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Show Cotton Bowl final rite- in-- -Southwest football worship '''' ' ' 1 ' ' 1 ' 'I ' ' -A I'" ; - '' f " $ - V ' '"' '''' ; '''' X' ' ' ' , --I- ,; , f Editors Note: This is the first nng jf a two-part series in which 178 Jack Hill is writing about his Jrip to the 1988 Cotton Bowl conta where he was one of the game jitun sfficials. ir lie.' 4 By JACK HILL If s a game and a place. It's the i unal rite in what has become a religion for many in the Southwest pKthletic Conference. As a game, the Cotton Bowl has ( grown from a modest beginning in the mid-1930's to the second highest high-est paying post-season game in ncollege football. This year's teams, UCLA and host, Arkansas, were expected to take home over $2.9 million each for their participation. Jim Brock, executive director of the event, said, "No one can catch the Rose Bowl, but we want to be g(jnumber two." Brock made his statement at a press conference the Cm week of the game. The place, on the Texas State Fair Grounds in Dallas, is an older stadium that formerly seated more jthan 77,000 fans. A few years ago it Jwas remodeled and theater type seats installed, reducing seating V capacity to just over 74,000. The f Cotton Bowl Stadium has been the home field of Southern Methodist (University, the Dallas Cowboys and is still the site of the annual j t Texas- Oklahoma game. Those who direct the Cotton . Bowl game spend most of the year planning and preparing. This year, the 53rd, a corporate sponsor, Mobil Oil Company, was added to the game and the name was changed to the Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic. My connection to the game is remote but dates back to the 1940's when, as a kid, I loved to lay on the front room floor and listen to the bowl games on radio. Later, when television came to Granger, 1 was watching that day in 1954 when one of the sports oddities in football occurred. Rice was playing Alabama. Ala-bama. A Rice halfback named Dicky Magel was having the greatest day carrying the ball in Cotton Bowl history (11 carries for 234 yards). Magel had just broken clear and was racing down the sideline in front of the Alabama bench with just one Alabama player to beat. Tommy Lewis, a player without a helmet, came off the bench and blind-sided Magel with a terrific tackle. There was no rule that allowed officials to award a touchdown, but the referee awarded Magel the score anyway. "I was just too full of Alabama," said Lewis when asked why he tackled Magel. Football has nearly become a religion to some folks in the Southwest. South-west. The week of the Cotton Bowl sees thousands flock to Dallas to practice the rites of the game. The pressure to win has resulted in some severe penalties to some schools in the Southwest Conference Confer-ence but the enthusiasm for the game remains. More than 50,000 red-clad Arkansas Ar-kansas followers made the trip to Dallas to see their team play in the Cotton Bow! for the first time since 1976. Next week: Crittenden and Hill in tuxedos. Jim Crittenden, transportation supervisor for Alpine School District, gives a signal in the Cotton Bowl Game. He and Pleasant Grove's Jack Hill were officials in the game. |
