| Transcript |
The Southwest Conference
Baylor University
Enrollment 12,000
Nickname Bears
Colors Green & Gold
President Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr.
Athletic Director Dr. Dick Ellis
University of Houston
Enrollment 29,461
Nickname Cougars
Colors Scarlet & White
President Dr. Glenn A. Goerke
Athletic Director William C. Carr, III
Rice University
Enrollment 2,600
Nickname Owls
Colors Blue & Gray
President Dr. Malcom Gillis
Athletic Director Bobby May
Southern Methodist University
Enrollment 5,247
Nickname Mustangs
Colors Red & Blue
President R. Gerald Turner
Athletic Director Jim Copeland
University of Texas
Enrollment 47,957
Nickname Longhorns
Colors Burnt Orange & White
President Dr. Robert Berdahl
Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds
Texas A&M University
Enrollment 43,256
Nickname Aggies
Colors Maroon & White
President Dr. Ray M. Bowen
Athletic Director Wally Groff
Texas Christian University
Enrollment 6,975
Nickname Horned Frogs
Colors Purple & White
President Dr. William Tucker
Athletic Director Frank Windegger
Texas Tech University
Enrollment 23,952
Nickname Red Raiders
Colors Scarlet & Black
President Dr. Robert Lawless
Athletic Director Bob Bockrath
Southwest Conference competition officially ends with the 1996 SWC postseason
baseball tournament, but the success, tradition and excellence of the circuit ive on in such
events as the 1996 Olypmics in Atlanta, solid NCAA finishes and the futures of millions of
student-athletes and undergraduates who have been associated with 12 universities which
composed the confernce from 1914-96.
A sound Olympic tradition, 339 first team All-America choices in the sports of football,
basketball and baseball alone, over 200 GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-America beneficiaries
in 17 sports since 1952, five Heisman Trophy winners, five Outland Trophy winners, three
Vince Lombardi Trophy recipients, one Jim Thorpe Award victor, and nin decades of
excellence are just some of the many-faceted fruits reaped by the still-successful Southwest
Conference.
Little did a small group know on May 6,1914, that it would leave a legacy that spanned
many generations when the first organizational meeting of the proposed Southwest Conference was held at the Oriental Hotel in Dallas.
Since that fateful day, the conference survived two world wars, a pair of armed conflicts
in Asia, rugged financial turmoil during the Great Depression years, and the conflicts and
controversies that make college athletics the unique and entertaining aspect of society over
three-quarters of a decade later.
Entering the 1995-96 competetive seasons of nine men's championships (the 81st
consecutive year of SWC competition in two sports or more) and nine women's title attaining
sports (in the SWCs 12th year if women's intercollegite competition,
starting in Sept., 1982), the SWC can boast of 63 NCAA or national
wire service football championships in a total of 15 different men's and
women's sports.
In its infancy the SWC had an even wider geographical area than
the current, eight university league. Present for the May 6 meeting
were representatives from Baylor University, Southwestern University, Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State), Texas A&M
College, Louisiana State University, the University of Arkansas and
the University of Texas.
At a meeting of the fledgling group on Dec. 8,1914, representatives from the University
of Oklahoma and Rice Institute (now Rice University) at the Rice Hotel in Houston also were
in attendance. Arkansas, Baylor, Southwestern, Oklahoma, Oklahoma A&M, Texas A&M,
and Texas joined the two new colleges as charter members of what was called the Southwest
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The nation's fifth-oldest Division I conference was off
and literally running.
By March, 1915, the SWC already had it first football All-America choice in Oklahoma
back Forest Geyer (1915) and had crowned its first basketball team champion after the 1914-
15 campaign in Texas (5-0), which edged Rice (5-1) by a half game for honors.
In 1918 Rice returned to gridiron action while Southern Methodist University permanently replaced Southwestern, based in Georgetown, Texas, in the football standings.
Oklahoma, which captured the initial football championship during the 1915 season,
withdrew in 1920 and was replaced in that one season by Phillips University of Enid,
Oklahoma.
Oklahoma A&M lasted until 1925 before leaving the league, but Texas Christian
University of Fort Worth entered the scene during the 1923 season for the first of its 73 SWC
campaigns.
And when the conference began, the annual membership fee was a nominal $10. By
1932 annual dues was ficed at $100, and it had remained one of the nation's best athletics
bargains for almost a century.
On Nov. 24,1921, the first ex-officio "broadcast" of a sports event of any kind took place
when Texas A&M cadets W.A. "Doc" Tolson and Harry M. Saunders joined electrical
maintenance staffer B. Lewis Wilson to produce a wireless account of the 0-0 tie between the
SWC
1995-96 SWC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 3 |
