1969 Texas Vs. Arkansas Football Game - Controversy

Controversy

President Richard Nixon attended the game along with several members of his staff and U.S. Representatives George H.W. Bush of Texas and John Paul Hammerschmidt of Arkansas, having announced that he would give a plaque to the winner, proclaiming it to be the National Champion — to the chagrin of observers who thought it premature to do so before the New Year's Day bowl games, and of fans of Penn State, which would also end the season undefeated. Arkansas took a 14-0 lead, and held it into the fourth quarter, but Texas came from behind to win, 15-14, and accepted Nixon's plaque.

Texas beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and removed any doubt as to whether it deserved consideration as National Champion, although Penn State fans still insist that their team, also undefeated and winner of the Orange Bowl, was better. However, it is worth noting that the Cotton Bowl Classic first invited Penn State to play the Southwest Conference champions. The Nittany Lions declined the invitation, preferring to spend New Year's Day in warm Miami, where they defeated Big Eight champion Missouri. This decision was made while Ohio State was still ranked #1 with only one game to play, so at the time, it did not appear that a national championship was likely to be at stake. The 1969 Texas-Penn State conflict, never settled on the field, has been one of the major arguments in favor of a Division I-A playoff. Arkansas lost the 1970 Sugar Bowl to Ole Miss, led by Archie Manning. The entire Texas-Penn State debate and Nixon's involvement led to a quote from Penn State coach Joe Paterno, a conservative Republican, during a commencement speech at Penn State in 1974 about Nixon, "How could Nixon know so much about college football in 1969 and so little about Watergate in 1973?"

This game has been nicknamed "Dixie's Last Stand," since it was the last major American sporting event played between two all-white teams, although two schools in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), LSU and Ole Miss, did not integrate their varsity football squads until 1972.

With the Vietnam War still raging and Nixon in attendance, protestors came to the game, and one of them got into a tree overlooking the stadium and held up an antiwar sign. An urban legend grew up around this game, claiming that this protestor was Arkansas native and future President Bill Clinton. Clinton, however, was not at the game, as he was then a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in England, and was listening to the game on a shortwave radio with some American friends.

The two coaches in this game, Darrell Royal of Texas and Frank Broyles of Arkansas, both retired after the 1976 season. Both became athletic directors at their respective schools, Royal for the entire Texas athletic program and Broyles solely for the Arkansas men's program, as Arkansas had a completely separate women's athletic department from 1971 through 2007. Royal retired from his AD job in 1980, but Broyles continued on through 2007, with the men's and women's athletic programs merging immediately after his retirement. Broyles spearheaded Arkansas' move from the SWC to the SEC in 1991, and was later instrumental in the Razorbacks and Longhorns playing a two-year series in 2003 (at Austin) won by Arkansas and 2004 (at Fayetteville) won by Texas. The last meeting was in 2008 in Austin won by Texas 52-10. Texas holds a 56-21-0 (72%) lead in the all-time series between the schools. They are scheduled to play again in Fayetteville in 2014.

As an addendum to the paragraph above: Frank Broyles did retire as the head coach of the Razorbacks after the 1976 season. At that time, however, Coach Broyles had been named and served as Men's Athletic Director, as well as head coach of the Hogs since the 1974 season.