Texas Tech celebrates its 100th year of enrollment in 2025. After a prolonged Lone Star State fight to establish a public university in West Texas to rival schools in the East, legislation was passed in Austin establishing the school. In 1925, two years after that legislation, the school in Lubbock enrolled its first class of students and fielded its first athletic teams.
Over the past century, Texas Tech has grown into a major NCAA Division 1 university in both academics and athletics. With that in mind, here are a few things to know about athletics, Texas Tech and my alma mater Austin College in Sherman, TX.
100 years ago today, on October 10, 1925, Tech and AC tied 3-3 in Lubbock on the gridiron. Austin College became the first school to ever score on Texas Tech.
The 1925 Texas Tech football coach was Ewing Freeland. Freeland, a former head football coach at Austin College, would coach in Lubbock from 1925 to 1929.
The 1925 Austin College football coach was Pete Cawthon. Cawthon would later become head coach of Texas Tech football from 1930 to 1940.
The star Kangaroo of the 1925 AC-Tech football game was Dell Morgan. Morgan would later become head coach of Texas Tech football from 1940 to 1950.
The Double T Tech logo? Designed by Freeland. The Red Raider mascot? Implemented by Cawthon. The first victory over Texas A&M? Earned by Morgan.
Joining Freeland, Cawthon, and Morgan from 1925 to 1950 was a steady stream of former Kangaroo players to assist. Henry Frnka, Dutchy Smith, Weldon Chapman, W.L. Golightly, Virgil Ballard, W.M. Keeling, Swede McMurray, and Gordon May were all in Lubbock during the 25-year time period. These Roo coaches expanded Tech athletics into other sports (basketball, baseball, track, tennis) and also established Tech athletics for women.
By 1950, Texas Tech was ready for launch. Membership in the prestigious Southwest Conference was imminent. The Tech nurtured by Austin College as a child had been replaced with the adult Texas Tech with which we are all familiar today.
In the 1925 game played 100 years ago today, Austin College was heavily favored. The Roos were fresh off a season that included wins against SWC members Baylor and Rice, while Tech was in its first season of play. AC dominated Freeland’s Tech squad statistically. But the Roos struggled to put points on the board, so much so that Cawthon was furious.
From “100 Years, 100 Yards, the Story of Austin College Football:”
“A norther blew into Lubbock the night before the game with Texas Tech. Temperatures dropped below freezing. The entire team had worn short sleeve shirts on the warm train trip from Sherman and not one player had brought a coat.”
“A few seconds before halftime, Tech kicked a field goal and AC trailed 3-0 at intermission. A seething Cawthon would not let his players go to the warm locker room. He herded the team under a goal post in the fierce wind and told his team that if Tech won, he would whip every player before they boarded the train for home.”
“The Kangaroos outplayed and outgained Tech the entire second half. But every time AC neared the Tech goal line, the ball slipped out of cold numb hands and Tech recovered. In the fourth quarter, [AC kicker] Lamar Cooper kicked a field goal. Cooper said he had never kicked one into a wind that strong. Final score 3-3.”
“Cawthon did not whip anyone, but he refused to let the team eat the post-game steaks that were already cooked and waiting when they got back to their hotel. He wouldn’t even let them change from the game uniforms until they got back on the [train] that had been sitting on a siding all day with no heat.”
AC returned to Sherman and easily won its next game in a 23-0 shutout.
Texas Tech football is undefeated in 2025 and thriving in the new NCAA era of NIL. But 100 years today, Tech was just getting off the ground. And get off the ground they did, thanks to 25 years of Austin College Kangaroos. Make sure to tell your friends in the “806” that Texas Tech just happens to be “The House that AC Built.” See the comments for that Roo Tale.
Happy 100th Anniversary to the old Kangaroos who tied the Red Raiders on the gridiron on this day 100 years ago. And happy 100th Birthday to Texas Tech. AC’s handy work 100 years later is still looking, as the kids say, .
Your welcome Lubbock. Sincerely, 176-year-old Austin College
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