”[/pullquote]
The ball was snapped, and Wilson booted it over the crossbar for the tie. Jubilant spectators swarmed onto the field and carried their conquering heroes off on their shoulders chanting, “Jinx stinks! Lynch Jinx Tucker!”
The humbled Horns still had a shot at the national title not to mention the Southwest Conference crown and the automatic berth in the Cotton Bowl. Their fans had every reason to expect them to bounce back the following Saturday against Texas Christian.
The Texas faithful watched in helpless bewilderment, as the Horned Frogs played the Longhorns dead even for 58 minutes. Then right before their very eyes, Van Hall caught a game-winning pass from Emery Nix to seal the 14-7 upset for TCU.
Texas A&M clinched the SWC championship, their third in as many seasons, with a hard-fought 19-6 win over Rice. No matter what happened in their annual grudge match with Texas, the Aggies were going to the Cotton Bowl.
The Longhorns had a lot to prove on Thanksgiving Day. The last time UT had bested A&M at College Station, Calvin Coolidge had been president and the current crop of Tea Sippers had been in diapers.
The Horns took out their frustration on the flat Aggies, whose powerful offense failed to put up a single point. Jack Crain ran wild for 119 yards and a touchdown to lead Texas to an historic 23-0 triumph.
Despite an 8-1-1 record and fourth place in the national polls, the University of Texas stayed home on New Year’s Day. How that happened was the strangest twist of all in the topsy-turvy season of 1941.
The Sugar Bowl extended an invitation moments after the final gun sounded at Kyle Field, but Coach Bible turned it down when the New Orleans representatives would not give him time to ask the team. The players themselves rejected the Orange Bowl because they had been to Florida the previous year. That was how TCU wound up in Miami on New Year’s Day.
The prestigious Rose Bowl wanted Texas but only if they would call off their Dec. 6 season finale with Oregon. “I have never canceled a game in my life,” Bible snorted, “and I’m not going to start now.”
Bartee’s three books “Texas Depression-Era Desperadoes,” “Murder Most Texan” and “Texas Boomtowns: A History of Blood and Oil” plus collections of his columns are available for purchase at barteehaile.com.
