Mean Green Opened One Great Stadium, Closes Another

Green to the Bone · November 28, 2007

George and TD talked about UNT closing the Orange Bowl this Saturday. Dodge said he'll tell the team before they take the field what a great, historic facility it is and how they should be proud to be part of a long, storied tradition. Class all the way.

But they also talked about something I'm sure many here knew, but I didn't, or had forgotten: The first game at Texas Stadium was North Texas vs. Louisville, on Oct. 16, 1971. The Cowboys played their first game there a week later.

We won, by the way, 20-17.

Green Buckeye · November 28, 2007

Wow, definitely didn't know that about Texas Stadium. Would be cool if the last game there would be an NT game, but with the NFL schedule as long as it is, that just won't be so, unfortunately.

PlummMeanGreen · November 28, 2007

Wow, definitely didn't know that about Texas Stadium. Would be cool if the last game there would be an NT game, but with the NFL schedule as long as it is, that just won't be so, unfortunately.

I just think we'll all be happiest when we "open" a new stadium over at the Mean Green Village; you know, on that prime interstate real estate with our new stadium placed nicely between the 2 Texas interstates? :blink:

Trivia Question: What was really the first official event scheduled in the new Texas Stadium?

GMG!

BEAT FIU (1,500 Miles Away)!

Edited November 28, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

NT03 · November 28, 2007

It's a nice thought that if our seniors who are playing in their last game , if not at home , it gets to be at a historic college football site for the last time. The game is free to all attend in Miami , so hopefully these kids will get to play in front of a decent audience and not have to remember there final game being in front of 1,000 - 2,000 peeps.

PlummMeanGreen · November 28, 2007

It's a nice thought that if our seniors who are playing in their last game , if not at home , it gets to be at a historic college football site for the last time. The game is free to all attend in Miami , so hopefully these kids will get to play in front of a decent audience and not have to remember there final game being in front of 1,000 - 2,000 peeps.

Hopefully, any Saturday after Thanksgiving games will go the way of the dinosaur in Denton. Hellsbells! Why do we do these kinds of things to ourselves at North Texas? We had a very nice chance (if not for a Saturday after T-Day game) to have probably one of our 3 best seasons for attendance per games at Fouts Field but instead of doing that, well........ :huh: Still, for a (after Saturday) "3" win team, hasn't been as bad as we've seen in the past at the turnstiles and I think we have gained some new fans who will never be able to say that Mean Green football is hardly boring (and will be repeat customers this next Fall).

GMG!

BEAT FIU ! ! !

Edited November 28, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

NT80 · November 28, 2007

Trivia Question: What was really the first official event scheduled in the new Texas Stadium?

Answer: a Billy Graham crusade was the first event held at Texas Stadium

Question: who arranged for the crusade to be held there?

Other trivia: NT was to open Texas Stadium vs BYU on 9/10/71 but it wasn't finished and the game had to be played at the Cotton Bowl instead. NT played Louisville at Texas Stadium 10/16/71 (a 20-17 win) and the Cowboys played their first game a week later vs the New England Pats. I had heard once that another smaller college (maybe Texas Southern or Texas A&I, ??) played at Texas Stadium before NT but can't remember if it was true or find info about it. Anyone know?

PlummMeanGreen · November 28, 2007

Answer: a Billy Graham crusade was the first event held at Texas Stadium
Question: who arranged for the crusade to be held there?
Other trivia: NT was to open Texas Stadium vs BYU on 9/10/71 but it wasn't finished and the game had to be played at the Cotton Bowl instead. NT played Louisville at Texas Stadium 10/16/71 (a 20-17 win) and the Cowboys played their first game a week later vs the New England Pats. I had heard once that another smaller college (maybe Texas Southern or Texas A&I, ??) played at Texas Stadium before NT but can't remember if it was true or find info about it. Anyone know?

Your are our Grand Prize winner, NT80!

I would take a guess that it was the late, great Tom Landry who paved the way for the Texas Stadium Billy Graham Crusade.

Also, Texas oil tycoon Sid Richardson (among other high rolling Texans) was a big Graham financial supporter, too. Billy Graham had a brother-in-law who was the senior pastor at Highland Park Presbyterian Church as I recall.

NT80 · November 28, 2007

I would take a guess that it was the late, great Tom Landry who paved the way for the Texas Stadium Billy Graham Crusade.

Yes, Tom Landry arranged for the event to be at Texas Stadium.

PlummMeanGreen · November 28, 2007

Yes, Tom Landry arranged for the event to be at Texas Stadium.

Methodist Tom Landry was a frequent guest speaker at Baptist Billy's crusade meeetings. My late parents were financial supporters of Billy Graham (above & beyond their usual local church tithe, of course).

Are we having fun with all this yet, Jeff? LOL!

GMG!

letsgiveacheer · November 28, 2007

I was at the "first" Texas Stadium game, but we did not actually open the stadium. There was an earlier game by two historically black schools. I don't remember who they were, but because it was not major college football, no one counted the game and our game with Louisville was billed as the first.

By the way, if some of you recent fans think Fouts looks empty with 15,000 fans, put 10,000 or less fans in Texas Stadium and you would really see empty. The move to Texas Stadium was not good for the students. Instead of walking to the game, it became a special effort, having to take buses and such. We lost what little student support we had.

By the way, no matter how bad North Texas was, we almost always whipped Corso's Louisville teams!

GreenTiger_OriginalAcct · November 28, 2007

Methodist Tom Landry was a frequent guest speaker at Baptist Billy's crusade meeetings. My late parents were financial supporters of Billy Graham (above & beyond their usual local church tithe, of course).
Are we having fun with all this yet, Jeff? LOL!
GMG!

Here's another funny bit of trivia. I attended a Baptist college established with funds provided by two Methodists. East Texas Baptist was established as a sister school for SMU in the early 1900's. ETBU (College of Marshall then) was larger than SMU for a time, but the growth of Dallas outpaced Marshall and SMU became larger.

Greenblood94 · November 28, 2007

I was at the "first" Texas Stadium game, but we did not actually open the stadium. There was an earlier game by two historically black schools. I don't remember who they were, but because it was not major college football, no one counted the game and our game with Louisville was billed as the first.
By the way, if some of you recent fans think Fouts looks empty with 15,000 fans, put 10,000 or less fans in Texas Stadium and you would really see empty. The move to Texas Stadium was not good for the students. Instead of walking to the game, it became a special effort, having to take buses and such. We lost what little student support we had.
By the way, no matter how bad North Texas was, we almost always whipped Corso's Louisville teams!

I'm guessing all this "first game" stuff will be rehashed next winter when the Cowboys finally turn out the lights on the place...