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Aggies and Texas Longhorns in football. That was followed by the first actual
radio broadcast of an SWC game on Nov. 25, 1926, when General Ike
Ashburn gave the play-by-play account of A&M's 28-0 victory over Texas at
College Station.
Game officials and their orderly assignment became a part of the SWC
Office in the 1920's along with cooperation with the Southwest Officials
Association, a longtime partner of the SWC, while legislation governing
scouting of opponents went into effect during the 1927-28 academic year.
The first of several hundred SWC competitors in the Olympic games (42
SWC athletes, two head coaches, six individual and team medal winners were
represented in the Seoul Olympics of 1988 while 62 competitors and officials
from SWC schools qualified for the 1992 Olympics) was a meritoriuos sprinter
on the United States' 1928 team — Rice's Claude Bracey.
As the conference moved into the 1930s and 1940s growing and
maturing programs in all areas — from track and field to baseball to tennis to
swimming — were taking shape for the seven teams who survived the
comings and goings and formed the crux of the SWC until Texas Tech entered
in 1958. Houston later gained admission into the SWC for the 1971-73
academic year (competing for the first time in football in 1976), and the SWC
enjoyed some of its most nationally-successfull football seasons since SMU,
TCU and Texas A&M captured American college grid titles from 1935-39.
The settling effect brought with it the need to have a full-time office,
headed by an Executive Secretary (later re-titled Commissioner). In 1938 Dr.
P.W. St. Clair assumed a part-time position as the SWCs first Executive
Secretary and served in that position until May, 1945. He was followed by
James H. Stewart (1945-50, the conference's first full-time Executive Secretary), Howard Grubbs (1950-73), Cliff Speegle (1973-82), and fourth full-time
Commissioner Fred Jacoby (1982-93) before Steve Hatchell (1993-95) and
Kyle Kallander (1995-96).
The SWC maintained the oldest continuous contractual agreement (from
1942-95) with a major bowl game between the conference and the Cotton
Bowl Athletic Association. This gridiron marriage produced numerous battles
for national supremacy and an always-entertaining contest on New Year's
Day since the initial classic in 1937.
From football legends such as Hall-of-Famers Darrell Royal of Texas,
Hess Neely of Rice, and Madison 'Matty' Bell of four SWC schools, to Baseball
Hall of Fame member Teddy Lyons of Baylor to Olympic champions such as
Houston's Carl Lewis to Women's Basketball Players of the Year Kamie
Etheridge of Texas and Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech, the Southwest
Conference continues to produce exciting moments in intercollegiate athletics.
Conference Presidents, In Order of Service
1914-1915-W. T.Mather Texas
1915-1916-A.C. Love, Texas A&M
1916-1917-J.C. Futrall, Arkansas
1917-1918-Henry Trantham, Baylor
1918-1919-W. W. Watkins, Rice
1919-1920-R. G. Soutar, Oklahoma
1920-1922-J.S. Mcintosh, SMU
*1922-Henry Trantham, Baylor
1922-1934-D. A. Penick, Texas
1934-1937-E.W. McDiarmid, TCU
1937-1941-Henry Trantham, Baylor
1941-1943-J.S. Waterman, Ark.
1943-1944-J. C. Dolley, Texas
1944-1046-H.E. Bray, Rice
1946-1948-Gayle Scott, TCU
1948-1950-R. A. Leflar, Arkansas
1950-1951-D. W. Williams, A&M
1951-1953-J. D.Bragg, Baylor
1953-1955-H.E. Bray, Rice
1955-1957-E.D.Mouzon,Jr.,SMU
1957-1959-0. B.Williams, Texas
1959-1961-Henry B. Hardt, TCU
1961-1963-Delbert Swartz, Ark.
1963-1965-Chris Groneman, A&M
1965-1967-Alan Chapman, Rice
1967-1968-Monroe Carroll, Baylor
1968-1971-J. William Davis, Tech
1971-1973-Haroid Jeskey, SMU
1973-1975—J. Neils Thompson, Texas
1975-1977-Kenneth W. Herrick, TCU
1977-1979-Albert Witte, Arkansas
1979-1981-Charles Samson, Jr., A&M
1981-1983-James A. Casteheda, Rice
1983-1985-Edwin P. Horner, Baylor
1985-1987-Michael Johnson, Baylor
1987-1989-Robert M. Sweazy, Tech
1989-1991-James Vick, Texas
1991-1993-Paul Rogers, SMU
1993-1995-Joseph Helmick, TCU
1995-1996-Tom Adair, Texas A&M
'Completed Mcintosh's term in 1922
Conference Commissioners, In Order of Service
1938-1945-Dr. P. W.St. Clair
1945-1950-James H.Stewart
1950-1973-Howard Grubbs
1973-1982-Cliff Speegle
1982-1993-Fred Jacoby
1993-1995-Steven J. Hatchell
1995-1996-Kyle Kallander
4 1995-96 SWC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
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