Connect with your Facebook Account

• Contact

Football Articles

12

The Holy Grail Does Exist…

Posted by EyesOfTX on January 10th, 2009 under Football

 …and I found it out on Abe Books dot com late last week. 

I’ve spent the last dozen years now building a collection of what I hope now is every book ever written about Texas Longhorn football. As of Thursday, I’m pretty sure the collection is complete.

About four years ago, right as I thought I had completed my goal, I became aware of an obscure book – more of a pamphlet, really – that had been published in 1951. I found it referenced at various sources as being titled “Under Texas Skies”, “The Story of Texas Football From 1893 to 1951″, and even “Texas Touchdown Teams”. The author was listed as either A. Garland Adair, Wilbur Evans, or a combination of the two. Given that Evans was at the time the UT Sports News Director, and I knew had authored several other publications related to UT sports in subsequent years, I focused my searches more on him than on Adair. Regardless of the actual author, I am pretty sure it is the first book ever written about the history of the UT football program.

On three different occasions since I discovered its existence, I found the book up for auction on Ebay, but always without pictures or even a good description of the book’s condition. Each time, the bidding price ran up over $200, once even climbing up to $350 before the auction ended. Twice I thought I had placed the high bid only to be outbid in the final couple of seconds. This thing was a real problem to find, and I wasn’t the only one after it, obviously.

I put in search cards at all the used book stores I frequent in Houston, Austin and elsewhere – several of the dealers nodded their heads and said they had seen the book, but none ever gave me a call with good news about having found it. It began to seem as if I’d never get my hands on the book.

But finally, late last Thursday evening, as I was getting ready to call it a night, I decided to check out Abe Books, which I hadn’t done in a couple of months. Lo and behold, there the book was, allegedly in excellent, near mint condition, offered at the bargain price of $95. No photo, of course. Still, it seemed too good to be true, and after we had just spent too much on Christmas, I didn’t really want to spend the money. But Abe Books offers a refund opportunity if the book is not as advertised, so I decided to go for it, especially since if this was the real thing, I might never get another chance at it.

It arrived on Thursday, as advertised. The thing looks as if it has seldom been handled during its 56 years of life, which is good, since it is printed in paperback pamplet form, and the paper is beginning to get a little brittle. Only 76 pages long, it is something a good writer and bibliographer could cobble together in a week or less with modern technology, but which Evans likely spent months researching, typing and manually formatting back in the day.

I quickly found the source of confusion regarding the title and author. The full title of the pamphlet is “Under Texas Skies: The Story of Football at The University of Texas with Pictures of the Longhorns From 1893 to 1951 and Other Gridiron Features”. Whew. Take a deep breath. For those who are not aware, “Under Texas Skies” was a monthly publication by the Texas Heritage Foundation that I’m pretty sure went into print in 1950 and lasted well into the ’60s. This pamphlet is Vol. II, no. 5, which confirms the 1950 advent date. The goal of the publication was to increase awareness of the state’s heritage by addressing all manner of topics related to the state’s history.

Thus, as early as 1952, UT football was judged by the board of the Texas Heritage Foundation to be of adequate importance to the state’s history that it deserved to be one of the 12 topics addressed that year. Note that no similar publication exists related to the football program of any other Texas university.   Sorry, Aggies.

Regarding the author(s), both A. Garland Adair and Wilbur Evans contributed to the publication, although I’m sure Evans did the heavy lifting, given his position at The University.  Adair is listed as the 1913-14 President of the Student’s Association, and co-owned the copyright to the book with someone named Grogan Howell. He is also listed as one of two editors of the book, along wit Brig. General Paul L. Wakefield. Adair’s contribution to the book is a brief, two-page writeup at the beginning.

Evans offers a more detailed, 6 page snapshot history of the program’s highlights to that point in time towards the end of the book.

The pages in between are filled with half-page synopses of every Longhorn season, complete with team photo and record, for the seasons of 1893 through 1924. Beginning in 1925, each season is given a full page, with the team roster and a single paragraph summation added. At the bottom of each of these pages is a single paragraph discussing a Longhorn tradition, from the Orange Jackets to the Texas Cowboys to the band, Alcalde, Silver Spurs, and on and on.

The book ends with a brief preview of the upcoming 1951 season, along with bios of new Coach Ed Price and each player, as well as a brief listing of UT football records to that point.

The selling price at the time: 50 cents.  Purchase price in 2008:   $95, plus shipping.  Value to my at-long-last complete collection: Priceless.

Hook ‘em!!!

Article Tags:

, , , ,

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

12 Responses

  1. 98 said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am

    nice. it would be nice if some one put up a list of the best books on Longhorn Football. it might not be too late to start collecting some.

