These Texas HS football teams tied 0-0 as state champs 100 years ago. Now the rematch
The year was 1920.
Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States, trains were the major mode of mass transportation and Cleburne and Houston Heights were set to play in the first UIL high school football state championship.
The game wasn’t played until Jan. 8, 1921, at Clark Field in Austin, in muddy and rainy conditions with 3,000 people in attendance. That first championship ended in a scoreless tie.
Players such as Doc Bruder, Joe Rhome and Blue Smith, who was named most outstanding player for his punting, did all they could to help their team to a win. Heights got inside the 5-yard line twice only to be stopped by Cleburne’s menacing defense. Both teams missed field goals because of the horrible weather.
Now more than 100 years later, the rematch is finally here.
Cleburne and Heights kick off the 2021 high school football season at 5 p.m. Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium, a century after their first game. Thanks to today’s rules, a winner will be determined this time.
But the rematch nearly didn’t happened.
The two teams were set to play in the 2020 opener as part of the 100-year celebration of UIL Texas high school football, but the game was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The UIL had early talks in 2020 about this game with the 100-year anniversary, and I thought it was a great idea,” Cleburne coach Casey Walraven said. “Then COVID hit and the focus went elsewhere. We had bigger things to tackle, but we were still trying to plan on playing. Houston didn’t start their season until later so we couldn’t play the game. It was disappointing for both schools, but we understood that there were things going on that was bigger than football.”
Early discussions placed the game at AT&T Stadium and possibly aired on Bally Sports Southwest. Others said it was going to be at Cleburne with live look-ins throughout the night.
Either way, it never happened.
“We were really looking forward to playing in the 100-year anniversary, but COVID knocked it out,” Heights coach Stephen Dixon said. “It was a great idea, so glad we get a chance to play it. It’s going to be a great game.”
The two schools agreed to present a commemorative trophy to the winner.
“There’s so much history associated with this, and we wanted our kids to compete in a game played in memory of a very special milestone in Cleburne football,” Cleburne athletic director Jeri Larrison-Hall said. “It’s great that it’s finally happening and it’s a big deal for both schools.”
1920 season
Galveston Ball was the first Texas high school to play in an organized football game in 1892.
More than 20 years later, the UIL made an attempt in 1913 to regulate the sport, and a plan was put together to have a champion. Houston’s Sam Houston and Comanche matched up on Dec. 13, 1913.
“It was a mess from the beginning, and no one was happy so, the UIL dumped it and said no more football,” said Dr. Charles Breithaupt, who has been UIL executive director since 2009. “The UIL didn’t know how to regulate it, but the school superintendents wanted to do something because all these games were being played without the proper equipment. Finally in 1920, they came up with a plan that included six undefeated teams that they placed into playoff brackets. One was Houston Heights, one was Cleburne.”
Cleburne defeated Abilene, 28-20, in one semifinal in front of 4,000 people on Dec. 17, 1920.
During the first minute of the game, Smith took a pass from Rhome and ran for a 60-yard touchdown.
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A week later on Christmas, more than 2,000 people watched as Heights defeated Corpus Christi, 7-6, in the other semifinal, sending Heights and Cleburne into the championship game with undefeated records.
“It’s really special to be a part of something so rare,” Walraven, the Cleburne coach, said. “We have a lot of pride in our tradition here, and we’re trying to remember our past and honor it. The kids see that first championship trophy every day in the arena. We’ve talked about this game. It’s not a scrimmage. They’ll go down in the history books. Just how the 1920 team is remembered 100 years ago, this team wants to be remembered 100 years from now.
“They recognize how unique and hard it is to win state, so they understand that it’s important to honor those that have created it,” he said. “So the significance of this game is important in itself.”
Duke Welling was the coach at Heights, which outscored opposing teams, 190-19 in 1920. During his first season at Heights in 1917, the team had a 160-6 scoring margin in only five games.
