From the Archives

On December 9, 2017, Nathan Brown was announced at a basketball game as the 20th head coach of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) football team.  A more formal announcement and press conference followed in Wingo Hall on Monday, December 11, when Coach Brown was introduced to the media and a room packed with about 120 supporters.  

Dr. Brad Teague, Director of Athletics at UCA, spoke about Coach Brown’s lengthy history at UCA, from the days when Brown was a student-athlete to his time as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for the Bears.  This author has attended several such events, and can state that the atmosphere in the room was extremely positive, and that the attendees were very supportive of Brown being selected as UCA’s new head football coach.

One thing that stands out about Coach Brown is his age, only 31.  Brown announced from the podium that he will be 32 years of age when he coaches his first football game as head coach.  Brown is the youngest head coach that has been hired at UCA since 1952, when Jim Blair Crafton was hired.  Coach Crafton was 27 years of age when he was hired and led the Bears from 1952 to 1954.  Crafton’s age was not considered unusual at that time because UCA had previously hired several coaches around the age of 30, and several who were under the age of 30.  

The youngest UCA head football coach in the history of the program was J.C. Cook, who was head coach in 1914.  Coach Cook was only 22 years old when he coached his first game.  Cook was from Texarkana and had received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas, and spent one year at the United States Naval Academy before coming to UCA. In 1914, UCA did not have a mascot and the team was referred to as the Tutors, Teachers, Normalites, Pea Pickers and Pedagogues.  It was 1920 before UCA sports teams were known as the Bears.

In recent years and decades, newly hired UCA head football coaches were primarily in their early 40s. The lone exception in modern times was Coach Clint Conque, who was 39 at his first game. The first UCA head football coach over the age of 40 was Frank Koon, who was named head coach in 1955.  Coach Koon was 46 years of age when he coached his first game for the Bears.  The oldest coach was Brown’s predecessor, Coach Steve Campbell.  Coach Campbell was 48 years of age when he coached his first game in 2014.  

The breakdown for head football coaches, in regard to their age when they coached their first game at UCA, is as follows.  Out of 20 head coaches, six were in their 20s; eight were in their 30s; six were in their 40s.  This means that 14 of the 20 head coaches, or 70%, were under the age of 40.  The average age for all 20 UCA football coaches when they coached their first game is 35.

For the record, Coach Nathan Brown is the 10th youngest UCA Bear head football coach.  The most successful young coach was Warren Woodson, who was also 32 years of age when he coached his first game for the Bears.  Woodson began his career at UCA in 1935 and was undefeated during the regular seasons in 1936 and 1937.  He compiled an excellent record at UCA and from 1935 to 1940 had a winning percentage of .817.  Woodson’s winning percentage was second only to Coach Harold Horton, whose winning percentage from 1982-1989 was .841.   

Sources for this article included: the UCAsports.com website maintained by Steve East, Ancestry.com, “A History of Arkansas State Teachers College” by Ted Worley, UCA Official Records Collection – M99-01, Arkansas State Normal School and Arkansas State Teachers College Bulletins, The Log Cabin Democrat, The Echo, and The Scroll.      

The following chart shows the ages of those coaches under 40 and their age at their first game.

