The pageantry of school soccer shines brightest in its storied rivalries.
You’ve acquired Michigan-Ohio State. You’ve acquired Bama-Auburn. Army-Navy. You can go on and on.Â
Then, you’ve got acquired the Red River Showdown: Texas-OU or OU-Texas (we’ll go away that up for debate).
Former Texas head coach Tom Herman as soon as playfully illustrated the depth of the rivalry with an expertise he had: being flipped the “double bird” by each an aged lady and little boy.
Both storied applications are backed by die-hard followers (clearly). Fans who’ve rooted for the burnt orange or crimson since their adolescent days. Fans like Phil Krauter, who has attended the Red River Showdown each single season for the past 50 years.Â
He, like many others, have been following since he was only a boy (minus the double hen).Â
Lured by the Longhorns brand
Krauter grew up in West Texas and have become a Longhorns fan by osmosis, he informed WFAA.
“My dad was a Texas fan even though he did not go to school there,” Krauter mentioned. “I remember seeing my first game on TV … Texas played LSU in the Cotton Bowl in 1963. I was only 7 years old and the Longhorn on the helmet … I was fascinated by it.”
Krauter eloquently recalled how Texas defeated Navy and future Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Roger Staubach the subsequent 12 months within the 1964 Cotton Bowl Classic, a de facto nationwide championship.
It was honest to say Krauter was “hooked” ever since. He mentioned Texas was the one place he ever needed to go to high school rising up.
“That’s the one place I submitted my SAT scores, so I guess if I hadn’t got in there, I don’t know what I would have done,” Krauter joked.
Krauter enrolled at Texas in 1973, which was the primary 12 months he went to the Red River Showdown game in-person, and thus the 50-year streak began.
(*50*)
‘I can not ever miss this game once more’
Krauter started his Red River Showdown viewing expertise in a tough patch for the Longhorns.Â
Going to his first ever Red River Showdown in 1973, Krauter mentioned he wasn’t certain what to anticipate.Â
“It was different than Austin or Lubbock because you had half the stadium was crimson and half the stadium was burnt orange,” Krauter informed WFAA. “The excitement and the cannons going off in the crowd, you know, half the crowd is roaring at all times. And I walked down there just dumbfounded and I said, ‘I can’t ever miss this game again.'”
The game was admirable to Krauter regardless of, in his phrases, “getting smacked” 52-13. OU dominated the rivalry within the early Nineteen Seventies. The Sooners had already gained two straight conferences earlier than Krauter enrolled, and went on to assert three extra video games throughout his time as a UT scholar.
“They had hellacious teams with the Selmon brothers, their defenses were great,” Krauter mentioned. “They were running the wishbone at that time also, and they were basically unstoppable.”
Two of the three Selmon brothers – Lee Roy and Dewey – would go on to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers No. 1 total and within the second spherical in 1976, respectively.
Then, in Krauter’s first 12 months after graduating, the Longhorns turned the tide.
50 years of Red River via the Eyes of Texas
Aside from Army-Navy (due to the pageantry of the game and supporting the army), Krauter mentioned there is no such thing as a different place to observe a soccer game than the Red River Showdown on the Cotton Bowl.
When requested about his most memorable moments of the rivalry, Krauter initially pointed to 1977.Â
“Earl Campbell was a senior and obviously he went on to win the Heisman that year,” Krauter mentioned. “In the the previous six years, we lost five and we tied the year before, and the reason we tied was because we blocked extra points at the end of the game.”
Texas held OU to 2 subject targets within the game and Campbell scored the one landing of the game, main UT to a 13-6 victory.
Next within the reminiscence financial institution is the controversial game in 1984.
No. 1 Texas versus No. 2 Oklahoma, how might it get any greater? Cue the rain.
“It rained the whole game … just poured,” Krauter mentioned. “That game was memorable because it rained hard the whole game.”
