Andre the Giant at Fouts

[Marty]

My son found this picture, evidently taken in 1975. The scoreboard shows the score of the victory over Tennessee. Why was Andre at Fouts Field? Any old timers know the story?

[denton_days]

Definitely not an old timer, however I love both Andre the Giant and researching things on the internet so I did some snooping...

 

Game happened October 25, 1975. Was in the middle Fry turning the program around. First time that UT and UNT played. Seemed to be a pretty big upset when UNT came in and beat the recently dropped out of the rankings UT, on UT’s home field. Here’s some footage from the game: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc272194/m1/

 

Also apparently this game was listed on the UNT Football website as one of the ‘Five most memorable games’ for a time. Not sure if it still is!

 

Andre the giant was actually in the middle of a rumor of the sorts during that time, where people thought he would sign with the Washington Redskins, however it seems as if the Redskins couldn’t convince him to tryout and play, as he was making so much money and the rumor was squashed about a month before this photo was taken. Here’s some more on that, pretty entertaining read honestly: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2655400-urban-legends-of-the-nfl-andre-the-giant-defensive-end-washington-redskins

 

On wrestlingdata.com, it says that Andre was in Lubbock on the 24th, and Fort Worth on the 27th Wrestling. So I’m not sure he was actually at the game itself, and also the game footage from one of the above links has a different scoreboard than the photo you posted. So I’m curious if they had displayed the score on Fouts around the same day when this photo was taken. Would they have somehow given updates of the game at the stadium and showed them on the scoreboard? Who knows, but that’s definitely an important game in UNT history that happened at the UT stadium in Tennessee, and not at Fouts!

[UNT 90 Grad]

9 hours ago, Marty said:

Any old timers know the story?

Maybe basking in North Texas...glory!

[PlummMeanGreen]

Ray Braswell standing beside him?

[Stix]

Andre the Giant at Fouts?  Inconceivable!

I would guess that he came to visit Bill Mercer, but why wouldn't the photo be of him and Bill?

[southsideguy]

That clip of the game must have come from UT collection.  I don't think we gain a positive yard in the clips and the illegal procedure call, who would not want to see that on highlight clip?

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Ray Braswell standing beside him?

I thought that at first, but Andre was 7'4" and Ray is somewhere around 5'5" o 5'6".  I think the guy in the picture is taller than Ray.

[greenminer]

The other guy is easily 6'.

1 hour ago, Stix said:

I would guess that he came to visit Bill Mercer, but why wouldn't the photo be of him and Bill?

This image is before my time, but I like to think that cultural/societal norms of that day and age permitted Andre to talk to other people besides Bill.

[MeanGreenTeeth]

4 hours ago, greenminer said:

I like to think that cultural/societal norms of that day and age permitted Andre to talk to other people besides Bill.

Speaking of societal norms...1975 was a hairy, gross time.

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by MeanGreenTeeth

[greenjoe]

Actually, Andre wanted his photo taken at Southern Meth’s Ownby Field but it wasn’t big enough so he came to North Texas.  

[UNT 90 Grad]

7 hours ago, Stix said:

I would guess that he came to visit Bill Mercer, but why wouldn't the photo be of him and Bill?

Maybe Bill took the picture.  😉

[letsgiveacheer]

Hmmm...something is not right about this photo.  The NTSU scoreboard, so beloved at Fouts, is in the background. However the game against Tennessee was played in Knoxville, not Denton.  I suspect that this was photoshopped or whatever the equivalent was in those days.  Or, the final score of the NTSU-UT game was reconstructed on the Fouts scoreboard for the photo.

My guess is that Andre the Giant had a show at the Dallas Sportatorium, one of the greatest wrestling venues of all time!

Yes, it was a hairy time!

 

[97and03]

10 hours ago, MeanGreenTeeth said:

Speaking of societal norms...1975 was a hairy, gross time.

 

Three members of the NT class of ‘98 were conceived here. 