NAME / AGE AT FIRST GAME COACHED / Date of First Game

J.C. Cook – 22 years, 11 months, 9 days – 2 Oct. 1914

Jerry Dalrymple – 27 years, 1 month, 24 days – 30 Sept. 1933

Guy Dan Estes – 27 years, 9 months, 2 days – 3 Oct. 1915

Jim Blair Crafton – 27 years, 11 months, 4 days – 27 Sept. 1952

*O.W. Stephenson – 29 years, 1 month, 29 days – 18 Oct. 1913

Charles Dub McGibbony – 29 years, 11 months, 18 days – 11 Oct. 1945

Robert Lee Nixon – 30 years, 11 months, 15 days – 17 Oct. 1911

William Oscar Wilson – 31 years, 4 months, 1 day – 16 Oct. 1909

Howard Montgomery – 31 years, 8 months, 21 days – 26 Sept. 1947

Nathan Brown – 32 years – 1 Sept. 2018

O.D. Longstreth – 32 years, 1 month, 6 days – 10 Oct. 1908

Warren Woodson – 32 years, 7 months, 10 days – 4 Oct. 1935

Loyd T. “Preacher” Roberts – 34 years, 8 months, 29 days – 3 Oct. 1941

Clint Conque – 39 years – 31 Aug. 2000

*Listed as W.O. Stephenson in Record Book

PHOTOGRAPH OF COACH J.C. COOK COURTESY OF THE SCROLL, 1915.

UCA’S YOUNGEST HEAD FOOTBALL COACH

22 YEARS, 11 MONTHS, AND 9 DAYS AT FIRST GAME HE COACHED

As the vast majority of readers know, 1917 was the year that the United States formally entered the Great War, later known as World War I.  President Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war against Germany on April 2, 1917, and Congress granted Wilson’s request on April 6, 1917.  

Things soon began to change at Arkansas State Normal School (now the University of Central Arkansas).  The students were dedicated to the war effort, but also wanted to continue to observe the customary traditions of the Normal as much as possible.

The most obvious change was in the enrollment of male students.  In the spring of 1917, 200 men were enrolled in classes, but only 12 men were enrolled by the spring of 1918.  The men did not disappear from campus as quickly as that last sentence made it sound.  The county draft boards were drafting men into the various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces each month.  Male students that were enrolled in classes in September of 1917 may have been drafted by October 1917, and so on.  As each month went by, more and more male students left the classrooms and were drafted, until only 12 remained by April of 1918.

The enrollment in the fall of 1916 was 441 students, according to enrollment statistics released by the Normal at that time.  By the fall of 1917, the enrollment was 328, a decline of 25.6%.  By the fall of 1918, the enrollment was 301, a decline of 31.7% from the fall of 1916.  After the war ended, enrollment shot up to 446 by the fall of 1919.

As the social scene changed somewhat, the women students made adjustments and did what they could to contribute to the war effort and to also observe the aforementioned annual traditions.   On December 14, 1917, the Crestomath Literary Society (a women’s literary society and a forerunner of today’s sororities) held their annual Christmas Bazaar in the first building on campus.  That building was known in 1917 as the State Normal Building, but later was given the name of E.E. Cordrey Science Building.  

The Crestomath members were intent on continuing the tradition, and also on raising money for the war effort.  Former Crestomath members extended their generosity to the Crestomaths of 1917, by donating items that could be sold to help raise needed funds.  The dedication of the members of the Crestomath Literary Society can be seen in a poem that was written in 1917 by their treasurer, Bess Warren.  Ms. Warren was president of the Crestomath Literary Society in 1918.

CONSERVATION

Just sacrifice and give a slice

Of bread or meat each day,

For one small bite may give the might

That will the Hun drive away.

This means you too, not just a few’

Our boys have gone for all,

Don’t fail to do, and then be true

To those who met the call.

For you can give, and surely live,

In far more ease than they.

The pledge then sign and get in line,

With patriots today.

You would feel bad, if some fair lad

Should brave his life for you;

If he return and then should learn,

You sought no help to do.

Then stop and think before the brink,

Whose others’ lives will fall;

Then save the cost, if only a drink,

To answer bugle call.

If clothes it be, or trips to see

Friends in another town,

Just sacrifice, let this suffice,

And fling the shackles down.

The Normal Echo, published an article about the Crestomath Bazaar in its December 20 issue.  According to The Normal Echo, “Weren’t the things pretty though?  Who would have thought that Etta and Pauline and Katie and all the others could sew so daintily?  But we would have been lacking in our usual amount if our old Crestomaths scattered over the state hadn’t sent us so many things.  Yes, they sang out, ‘Once a Cresto, always one, that’s our motto.’”  

