16
THE RIVALRY
KU football through the years
BY ALEX GARRISON AND
MICHELLE SPREHE
agarrison@kansan.com,
msprehe@kansan.com
1891 KU and MU play each other for the first time and KU wins 22-8. KU has its first undefeated season.
Photo courtesy of Spencer Research Library
KU fans from the 1940s ride together in a car labeled "Massacre Mizzou." The fans took many of their traditions from the Jayhawker and Bushwacker struggle that led to Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence.
1893 Ed Harvey becomes Kansas' first African-American player.
1896 KU football players wear crimson and dark blue uniforms for the first time The original colors of athletics were sky blue and yellow.
KU vs. MU begins in heated rivalry
1908 KU wins its first conference championship.
COMPETITIVE ORIGINS
1910 After a miracle of controversies, the KU football program is nearly scrapped for good and replaced with rugby.
BYISIAAHCARDONA icardona@kansan.com
Waves of crimson, blue, yellow and black rush over Arrowhead Stadium. The loud clamor of the fans leaps into a roar as the players emerge unto the field. Going from a humble game on a field in the 1890s to last year's highly anticipated game at Arrowhead Stadium, the Border Showdown has evolved over the years.
No rivalry has been as vicious as the Border Showdown between Kansas and Missouri. It is a rivalry that not only runs deep in each school, but also in the states the schools reside in. The rivalry, which originated from the struggles between Jayhawkers and Bushwackers, led to Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence. When the schools were established, they took many of their traditions and, of course, rivalry from this pre-Civil War time.
According to Larry L. Campbell's "A History of Football At The University of Kansas, 1889-1920," this historical rivalry crossed into football in 1889. Kansas, coached by Professor E.M. Hopkins, defeated Missouri met at Exposition Park in Kansas City, Mo., 22-8, notching a victory in front of a crowd of 3,000. For the first time, fans celebrated a victory over Missouri by throwing bonfires on Massachusetts Street as the players returned.
For the next couple of years, the teams fought for the title Champion of the West, which later became the Western Interstate League championship, according to Campbell.
The 1911 game was played at Rollins Field in Columbia, Mo., and Chester L. Brewer, Missouri's athletic director, asked alumni to return and cheer for the team against big rival Kansas. A crowd of 10,000 people showed up, according to Campbell. This is widely seen as the first homecoming ceremony in the U.S. In 1912, Kansas held the match-up against Missouri with its first homecoming ceremony and won the game. According to Clifford Griffin's "The University of Kansas: A
History," the schools alternated between housing the game and homecomings for the next couple of decades.
As the rivalry grew, so did the spirit of tradition for Kansas. In 1919, in anticipation of the 28th annual Border War game, the Jayhawks wore white shirts and red sashes and bought 25-cent Loyalty Arm Bands. The attendance of 15,000 supporting fans at McCook Field demonstrated the beginning of the school spirit.
Another tradition was the traveling Indian war drum trophy, which was created in 1937 through the Missouri almuni and KU athletic lettermen's club. That trophy was exchanged each year to the winner until 1979. Then in 1986 a Taos American Indian war drum was used until 1999, when it was replaced by a marching band bass drum.
"It was more toward promoting something more politically correct," Kevin Corbett, president of KU Alumni Association, said. "And it wasn't really any history of an Indian influence at any of the schools."
The Border War was changed to Border Showdown in 2004.
Corbett said it had a lot to deal with promoting good sportsmanship and following 9/11 there was a push for universities to show sportsmanship, even in a heated rivalry.
Kansas-Missouri was the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi, Corbett said.
"There is a lot of history behind that rivalry that will take some years to move into a more friendly environment," Corbett said. "And it won't take away from the fact that Missouri hates Kansas and Kansas hates Missouri. It's just how we behave as fans and how players behave at sportsmen."
— Edited by Anna Kathagnarath
1912 KU plays Missouri for its first homecoming game on Nov. 23. Kansas wins 12-3.
1918 Kansas opens the season playing Oklahoma but does not have a conference schedule because of World War I. The homecoming game is cancelled because of the Spanish influenza epidemic.
1922 Memorial Stadium dedicated on Armistice Day to the 130 students and alumni killed in World War I.
1921 KUplays itsfirstgame in Memorial Stadium against Kansas State.
1937 KU plays its 400th game against Missouri, tying 0-0
1944 The Border Showdown is held on Thanksgiving Day for the last time. It had been held on
Thanksgiving almost exclusively since its inception but opposition to taking away from holiday observance had begun in the 1920s. Kansas loses 28-0.
TH
1948 KU plays in the Orange Bowl for the first time and loses to Georgia Tech, 20-14.
V
195 27-13 ag
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009
19 was late to light
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN