Living History

Many of you know I have been a regular at the annual Cotton Bowl game held in Dallas. What you may not know is that I have been attending Cotton Bowl games as long as I can remember. In 1969 when Texas beat Tennessee 36-13. The weather I have been told was more than chilly and according to my mother after standing outside the locker room waiting for my father I got so cold that I refused to go outside for days. The annual New Year's day game was part of our family holiday routine and it is still to this day. The University of Texas Longhorns became regular Southwest Conference Champions which in those days (I can't believe I just typed those words), meant a trip to the Cotton Bowl where the SWC champion always played. There was no set National Championship game, but on many occassions the Cotton Bowl determined the National Champion. Well back to the fact that Texas made a regular trip to the Cotton Bowl when I was just a young whipper snapper. In 14 years the Longhorns made 10 trips to the Cotton Bowl, some before I was born. Well the first year they didn't go to the Cotton Bowl, I was so upset with my mother. I remember being really upset that we didn't get up New Year's day and head to the Cotton Bowl. We always went to Fair Park on the first of January but that day we didn't go because of something stupid like the Longhorns didn't win the SWC. What? As far as I was concerned January 1 in the Cotton Bowl was just like the first Saturday in October, when the Longhorns would play Oklahoma. You just marked your calendar and went. Someone had changed the rules and we were not going to start our year out spending a day at the chilly Cotton Bowl stadium. Well many of my memories have been made at the Cotton Bowl. I had been on the field as a college student as Texas played OU and my date manned Old Smoky, the cannon that is fired if Texas does something good. I had met, President Lyndon Baines Johnson before a Cotton Bowl game. I even went back and got his autograph. I know not everyone is a fan of his but he gave me his pen! I remember him being this really huge man as I tugged on his jacket to get his attention. His secret service guy had to tell him I was standing there. Can you imagine today being able to get that close to a President. I have photographs of Gene Stallings, Grant Teaff, Darrell Royal and Ara Paraseghian, Troy Aikman, Darren McFadden and a host of other players or coaches that have played and often become a Cotton Bowl Hall of Famer, all some part of the past and current Cotton Bowl history. The point of all of this is the Cotton Bowl still stands and the annual Texas-OU game will continue to be played there but the 74th Cotton Bowl game will not be held there, the game is being moved to the new stadium Jerry Jones is building. I totally understand all the reasons behind the move which I won't bore you with but I had the opportunity to cover the last Cotton Bowl game held at the Cotton Bowl stadium. I made a point to notice some of the smaller features of the stadium and will hold my older memories close as I begin making news ones next year in much fancier digs.