After the Crestomath Bazaar had ended, the women were taking down the Christmas decorations and cleaning up after themselves.  One of the Crestoes was quoted by The Normal Echo as saying, ‘“Who said hard times?’ Asked a quiet girl who was taking down the festive decorations.  ‘We could have sold twice as many things as we did, if we had only had them.’”

The treasurer for the Crestomath Society tallied up the sales at the Christmas Bazaar’s end and had great news that she was very eager to report.  According to The Normal Echo, “About this time with face beaming, the treasurer of the society rushed into the room, ‘girls,’ she cried, ‘just think, we can finish paying for our Liberty Bond and our Students’ War Friendship Pledge, and have some to carry also.  Hurrah for the Crestoes!’”

The Students’ Friendship War Fund (actual name) was a project created by the Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.).  This particular fund drive was created to provide relief for Allied prisoners of war.  The goal was to raise one million dollars, and the fund drive was launched at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania.

The Crestomaths had worked since April 1917 to support their fellow students who were in uniform, and the war effort in general.  After the Christmas Bazaar had ended, the women had time to reflect on the various things they had done in 1917 to earn money, and some of the money-raising projects included selling popcorn each week and picking cotton for area cotton farmers.  The first mechanical cotton pickers were not produced until 1949.

In regard to the Liberty Bond that the Crestoes had paid for, their sponsor asked what the Crestomath members were going to do with it.  According to The Normal Echo, “Every day we decide to spend it in some different way.  But if war demands call for it, we will turn it over to Uncle Sam; otherwise we want to buy something for our new Administration Building.”

The women had considered using the additional funds they had acquired through the Bazaar, and by the selling of popcorn and picking cotton, to use on themselves.  Then, after some additional thought, they decided that they would not be happy doing so with the war raging and people suffering.  

One Crestomath member made a great humanitarian suggestion, to adopt a French orphan.  According to The Normal Echo, ‘“Let’s adopt a French orphan for a year, for just three dollars a month we can keep one back in France warm and clothed and fed.’”  The Crestomath sponsor agreed and said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The members of the Crestomath Society had all agreed on the adoption of the French orphan and were more than satisfied with their decision.  They were convinced that they had done the right thing, and had upheld the traditional values of the Crestomath Society.

After the Crestomaths had agreed to the adoption, and had congratulated themselves on a productive but difficult year, they ended their celebration.  According to The Normal Echo, “Things were in order about this time, and with happiness in their hearts, the Crestoes started off merrily across the snow covered lawns to their home at Doyne Hall.”

For the sake of full disclosure, the author’s great aunt, Cora Bryant, was a member of the Crestomath Literary Society in the fall of 1917.

Photographs of the 1917 Crestomath Literary Society. Both of the following photos are courtesy of The Scroll, 1918.

Fans of UCA Bear football have seen many post season games, with the first playoff game occurring after the 1976 regular season under head coach Ken Stephens.  There were only four teams in the playoff picture for 1976.  Coach Stephens’ team went on to defeat Elon College in UCA’s first ever National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Playoff game, 10 – 7. The win over Elon put UCA in the finals game with Texas A&I.  The Bears lost to powerhouse Texas A & I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) in the Champion Bowl in Kingsville, Texas by a score of 26-0.  Even though the Bears lost in the nationally televised title game, they proved that they belonged in the upper echelon of NAIA football schools.

The very first post-season football game that Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas – UCA) participated in was on Christmas Day in 1937.  The Bears were undefeated and untied during the 1936 and 1937 regular seasons, and had won 16 games in a row.  Due to their gridiron success, the Bears were considered a worthy opponent for the Fresno State College Bulldogs in the Charity Bowl played in Los Angeles, California.

Head coach, Warren Woodson, selected 27 players to make the trip, which also included his assistant coach, Herbert Ball, President and Mrs. Heber McAlister, and Mrs. Woodson.  Also making the trip were two newspaper reporters, one from the Arkansas Democrat – Allen Tilden, and one from the Arkansas Gazette – Ben Epstein.

