Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming

Here is the narrative from the front and back flaps of the book:

On December 6, 1969, the Texas Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks met in what many consider the Game of the Century. In the centennial season of college football, both teams were undefeated; both featured devastating and innovative offenses; both boasted cerebral, stingy defenses; and both were coached by superior tacticians and stirring motivators, Texas’s Darrell Royal and Arkansas’s Frank Broyles. On that day in Fayetteville, the poll-leading Horns and second-ranked Hogs battled for the Southwest Conference title — and President Nixon was coming to present his own national championship plaque to the winners.

Even if it had been just a game, it would still have been memorable today. The bitter rivals played a game for the ages before a frenzied, hog-callin’ crowd that included not only an enthralled President Nixon — a noted football fan — but also Texas congressman George Bush. And the game turned, improbably, on an outrageously daring fourth-down pass.

But it wasn’t just a game, because nothing was so simple in December 1969. In Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming, Terry Frei deftly weaves the social, political, and athletic trends together for an unforgettable look at one of the landmark college sporting events of all time.

The week leading up to the showdown saw black student groups at Arkansas, still marginalized and targets of virulent abuse, protesting and seeking to end the use of the song “Dixie” to celebrate Razorback touchdowns; students were determined to rush the field during the game if the band struck up the tune. As the United States remained mired in the Vietnam War, sign-wielding demonstrators (including war veterans) took up their positions outside the stadium — in full view of the president. That same week, Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton penned a letter to the head of the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas, thanking the colonel for shielding him from induction into the military earlier in the year.

Finally, this game was the last major sporting event that featured two exclusively white teams. Slowly, inevitably, integration would come to the end zones and hash marks of the South, and though no one knew it at the time, the Texas vs. Arkansas clash truly was Dixie’s Last Stand.

Drawing from comprehensive research and interviews with coaches, players, protesters, professors, and politicians, Frei stitches together an intimate, electric narrative about two great teams — including one player who, it would become clear only later, was displaying monumental courage just to make it onto the field — facing off in the waning days of the era they defined. Gripping, nimble, and clear-eyed, Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming is the final word on the last of how it was.

I second the recommendation of this book; just a fantastic read for a Horns fan. To put in perspective just how big this game was, I was 14 years old participating in a high school swim meet in New Jersey, and they announced the score over the PA system. For the football-agnostic northeast, that was a big deal. For those that can’t find it, I was able to check it out of the local library.

Here’s another good read, or so I’m told, on the game, from Texas’ own Pat Culpepper.

I was in eighth grade in San Antonio. I remember the principal of Eisenhower Jr. High making Friday announcements in the afternoon over the classroom intercom system. At the end, he said:

All for the Longhorns stand up and holler,
All you hogs just lay down and waller.

You could hear cheering and laughing throughout the school.

For that game, my sister, may she rest in peace, had some family and friends over for a football party. To our delight and amazement, she and her husband had rented a section of bleachers (that’s right–bleachers…..three rows high!) and set them up in the den. There was plenty of beer, etc., and we, Longhorn fans all, awaited the slaughter that was at hand. We were supremely confident.

The Hogs had other ideas, though. They came out sky-high, almost jumping out of their shoes, and played the Horns off their feet. The UT wishbone never really got rolling, and the Horns never did figure out how to deal with Arkie’s swarming, stunting defense.

By halftime, we were all stunned. By the end of the 3rd quarter we were numb. Also drunk and incredulous and behind 14-0.

The first play of the 4th quarter saw Street scrambling for a 42-yard score because of a missed block by McKay. This began, with a bang, the comeback that followed. When Street hit Peschel with the 43-yarder, you never heard such yelling and bellowing. The next play, with Koy butting heads with every Arky on the field for 11 yards to the 2-yard line, was, to me, the most under-rated play of the game. The Bertelsen score on the following play was anti-climactic, as was the rest of the game.

At the end, we were too hoarse, exhausted, and drunk to cheer, we just blubbered like fools. And acted like we knew that was how it was going to end.

There haven’t been many like that.

I’ll buy a lifetime subscription to BC if someone writes the play-by-play for this game as spoken by Henry Kissinger. (Phonetic spellings encouraged).

I was actually there. Went up without a ticket and sat in the middle of Arkansas fans. Lots of hoggies wanted to whip my ass. I guess being big and ugly has its advantages. For three quarters, I froze my ass off. After Slick had the long run, I never thought about the cold again.

All you hear about the inbreds is true. They refused to sell us gasoline or food.

A side note! I should have died that night. I was the only one still conscious (barely) so I drove (and drank)all he way back to Dallas. We came within a split second oh a head-on with an 18 wheeler.

A great sadness overcomes me whenever I watch a replay and see Jose (A Horny Mex can) Pena cartwheeling across the field after Peschel’s reception.

I am so thankful that after many years of pansy-assed, make believe fans, we are once again developing hell-raising replacements for The Wild Bunch.