On Oct. 2, 1925, the day after Texas Technological College opened its doors, the Matadors played the McMurry Indians to a scoreless draw in the first football game in the history of the South Plains school.
From the very start Tech had its heart set on joining the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Rice, Baylor, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian as the eighth member of the Southwest Conference organized in 1914. With that in mind, Ewing Y. Freeland, an assistant at SMU, was hired as athletic director and head football coach.
After tying Austin College of Sherman in their second outing, the Matadors reeled off five straight wins including a 120-0 rout of Wayland Baptist College from just up the road in Plainview. Shut out 29-0 by Howard Payne from Brownwood, they ended their inaugural season on a positive note by whipping West Texas State.
The lone loss of 1926 occurred in Tech’s initial contest with a representative of the Southwest Conference, the TCU Horned Frogs. The Matadors tied Simmons University (Abilene), Schreiner Institute (Kerrville) and McMurry (Abilene) but beat everybody else for a respectable 6-1-3 record.
Following a so-so showing in 1927 and a break-even season the next year, Coach Freeland passed the reins to assistant Grady Higginbotham. But the former Aggie star stumbled as his charges mustered a measly 31 points in winning only once in 10 attempts.
The timing could not have been worse for Tech, whose application for SWC membership came up for a vote twice during this slump. Snubbed in 1927 and again in 1929, a fire-eater named Pete Cawthon was brought in to rebuild the program and to convince SWC teams that a match with the Matadors was worth the long trip to Lubbock.
After squeezing three victories out of the meager material inherited from his predecessor, the volatile southerner recruited 14 junior college players for 1931. Cawthon made room for the transfers by cutting a number of lettermen from the roster. The feathers ruffled by this move were soothed by a turnaround season of six wins and three defeats.
For the third time in five years, the Southwest Conference turned thumbs down on the West Texas outcasts. In no position to be choosy, the Techsans, as they were sometimes called, accepted an invitation from the Border Conference, which they dominated with 11 first-place finishes in 19 seasons.
Nineteen thirty-two provided the proof of the Cawthon pudding as Tech upset not one but two Southwest Conference elevens, Baylor and SMU, with an offensive attack that led all colleges with 382 points. The defense was none too shabby as well allowing only five touchdowns in a dozen games.
The 1933 squad put far fewer points on the scoreboard but skunked six out of nine opponents. After losing the season-opening rematch with Southern Methodist, Cawthon’s crew won eight in a row.
The highlight of 1934 was Tech’s third straight triumph over the Bears of Baylor. During the 7-2-1 campaign, the local sports editor began calling the gridiron gladiators the Red Raiders, which quickly caught on as their unofficial nickname.
By Cawthon’s standards, the next two seasons were sub-par with a combined 10 victories against seven setbacks and three draws. However, 1936 did feature the Hub City heroes’ most important win to date – a 7-0 ambush of TCU and Slinging Sammy Baugh.
In 1937 the Red Raiders improved to 8-3, which earned them a berth in the Sun Bowl at El Paso. Tech and West Virginia scored a TD apiece, but the Mountaineers converted their extra point to win 7-6.
Cawthon’s 1938 team was one of the best ever to wear the red and black. The Red Raiders were a perfect 10 beating all comers with the superb backfield of Elmer “The Great” Tarbox, Bobby Holmes, Walter “Bull” Rankin and Butch Saschse.
When TCU decided Sugar was sweeter, the Cotton Bowl picked Tech to play St. Mary’s of California. But the Red Raiders fell behind early and trailed the Gaels by eight points at the final gun.
Few coaches have been fired after going 9-1-1, but that was what happened to Pete Cawthon. At issue was his low opinion of the Southwest Conference, which he voiced at every opportunity, and his refusal to schedule Texas teams. So the athletic council demanded the resignation of the pigskin pioneer, who won two out of every three games over 11 seasons and put Texas Tech football on the pigskin map.
Dell Morgan guided the Red Raiders through the next war-wracked decade. He won 55, lost 49 and tied 3 before resigning in 1950 after Tech came in a worst-ever fourth in the Border Conference.
Although DeWitt Weaver fared no better in his nine years at the helm, he will always be remembered as the athletic director/head coach who got Texas Tech into the Southwest Conference. There was dancing in the streets on May 22, 1956, when the wonderful word reached Lubbock that the 31-year wait was over.
Bartee welcomes your comments and questions at [email protected] or P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549 and invites you to visit his web site at barteehaile.com.
