When we last left the 1966 Arlington State College Rebels, they had lost their season opener to the West Texas State Buffaloes. It was the sixth-straight season opening loss for ASC something ASC/UT Arlington never did very well).
They followed that up with their second road trip, this time to Las Cruces, New Mexico. New Mexico State sits second behind West Texas State in highest number of games for a non-conference foe. They played all but two seasons between 1964 and 1983. During this time, NMSU was a University Division school, while ASC was in the lower College Division. Despite UTA coming in undefeated in road trips requiring a flight, the Rebels squandered a 10-7 first quarter lead in a 23-10 loss.
In week three, ASC would stay home and host East Texas State in Arlington. It would be the first non-University Division school on the schedule.
ETSU is about an hour and a half from the Arlington campus. It was a natural rivalry in the 1960's and went by the wayside when UTA went to the University Division. ETSU stayed in the NAIA and the teams never played again. Despite being so popular and attracting a high number of fans, the teams never scheduled a game again after 1969.
UTA also moved out of Memorial Stadium after 1969, the on-campus home of the Rebels, which was next to the P.E. Building on the site of the current MAC. The highest attendance number for a game was 10,500 in the 10,022 seat stadium. That happened three times. ETSU was one of the occasions. ETSU also hit 10,000 a different time as well. Two of the top five attended games were against the Lions. ASC hosted ETSU in 1962, but I don't have access to the official attendance. 1962 was the seventh most attended season in the school's four-year history, so likely the Lion/Rebel game had a sizable draw.
The Lions would end the year as the Lone Star Conference champions. They had two explosive running backs in Arthur James and Curtis Guyton, the later also doubled as a kicker. Obviously, he scored a lot of points.
Ernest Hawkins was in his third year on the sidelines and would coach all the way until 1985. He had a record of 132-92-6 at ETSU. He would win several conference titles. In 1972, he won a NAIA national title.
ETSU was 1-1 entering week three. They lost a close game to Abilene Christian, 7-0 on the road. At home, they trounced Texas Lutheran 42-0, setting up today's game. By all accounts, this was going to be a good game against two evenly matched teams.
On this date in UTA football history, ASC hosts East Texas State University, in front of one of the largest crowds in campus history.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 1, 1966.
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