  2. Woody Bombay said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    That is pretty sweet. Congrats!

  3. Parlin Hall said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:36 am

    Eyes–what’s almost as good as finding this book (in my opinion) is recapturing the nearly ecstatic feeling that, though quite rare, used to happen more often than today.

    Here’s the paradox:

    Before the Internet, one often spent decades looking for certain books, usually to fill out a series or a collection; when one stumbled across the “last” volume in some random, out-of-the-way bookstore in Wales, or Berkeley, or Northampton, the feeling was one of great pleasure. I had a friend who looked for decades, for instance, for John G. Bourke’s “Scatalogical Rites of All Nations,” and–though he kept hearing whispers about people who had heard of people who had once seen it–never found it. It wouldn’t have been special if it hadn’t been elusive.

    These days, people rarely have to go anywhere to find something, and it’s hard to think of a title that’s not immediately available for the right price on the Internet. So you had a very, very rare experience indeed–something *not* being available for purchase right away. Congrats on finding your Grail.

  4. EyesOfTX said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:37 am

    98 – it’s far from too late. If anything, the old books are more findable today than they were 10 years ago. Here are a few of the best ones, IMO:

    Darrell Royal Talks Football, by Blackie Sherrod

    Here Come the Texas Longhorns, by Lou Maysel (There are two copies of this excellent book at HPB on North Lamar right now, as well as one copy of the sequel that was published in 1979)

    When Football Becomes War, by Robert Heard (this is the best history of the Texas/OU rivalry, published in the early 1980s – HPB also had a copy of this available last time I was there. There is also a copy of it at a used bookstore on 12th near Lamar, near the ACC bookstore)

    The Darrell Royal Story – by Jimmy Banks (published in 1964, the first bio of DKR, and still the best)

    The best recent publication is the University of Texas Football Vault, by Steve Richardson. This was published last year, and is the most comprehensive collection of Longhorn history and memorabilia ever put together. Sam’s club has tons of them on sale right now for $29.95, which is half the original price.

  5. Ag_in_TX said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:38 am

    I can see TaylorTRoom’s green glow from here….

  6. EyesOfTX said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:40 am

    Parlin Hall – yes, I always derive more satisfaction out of coming across a rare book in a store than over the internet. I’ve obtained more than 90% of my collection by regularly prowling a variety of used book stores across the state. But I was thrilled to find this particular book in any location.

    I also have managed to complete my collection of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football in recent years, and that would not have been possible with out Ebay. You just don’t see those for sale in used book stores anymore.

  7. Huckleberry said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    What’s your criterion for being a “book written about Texas Longhorn football”?

    I ask only because I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to make money by publishing two copies of multiple short books about Texas Longhorn football, keeping one, and then offering to sell you the other copy for $100.

    Sort of like Scipio splitting his Fiesta Bowl recap into 4 blog entries.

  8. Big Satan said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    Wait a second. So if I’m reading this correctly, it means that you’ve also purchased Ketchum’s book?

    Dude.

    Your street cred just went back to zero.

  9. EyesOfTX said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    Actually, Huck, Scipio’s four posts on the Fiesta Bowl probably contain more text than this pamphlet does.

    And, if it can’t be bought at a used book store or Barnes & Noble, I’m not interested in it. :)

  10. ponderos said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    I ask only because I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to make money by publishing two copies of multiple short books about Texas Longhorn football, keeping one, and then offering to sell you the other copy for $100.

    Guns n Roses tried that same route with “Use Your Illusions I and II”.

  11. Black Scholes said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    Eyes – do you have sons? Daughters? Favored nephews?

    I only ask because I’m trying to get a sense of what exactly I would need to do to insert myself into your will in order to inherit this fine collection.

    I could offer you your own shelf – at eye level of course – in my library, and I think a brass plaque engraved with “From the collection of …” could be arranged.

    Eagerly awaiting your reply.

  12. EyesOfTX said:

    January 11th, 2009 at 7:26 am

    Scholes – Yes, I have one son and one daughter. Sorry about that. :)

Leave a Reply

Follow Us

Related Articles

Hot Forum Topics

Activity

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Top Ten Reasons Why Cal Can Beat Duke   14 minutes ago

    This would probably go a bit better if you read it in your Bobby Knight voice and it had two decades worth of goodwill built up from its gratuitous appearance on a popular late night television show. But oh well.

    1) Interior Worries. As in the Bears shouldn’t have any defensively

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Round 2 Saturday Recaps   1 hour, 11 minutes ago

    We talked about the upset of the decade in this post, but I watched some other great basketball today I’d like to comment on.

    For me, the theme of the day was well-played basketball. I’m not only talking about what Northern Iowa did, I’m talking about the other seven games being really well

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Madness Magic: Northern Iowa Upsets Kansas   1 hour, 24 minutes ago

    Just a phenomenal game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Recapping The South   1 hour, 36 minutes ago

    Udoh was a fargging beast in that game. Very athletic player.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   1 hour, 59 minutes ago

    Jesus. I think I see four horseman on the horizon.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Madness Magic: Northern Iowa Upsets Kansas   2 hours, 3 minutes ago

    Today reminded me why I love this tournament so much. A good friend of mine mentioned to me that college basketball is the great equalizer of all athletic endeavors. At least of the sports we care about. He’s right.

