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 t
has been one hundred years since the first Aggie football team
took the field in the autumn of 1894. Since then, the tale of that
courageous bunch has become legend while actual events and
occurrences became obscured in the fog of time. Recently published
works on this centennial event tell a story somewhat at variance
with original sources found in the Texas A&M University
Archives. Indeed, even the original accounts are clouded with
misspellings and typographical errors that make historical
reconstruction difficult. Add to this an unstructured game in its
infancy, with players appearing and disappearing from squads at
random, and you have fertile ground for confusion. It even appears
that A&M had a team in 1893, although no games were recorded.
According to numerous newspaper accounts of the
period, the first football game played by Texas A&M was
against the University of Texas on October 20, 1894. Even during
these formative years, newspapers gave broad coverage of the
event. The Galveston Daily New reported A&M's team
arrived in Austin by train on the evening of October 19 to take on
an experienced Texas squad.
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The San Antonio Daily Express
reported on the game and listed the line-ups for both teams. This
first A&M team consisted of:
According to the Express:
"About 800 people gathered at Hyde Park this evening to
witness the game of football between the University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College teams. The game was called by
mutual request after only 22 minutes of play in the last half. The
score stood 38 to 0 in favor of Varsity. The A&M boys play a
good game, but the Varsity team outclassed them." The Fort
Worth Gazette described A&M's fighting spirit, listing player
after player on both sides being knocked out of the game with
bruises and severe cuts. Singular praise went to Valdez,
Massenburg and Simms for their hard tackling.
The A&M team returned home to work on
their game and arrange for other contests. Failing to set up a
rematch with Texas, A&M scheduled a game with Galveston's Ball
High School on Thanksgiving (often listed as A&M's first
game). Football was little more than a club sport in those days
and Ball High had an experienced team. A&M reportedly only
outweighed the Galveston bunch by a mere seven pounds per man,
although many of the A&M players seem to have lost at least 10
pounds since their previous contest. A&M won the game 14-6
with Valdez and McDonald credited for the first touchdown scored
by an Aggie team. No explanation was given as to how this
occurred.
By the way, Texas played the Arkansas
Industrial University Cardinals (later the University of Arkansas)
on Turkey Day. As a point of reference, Texas pounded Arkansas
54-0.
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