A sizeable crowd of about 500 well-wishers, mostly students and members of the Bear Backers Club, were on hand to see the team off at the Missouri Pacific Station in Conway. Another sendoff took place later that evening when the train from Conway, with the Bear football team on board, rolled into the Missouri Pacific Station in Little Rock.  That sendoff event included several dignitaries, including Lt. Governor Bob Bailey, Attorney General Jack Holt, Secretary of State C.G. Hall, State Auditor J. Oscar Humphrey, Little Rock Mayor R.E. Overman, North Little Rock Mayor Ross Lawhon, D. Hodson Lewis, manager of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, D.L. Ford, member of the State Corporation Commission and W.E. Phipps, Commissioner of Education.

While headed to their destination in Los Angeles, the Missouri Pacific passenger train stopped in Fort Worth, Texas, so the Bears could practice at the stadium of Texas Christian University.  The Bears went through a morning practice and then boarded the train for their next stop in El Paso, Texas.

The Bears reached Los Angeles on December 23^rd, and were the guests of well-known radio personality, Bob Burns.  According to the Log Cabin Democrat, “The Arkansas team was invited to a radio broadcast tonight, featuring Bob Burns, the former Van Buren, Ark., resident, and Crooner Bing Crosby.  Burns is a sponsor of the game, to be played for the benefit of a children’s milk fund.  Burns also has invited his fellow Arkansans to a big ‘shin-dig’ tonight’”

One of Hollywood’s screen stars was also in the studio with the Bear football team, Madge Evans.  Ms. Evans was also a guest on Burns’ show.

The Charity Bowl had two major sponsors, Bob Burns and Dorothy Lamour.  Burns was the host for the Bears and Lamour was the host for Fresno State College.

Bob Burns was born in Arkansas and spent most of his youth in Van Buren, Arkansas.  He was musically inclined and eventually became a famous radio personality.  He invented and played an instrument that he called the bazooka.  Burns’ instrument was so well known that during World War II the U.S. recoilless rocket anti-tank weapon was nicknamed, bazooka.

The game between Fresno State College and Arkansas State Teachers College was closely followed by Hollywood stars as well as elected officials.  On the night before the game, President McAlister received a Western Union telegram from his friend, U.S. Senator Hattie Caraway of Arkansas. According to the Arkansas Gazette, the telegram read, “Best wishes for victory.  Tell boys to fight for Arkansas.”

After the Bears finished with their final workout, they engaged in some sight-seeing.  The group toured Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Malibu Mountains.  They also visited Santa Monica for a view of the Pacific Ocean.

The game turned out to be one of the best ever played on the west coast, according to the sportswriters.  The headline in the Arkansas Gazette read, “TEACHERS LOSE IN HAIR-RAISER ON COAST, 27-26.”

Ben Epstein, the writer for the Arkansas Gazette, did a splendid job of describing the game, and his efforts are included here in quotes in the next two paragraphs; “Hollywood’s cinema executives finally learned the meaning of ‘terrific’ as the Fresno State College Bulldogs nosed out the heretofore unbeaten and untied Arkansas State Teachers College Bears of Conway, 27 to 26, in an intersectional jamboree that literally stupefied 5,000 spectators in Gilmore stadium here today.  It was eeny, meeny, miney, moe, and we don’t mean maybe as the mad struggle see-sawed in unbelievable fashion.

Sensational isn’t the word for it as the score oscillated like a crew of amateur divers on a springing board.  The veteran coach, Pop Warner, who sat on the Fresno bench, bobbed up and down like a scared freshman. Bob Burns lost the curl in his hair, George Raft, Bobby Breen and a gang of other movie moguls acted like a lot of lunatics as the Bears from Arkansas and the Bulldogs from upper California collided in an unexpected offensive maelstrom.”

The legendary football coach Pop Warner was not Fresno State’s head coach; the head coach for the Bulldogs was James Bradshaw.  Coach Warner was a friend of Bradshaw’s, who had adopted Warner’s coaching philosophy.  At the time, Pop Warner was the head coach of the Temple University Owls.