    For instance, you can have a 40 inch vertical, be Iverson quick,

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   2 hours, 7 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fuller Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   2 hours, 7 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fulmer Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley wrote a new blog post: This Is Sparta!   2 hours, 20 minutes ago

    Please make yourself welcome and Adam will be by shortly to keep you up to date on all Michigan State Spartan happenings.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   2 hours, 24 minutes ago

    I suppose anyone could be your “favorite Longhorn basketball player” but Ford did more than just about anyone…although Durant is clearly better. Ford’s supporting cast was better than Durant’s in his sophomore year. Durant’s had more talent (Augustin, James, Abrams) but Ford’s was more developed (Boddicker, Ivey, Mouton, Thomas) and had worked with him for

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   2 hours, 31 minutes ago

    Crazy Joe, your thoughts intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   2 hours, 33 minutes ago

    This notion of Hamilton as being a disaster area on defense is all a bit much. He rebounds extremely well which, if it wasn’t obvious, is extremely important in this game since it secures possession of the basketball. Winning in basketball is achieved through the scoring of baskets and it’s necessary to possess the basketball

  • Ojnab Bob commented on the blog post Best Opening Round I Can Remember   2 hours, 44 minutes ago

    I posted earlier about how Collins’ effort just crippled Kansas today, but what amazed me the most was his complete inability to stay in front of his man on defense. UNI got a LOT of good looks out of penetration/pass after one of UNI’s modestly gifted athletes blew right by Sherron. The best

  • Scipio Tex wrote a new blog post: Best Opening Round I Can Remember   3 hours, 55 minutes ago

    At least it’s shaping up that way if Sunday delivers.

    As disappointed as I was in last year’s opening weekend of March Madness, this one is exceeding all expectations. Putting aside the fact that my bracket now resembles Kabul after the Taliban rolled through in ‘96 – a map of ordered failure –

  • J commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   4 hours, 23 minutes ago

    Thanks for the kind words, Trips.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • J commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   4 hours, 23 minutes ago

    You know who’s bitter and angry as fuck? This guy —> ME.

    I can only hope our returning players (whoever that may be) remember this and realize they need to play motivated EVERY FUCKING GAME and put forward 40 MINUTES of effort each game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Rumor Alert–TMG   4 hours, 55 minutes ago

    Kid seems like a fantastic collegiate player. I haven’t seen any NBA info. Is he a legit prospect?

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   5 hours, 1 minute ago

    Tough day for Sherron on O and D.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • GoHornsGo90 commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   5 hours, 46 minutes ago

    To leave or stay?

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   5 hours, 46 minutes ago

    KSU moving on led by a hot shooting Pullen. BTW, White Mormons can shoot FTs. 22 for 25, I think. Imagine if we could shoot like that.

    Wake’s coming back on Kentucky. They’re within 25 right now…..

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Bid Dance: Day Three   6 hours, 4 minutes ago

    Just wanted to say I feel for you guys. As a Texas fan I know how this feels even if it’s from a football perspective.

    I still think you’re the best basketball team in the country, and unfortunately you ran into a team that packed a Villanova circa 1985 type game today. Meaning they

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 14 minutes ago

    Wow. Wake won’t break 50. Not surprising really — we should have beaten Wake and they are not a very good team.

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 20 minutes ago

    Kentucky doing their best to beat Wake by half hundred. Close call….

  • RRR wrote a new blog post: Survive and Advance   6 hours, 23 minutes ago

    We really struggled in the first half, but battled through it to get a tough win against Jacksonville.  On to Oxford!

     Forget what conference they play in, Jacksonville is a very good basketball team, and they got to Lubbock not because of a crazy bank shot at the buzzer in Phoenix, but by playing aggressive, intense defense for

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”http://tortillaretort.fantake.com/1969/12/31/” });

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 41 minutes ago

    The shamrock is on his left shoulder. The Griffin looking thing is on his right.

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   6 hours, 49 minutes ago

    Everytime I see a Gumbel brother I think of “Gumbel to Gumbel”

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   7 hours, 3 minutes ago

    Kentucky starting to pile on Wake. That would have been our fate…..

    KSU just killing the Mormons on the glass…

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   7 hours, 30 minutes ago

    10 point lead for the Mormons again…

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   7 hours, 45 minutes ago

    This is the first-time Frank Martin has ever met a Mormon who wasn’t on a bicycle.

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   7 hours, 49 minutes ago

    Does that mean he gets to pick his wives first???