I find much of the early half decade of Arlington State College's time as a four-year school fascinating. They entered the College Division (today's Division II) when they transitioned from the Junior College ranks. As much as I have mentioned the 1970's transition to the University Division (today's DI) and the poor execution, the mid-50's and early 1960's set the stage for an optimal transition to the higher level.
The then-Rebels were the Junior College national champions in 1956 and '57. They had an on-campus stadium that consistently sold out. The Arlington community was on board, and they attracted local talent, the only thing that was lacking was a conference home.
There's very little about how the Southland Conference was formed. What I have uncovered was the charter members, Abilene Christian College (now ACU), Arkansas State, Arlington State College, Lamar Tech (Tech has been dropped), and Trinity University met at the now demolished Baker Hotel in downtown Dallas and formed the conference. Texas A&I, now Texas A&M-Kingsville, was invited, but declined to attend.
Arlington State played ACC and Trinity quite often prior to this meeting. ASC first met both teams in 1960 and would play again every year until the conference was formed. Ironically, ASC never played the other two charter members until conference play started. Total from 1959 to disbandment in '85, Arkansas State and Lamar are the most played teams at 22. At least one game from either of those last two teams and there'd be in sole possession.
ACC, Arkansas State and Trinity had been an independent since 1957, 1953 and 1957 respectively. Lamar had come from the Lone Star Conference. Lamar had a prior history with both ACC and Trinity. Arkansas State is the outlier. Other than a two-game set with ACC in 1953 and '54, they had no history with their future conference mates.
Today's opponent is that Trinity Tigers squad. Despite meeting a total of 12 times, they've only appeared in this series twice, once when the 1968 team was covered in 2013 in the first installment of this series and the other in 2016 when this series covered the 1966 squad.
I firmly believe that these early games set the stage for the formation of the Southland Conference. Head football coaches tended to be athletic directors as well and playing these games allowed conversations to occur that might not otherwise happen. Still not sure how Arkansas State got in that mix, but it's easy to see how the other four schools did.
As for the 1961 squad, we last visited their season when they escaped with a one-point win against Louisiana Tech two weeks ago. The following week, they lost to the McMurray Indians 23-22 on the road. With the Rebels up 22-8 midway through the fourth quarter, McMurray got a kickoff return for a TD along with an interception return for a TD to score the final 15 points. Each of those plays were greater than 80 yards.
The loss moved their record to 4-2. It was also their first loss to a College Division foe.
One last thing about this football team before we get to the game: People make a lot of the attendance woes they suffered in the 1970's, and slightly better, but still low, but some very subjective measure. But they always overlook the 1960's. In the first part of the decade, Memorial Stadium had a capacity of 5,500. ASC averaged 4,150 in 1959, 5,433 in '60 and 5,220 this year. Standing room capacity was common in the early years.
The Stadium was expanded to 10,022 prior to the start of next year by adding a "visitors" side to the east side of the stadium. Attendance would jump 2,500, dip a little in the middle of the decade when they had a combined 4-14-1 win-loss record over two years before winning led to standing room crowds at the 10,000 plus seat venue.
UTA didn't have an attendance problem, they had a losing problem. They were 16-48 from 1970 to '75. A respectable-ish 24-20 (three 5-6 seasons plus a 9-2 mark to end the decade), brought the decade mark to 40-68, an average of 4-7 per season. The 1980's didn't have the lows from the previous decade but didn't have the high of 1979 either. A combined record of 28-37-1 shouldn't be a high-water mark.
The 1960's prove the University did have the ability to support football on campus.
On this day in UTA football history, the 1961 Arlington State Rebels laid the groundwork for their future conference when they traveled to San Antonio to play the Trinity Tigers.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 29, 1961.
As always, with this post being the last entry for the 1961 season, the remainder of the schedule included a loss at home to ACC, 17-15, a win on the road to Northeast Louisiana, 35-6, and a home shutout over Southwestern Oklahoma, 27-0. They finished the year with a 7-3 mark, the third straight year in three tries with a winning record.
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