Pre-1920 North Texas Football

[rcade]

During this offseason, I'm writing articles on the earliest eras of North Texas football. I've begun researching the pre-1920 era when football was just beginning at the school:

1913, Coach J.W. Pender, record 0-1

1914, Coach J.W. Pender, record 3-3

1915, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 4-1

1916, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 4-3-1

1917, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 6-1

1918, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 1-2-1

1919, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 5-3

I'm finding some cool stuff, like the fact our first mascot was the Teachers, as you can see in this cutline from a picture in the Dallas Morning News published in 1915 of the team's backfield:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=20...8149&size=l

If anyone knows people I should talk to or other sources for information on early teams, I'd appreciate the help.

[filmerj]

That's pretty cool. I wonder what "Normal" meant, I noticed the huntsville college was also "Normal"

[CMJ]

That's pretty cool. I wonder what "Normal" meant, I noticed the huntsville college was also "Normal"

A Normal is what they used to call Teacher's Colleges.

[Cerebus]

That's pretty cool. I wonder what "Normal" meant, I noticed the huntsville college was also "Normal"

In a nutshell:

Normal = Teachers College

Edit: Beaten by CMJ

[GreenTiger_OriginalAcct]

Official Names of UNT

1890-1893 - Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute

1894-1900 - North Texas Normal College

1901-1922 - North Texas State Normal College

1923-1948 - North Texas State Teachers College

1949-1960 - North Texas State College

1961-1988 - North Texas State University

1989-present - University of North Texas

[FirefightnRick]

Great idea rcade. Along these line it's always bothered me that prior to 1953 some folks didn't recognize us as playing major college football because we were not in the SWC I suppose even though we played SWC teams all the time.

HERE is one of those sources I'm talking about.

Rick

[greenjoe]

It means North Texas wasn't a military school. Not a Nursing school or Engineering school. We were a Normal College.

And I'd like to point out, North Texas hasn't been normal in years.

GO MEAN GREEN

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Great idea rcade. Along these line it's always bothered me that prior to 1953 some folks didn't recognize us as playing major college football because we were not in the SWC I suppose even though we played SWC teams all the time.

HERE is one of those sources I'm talking about.

Rick

Rick

The NCAA didn't recognize us as Major College (the equivalent of 1-A, Bowl Series, or whatever) because we did not play the majority of our games against other major college teams. They played 10-game schedules then and the requirement was to play five against teams so designated as major college by the NCAA. There were no specific requirements to earn that designation. It was largely a matter of which conference that you were in but also included independents and occasionally certain members of minor or small conferences.

We did not attain major college designation until we left the old Lone Star Conference. The reason was that we were playing seven conference games and could not schedule enough games against majors to qualify. Another reason was that up until almost that time we held dual memberships in both the NCAA and the NAIA. That was frowned upon by the NCAA. If we had kept the dual membership then we no doubt wouldn't have been allowed to join the Missouri Valley Conference.

[NT80]

I'm finding some cool stuff, like the fact our first mascot was the Teachers, as you can see in this cutline from a picture in the Dallas Morning News published in 1915 of the team's backfield:

I do not believe our first mascot/nickname was Teachers. The school trained Teachers, as did all "Normal" colleges. I think the context of the photo statement is just saying that the Denton "teachers" [college] was to play the Huntsville normal (or teacher college) soon.

In "The Story of North Texas" (pg 148) it says: "The school colors of green and white were apparently first adopted in 1902-03....Students and sports writers got along quite well for years by referring to the teams as the "Normal Boys", but in 1922 a student election settled on the nickname and mascot of "Eagles"...."

I also recall reading that Eagles was chosen over Lions and Dragons as mascot name.

1920 NT football team:

http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-5208:1

Edited December 7, 2007 by NT80

[SilverEagle]

I do not believe our first mascot/nickname was Teachers. The school trained Teachers, as did all "Normal" colleges. I think the context of the photo statement is just saying that the Denton "teachers" [college] was to play the Huntsville normal (or teacher college) soon.

In "The Story of North Texas" (pg 148) it says: "The school colors of green and white were apparently first adopted in 1902-03....Students and sports writers got along quite well for years by referring to the teams as the "Normal Boys", but in 1922 a student election settled on the nickname and mascot of "Eagles"...."

I also recall reading that Eagles was chosen over Lions and Dragons as mascot name.

1920 NT football team:

http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-5208:1

I think that one of the reasons that "Denton Teachers" was used (besides a lack of an official mascot) was that during that era (and long after that too) every graduate of North Texas was required/expected to get a teaching certificate. So "Denton Teachers" was a logical moniker to use.

North Texas was the first (with the possible exception of SHSU...which is older than us) of several schools built in Texas to address the crisis of a lack of formal education amongst Texas teachers.....especially in the rural areas. Around the turn of the century (the 20th century) it was very common for rural schools to hire people with just a High School diploma to teach in the classrooms, with the expectation that they eventually acquire their official credentials. These "Normal" schools also provided an "affordable" option for people to get their teaching credentials. As a result, these schools often had summer enrollments that were as high as fall enrollments.

Just about every state school that came along after North Texas (including TWU, West Texas State, SW Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, and Sul Ross State) were primarily Teacher training schools.

Edited December 7, 2007 by SilverEagle

[rcade]

I do not believe our first mascot/nickname was Teachers. The school trained Teachers, as did all "Normal" colleges. I think the context of the photo statement is just saying that the Denton "teachers" [college] was to play the Huntsville normal (or teacher college) soon.

I've read several game stories from the first two football seasons in which the team is called the Teachers. I don't know yet whether this was an official mascot or just a practice of the media.