The game was tied on three different occasions, 7-7, 14-14, and 20-20.  The 20-20 score came in the fourth quarter when both teams scored touchdowns, but both failed to convert the extra points. The difference in the game came after Fresno State scored their second touchdown of the fourth quarter and made the extra point.  Fresno State’s touchdown was followed by a kickoff return by Bear halfback Howard Montgomery.  Fresno State kicked off and Montgomery picked up the ball at the Bear five-yard line and then ran 95 yards for a touchdown.  The Bears were unable to convert the extra point, leaving the score Fresno State 27 and Bears 26.

A disputed touchdown by the Bears could have given them the victory.  Bear end Billy Estes, son of legendary Bear coach Guy “Big Dan” Estes, was one of Woodson’s best players.  Estes appeared to have successfully caught a pass for the touchdown, but the referee called it incomplete.  President McAlister disagreed with the referee’s call.

Note: President McAlister was also head of the Arkansas National Guard, and held the rank of colonel, and was routinely called Colonel McAlister.

According to the Log Cabin Democrat, “Colonel McAlister, however, lamented the ruling of a pass from Burnett to Estes that would have resulted in a touchdown and a victory for the Bears had it been ruled completed.  Little Rock sport writers, who accompanied the Teachers to the coast, wrote that the pass looked like the real McCoy to them and Colonel McAlister said it looked ‘completed’ to him.’”

Additional information about the disputed call came from Bob Erbacher, a former resident of Conway.  According to the Log Cabin Democrat, “Colonel McAlister said Bob Erbacher, former Conway man, told him before the team’s departure for Arkansas last Sunday night that he had a talk with the referee and that the official confided to Erbacher the pass could have been ruled completed.”

The Bears returned to Conway in the early morning hours of December 29.  Their game with Fresno State College was such a roaring success that there was much talk about the Bears playing Fresno State College in 1938 and 1939, or possibly playing the University of New Mexico in 1938.

The Bears were treated kindly by their California hosts, According to the Log Cabin Democrat, “The Fresno Chamber of Commerce presented the visitors with a large box of their famous raisins while they were at Los Angeles.  Colonel McAlister said he denied, however, any implication of ‘sour grapes’ in the gift.’”

Interestingly, Fresno State University referred to the Charity Bowl as the Little All-American Bowl on their sports website.  Additionally, they also refereed referred to Arkansas State Teachers College as Arkansas State University (ASU).  This author will contact Fresno State University and provide them with the correct information.

Sources for this article included: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas, The Scroll, The Log Cabin Democrat, Arkansas Gazette, UCAsports.com Record Book compiled by Steve East, and Fresno State University sports website.

PHOTOGRAPH OF 1937 Bear Football Team. Courtesy of 1938 Scroll.

1937 Bear Football Team

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF 1938 SCROLL

Happy Wednesday!  Today we are going to take a look at the UCA Stepperettes, one of the most popular organizations ever to exist on this campus.  There is also a video of them performing for several football games and one basketball game. The video appears to be from two different academic years; 1974-1975 and 1975-1976.   I hope you enjoy this time travel experience to the 1970s.

Interest in the Stepperettes began to wane in the mid 1980s, and in 1988 the Stepperettes permanently disbanded due to lack of participation.

Here is the link:  Sound begins about one minute later. The video will be at the bottom of the next page, after you click on the link.

https://uca.edu/archives/from-the-archives/video-section/uca-stepperettes/

Please note UCA’s first Homecoming Queen’s photograph on the last page of the article.  In regard to fashion and overall look, her photograph fits perfectly with someone from the late 1920s.

I hope you enjoy stepping back in time for a few minutes; when radio was in its infancy, television was only in its early experimental stage, manual typewriters were the ubiquitous standard business machine, and electronic computers and cell phones were still in the distant future.

From the UCA Archives XXXIII

Jimmy

The Normal Echo, November 1912