[Venson]

I was about 6 in 1975 so I definitely would not know what was going on, but having grown up with a Dad that loved wrestling and would not let you change the channel on Saturday night on channel 11 after High Chaparral and before Roller Derby to watch wrestling, I had to become a fan. Between the Von Erichs, who some played at North Texas, and Bill Mercer being at North Texas my guess is he was there to see one of them. Back then wrestling was regional so guys would come into your region and stay a while before moving on to another region. Andre was in the Dallas region back then. As far as Ray Braswell, he was an Assistant Principal at Denton High School by the time I got there and I remember him being shorter. Plus this guy doesn't look like him to me. However, I could be mistaken because he definitely didn't have the long hair and facial hair when I knew him at Denton High School. 

[drex]

I can solve part of the mystery.  They kept the scoreboard on at Fouts for at least a week showing the Tennessee score.

[UNTLifer]

19 hours ago, MeanGreenTeeth said:

Speaking of societal norms...1975 was a hairy, gross time.

 

$20 to the first person that can identify @PlummMeanGreen😂

[Monkeypox]

I believe Andre was there with Fritz von Erich watching Kevin practice. This was Kevin's freshman year, I believe... backup fullback? Fritz supposedly came to a lot of the practices, and brought Andre at least once (well, obviously).

I was -3 in 1975, though, so this is all based on internet history, so...

[greenjoe]

That might be Andre the Giant’s 6 year old son.

[Mo Green]

I remember that game because we wanted the Goodyear blimp to highlight it, so they didn't and sent Andre instead!

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

8 hours ago, greenjoe said:

That might be Andre the Giant’s 6 year old son.

@greenjoe is on a roll lately! 

[Texas Stranger]

On 3/31/2021 at 6:06 AM, Venson said:

I was about 6 in 1975 so I definitely would not know what was going on, but having grown up with a Dad that loved wrestling and would not let you change the channel on Saturday night on channel 11 after High Chaparral and before Roller Derby to watch wrestling, I had to become a fan. Between the Von Erichs, who some played at North Texas, and Bill Mercer being at North Texas my guess is he was there to see one of them. Back then wrestling was regional so guys would come into your region and stay a while before moving on to another region. Andre was in the Dallas region back then. As far as Ray Braswell, he was an Assistant Principal at Denton High School by the time I got there and I remember him being shorter. Plus this guy doesn't look like him to me. However, I could be mistaken because he definitely didn't have the long hair and facial hair when I knew him at Denton High School. 

  The Saturday night show on Channel 11 (Main Event Wrestling) was filmed at Northside Coliseum in Ft Worth Stockyards.  It's now called Cowtown Coliseum.  I don't remember who the announcer was in 1975, it was either Bill Mercer or Dan Coates.  Fritz was the main draw, neither Kevin nor Kerry were wrestling yet at that time.  Other faces were Red Bastein and Alberto Madril, the main heels were Blackjack Mulligan and of course The Spoiler.  They were both managed by Gary Hart, who was also the co-promoter.

[UNT86]

NTSU did put the score on the Fouts scoreboard following the game.

The game was in Tennessee.

It was the only game played of the two game series.  Tennessee mailed us the check for both games and told us not to come back next year.

Don't know what Andre was doing in Denton.

[UNTLifer]

2 hours ago, Texas Stranger said:

  The Saturday night show on Channel 11 (Main Event Wrestling) was filmed at Northside Coliseum in Ft Worth Stockyards.  It's now called Cowtown Coliseum.  I don't remember who the announcer was in 1975, it was either Bill Mercer or Dan Coates.  Fritz was the main draw, neither Kevin nor Kerry were wrestling yet at that time.  Other faces were Red Bastein and Alberto Madril, the main heels were Blackjack Mulligan and of course The Spoiler.  They were both managed by Gary Hart, who was also the co-promoter.

You sure that was in FW?  I always thought that it was filmed at the Sportatorium.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sportatorium#:~:text=The Sportatorium in Dallas%2C known,was located at 1000 S.

[Texas Stranger]

In the 70's there was 2 cards a week, on Monday nights in FW and Wednesdays (I think) at Sportatorium.  The Monday night card was what Channel 11 showed on Saturday nights in the 70's.  By the early 80's, the Ft Worth cards petered out and the focus shifted to the Sportatorium, this was when the Von Erich "kids" started, along with the Freebirds, Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar, etc

[Marty]

The guy on the right is DE Jimmy Burkholder, #36 in your program.