OU followers would argue that is not the one factor memorable in regards to the game. In the waning moments of the game, Texas beginning quarterback and future Westlake head coach Todd Dodge took a shot on the finish zone, which was seemingly intercepted by the Sooners.Â
Except, the refs known as the participant out of bounds.
“I’m not going to say the ref was wrong or right on that, but Switzer went berserk,” Krauter mentioned.Â
WFAA’s sister station, KVUE, spoke to Dodge about that game in 2019, the place he claims it should not have mattered anyway as a result of “it was a big-time pass interference before it ever happened.”
Semantics, OU followers would argue. Let’s chalk that one as much as debate.Â
UT kicked a game-tying subject aim on the final play of the game, marking one of many 5 ties within the 100-plus-year-old rivalry.Â
Over the years, Krauter has sat in quite a few completely different spots within the Cotton Bowl, together with near the “Battle Line.”
“Yeah, I had a friend who got tickets for me several years and they were right there on the 50, basically. I’ve sat different places over the years too,” Krauter mentioned.
Krauter mentioned he likes to take a seat simply shut sufficient to verbally-joust with Sooners followers.
“I like to be close enough to talk trash. There’s no doubt about that,” Krauter mentioned. “I like sitting in the upper deck. But there’s so much trash talk. I mean, when I was younger, it was a lot more serious. Now, they look at me as an old man, I guess. They’re a little bit nicer to me. But it’s all in good fun.”
Krauter informed WFAA that his expertise has been pretty tame. However, the previous days had been way more raucous than it’s current day.Â
“Quite frankly, is vicious as it is, I have never to my knowledge seen a fight or anything after around the stadium or after the game,” Krauter mentioned. “Unlike back in the old days when they used to go downtown on Commerce Street, and I always woke up when I was a kid on Saturday morning to see how many people got arrested that night before.”
In 2018, WFAA reporter Chris Sadeghi profiled how downtown Dallas would put together for a rowdy crowd, leading to a whole bunch of arrests – primarily of Dallasites and never UT or OU college students.
Krauter admits one of many biggest performances he is ever seen within the rivalry was not performed by a Longhorn. Instead, he factors to Kyler Murray in 2018.
“We had that game under control. He’s went nuts in the fourth quarter,” Krauter mentioned. “Probably one of the greatest performances that I’ve ever seen. We wound up winning the game, luckily, but he got them back in it.”
With 100-plus years of historical past, memorable moments and traditional kickoffs will come a loads. For a deeper dive on the historical past of the Red River Showdown, go to WFAA’s deep dive right here.
Red River Showdown: What it is advisable to know
Saturday’s game will mark the 118th Red River Showdown between the 2 illustrious applications.
And, like yearly as he is performed for the past 50, Krauter can be there, attending to all of his traditions.
“Our tradition is, we’ll get out there and I have about five good friends we’ll go and meet at one certain concession stand near Big Tex, eat a corn dog, drink some beer and then we always meet after the game right to the left Big Tex because it’s by the food court,” Krauter mentioned. “The beer is cheaper in the food court than anywhere on the State Fair grounds. Good place to be.”
As for the game? Krauter is feeling good about Texas’ shot to flip the script on the rivalry once more, which has been owned by the Sooners not too long ago. If historical past is any indication, nonetheless, it’s going to be a detailed game. The final 9 occasions Texas and Oklahoma have performed one another have been determined by one possession.Â
No lead is secure within the Red River Showdown, Krauter says.
“I don’t care how good one of the teams is, it’s always a dogfight,” Krauter mentioned. “Just when you think you’re going to see a killing by one team, the other one will come back and win the game.”
Regardless of the result, Krauter will don the burnt orange and throw up a “hook ’em” horns, simply as he did when he concluded his interview for this story.
Krauter shared these pictures from his Fiftieth-consecutive go to after Texas shut out Oklahoma for the primary time since 1965:Â
story by The Texas Tribune Source link