Fred Erney was in his first year with Cleburne, which began the season with a 47-0 win over Fort Worth Polytechnic. The Yellow Jackets finished the season outscoring opponents 218-35.
Cleburne won another UIL title in 1959, another co-championship against Breckenridge, 20-20, in the Conference 3A game, but Heights hasn’t been back to the state final since the 1920 season.
“It’s really cool to think about the history of the game and how much it has changed,” Cleburne junior quarterback Landry Shields said. “You can tell by one picture and it’s incredible in our eyes. I hear from people like my grandpa that Cleburne used to be the town to beat.”
Family ties
George “Albert” Sowell was a member of Cleburne’s 1920 championship team as a defensive end.
His daughter-in-law, Meredith Sowell still lives in Cleburne and has for nearly 60 years.
“My father-in-law didn’t talk a whole lot about being on the team, but he talked some about going down to Austin by train and commented on how pretty equal the teams were,” Sowell recalls.
Albert Sowell died in 1995, and had kept up with Cleburne football until his later years.
“It was a special time in his life,” Meredith Sowell said.
Sowell still has a picture of the 1920 team in her home. Her late husband, George, three children and grandson all graduated from Cleburne, most of them playing in the school band.
Different look
The Cleburne school district was established in 1883, and the school’s first student graduated in 1892.
Football at Cleburne started in 1903, but archives only go as far back as 1915, when the Yellow Jackets played an 11-game schedule, played some schools twice and outscored their opponents 186-65.
Meanwhile, Heights was established in 1904 and began playing football during that 1920 championship season.
The UIL didn’t track how many schools were playing football until 1928. A total of 365 schools were playing football that year. Today, 1,237 schools play football in Texas.
As the game itself has changed in 100 years, so have the players.
Segregation was happening around the country in 1920 and lasted for decades. In 1920, almost every football player was white, but schools today show the diversity of our population.
Cleburne’s high school’s demographic in 2021 is 45% white, 44% Hispanic and 4% black. A total of 441 students attended the school in 1920 whereas 1,916 students are enrolled today.
Heights high school has over 2,300 students enrolled and is 8% white, 79% Hispanic and 11% black.
“Football is one of those things people work together, thankfully, considering where we are today, but there’s room to grow,” Walraven said. “You watch the kids, and no matter the race, they work together, play together, enjoy one another and love each other like a brother. We can learn a lot from high school kids.”
The build up
Cleburne comes off a 5-4 season in 2020, but missed the playoffs. The Yellow Jackets return 10 starters, including six on offense. Meanwhile, Heights won its district, went 7-2, and won its first playoff game in the state’s largest classification since 1959. The Bulldogs return nine starters, including five on defense.
Both communities know what’s at stake.
“I think everyone on our team and in the community understand how cool of an opportunity it is to play another team for only the second time in 100 years,” Shields, the Cleburne quarterback, said. “Not only that, but the importance of the game being the first UIL state championship and ending in a tie. We have been working real hard and kind of think about this like a state championship game.”
The excitement has been brewing since 2020.
“They knew the meaning last year,” Dixon, the Heights coach, said. “This is tremendous for our alumni, and I’m sure it’s a big deal for the Cleburne alumni. We have a lot of pride and happiness, and a lot of our parents know what this game means. We’re looking forward to having a pretty good crowd.”
Walraven said this type of game ignites a community.
“A one-school town like Cleburne has so many stories passed down,” he said. “I’ll run into people in town and I’ll hear a different story. Maybe someone grew up hearing about the first state championship in 1920 or someone else values and honors another great Cleburne team. Being able to talk about it and bringing up those memories gets this community excited.”
Whether you’re a Cleburne fan, Heights fan or just the causal Texas high school football fan, watch for the outcome of this game.
“I believe [you should watch] not only because of the history, but two teams pretty far apart playing a game with so much at stake and with this amount of magnitude,” Breithaupt, the UIL executive director, said. “Really important to understand the historical nature of it, so it’s a cool deal to come back together and settle this.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
