Post by Coach J Campbell on Jan 20, 2008 10:41:32 GMT
In the fall of 1951, a new era was about to dawn upon the Texas schoolboy football scene.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL), was implementing a new plan whereby its member schools would be divided into different classifications, based on enrollment. This was done in order to equalize the competition among high schools of different size. The UIL labeled the classifications AAAA, AAA, AA, A and. Class B. Separate divisions were created for Six man and Eight man teams.
This move by the UIL would forever be known as "the modern day" era of Texas schoolboy football.
Originally, Class AAAA and Class AAA were comprised of approximately 50 schools each, with eight districts in each classification or conference. The districts were numbered one through eight, roughly from northwest to south-southeast. The playoffs were structured in such a way as to have the District 1 winner meet the District 2 winner, the District 3 winner meeting the District 4 winner, etc., in first round (bi-district) games. This culminated into the crowning of a State Champion in each conference around Christmas Day, except in Class B, Six man and Eight man, which were initially limited to regional championships. The 1972 season saw the UIL began to crown state football champions in Class B, Six man and Eight man.
In later years, other changes were made. Most notably, the elimination of Eight man competition following the 1975 season and dropping the Class "B" Conference after the 1979 season. With the elimination of Class B, the football conferences became 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A and Six Man, beginning with the 1980 campaign.
This web site is meant to pay homage to the football teams, which began as, then, District 1-AAAA.
The charter members of District 1-AAAA were Abilene, Amarillo, Borger, Lubbock, Odessa, Pampa and San Angelo. Not counting the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) schools, each of these communities had but one high school. And Friday night football was the one thing that set them apart from the rest of the state.
While high school football had been around for more than 30 years prior to the fall of '51, it began to take on a whole new meaning with the advent of the "modern day" era.
Lubbock wore the crown of District 1-AAAA champs at the conclusion of that first fall campaign. The Westerners, in conquering all six of their district foes by an average margin of more than 26 points, rolled to a spotless 10-0 record. They didn't stop at winning just the district title. By the time the high plains dust had settled that December in 1951, the Hub City school had earned Texas' first Class AAAA state football championship, while finishing with an overall mark of 13-0. The black and gold clad Westerners defeated Robert E. Lee of Baytown, 14-12, in the title game played in Dallas.
When the next season rolled around, the district faced a mild change. By order of special permission from District 1-AAAA officials, and with UIL approval, Midland was added to the fracas with the beginning of the 1952 season. The Bulldogs were moving up from Class 3A, where the previous season saw them make a run at the title in that classification. This created an eight team loop, making it easier to draw the district schedule.
When the schedule was drawn up, it was decided to hold the district "rivalry" games on Thanksgiving afternoon, in the final week of the regular season. The "rivalry" games were deemed to be; Odessa vs. Midland, Amarillo vs. Lubbock, Pampa vs. Borger and Abilene vs. San Angelo. The Thanksgiving Day affairs quickly became a popular tradition, where overflow crowds generally packed the stadiums at the game-sites.
In '52, Lubbock rolled to its second consecutive 4A state title, matching 1951's 13-0 campaign. Again, Baytown Lee was the victim; this time by a 12-7 score.
During the 1952 football season, Amarillo Daily News sports writers began to refer to the district as "The Little Southwest Conference." The nickname quickly caught on; not only with West Texans, but also the rest of the state.
Odessa derailed the Lubbock Westerner express in the 1953 season and laid claim to the district title. Likewise, the Bronchos made it to the 4A state tile game, only to be denied the crown by Houston Lamar, falling by a 33-7 score. With the loss, Odessa finished the season with a 9-2-2 record.
Not only was the district turned back in the 1953 state championship game, it was becoming apparent, animosity was beginning to sit in among the district's member schools.
At the conclusion of the 1953 campaign, it was revealed that school officials from Odessa, Abilene and San Angelo were all in favor of expelling Borger and Pampa from the district. The officials cited, among other issues, travel concerns, too many district games and lack of a natural rivalry involving teams from Borger and Pampa with the schools in the southern part of the district. One Abilene official told the Amarillo Daily News, his team could play non district games in East Texas and still be closer to Abilene, rather than driving to Borger for a district game. The official went on to tell the newspaper, gate receipts were much higher for Abilene's non district games with teams such as Breckenridge, rather than with Borger and Pampa. Odessa officials were noted as saying; seven district games were just too many for the players, as it was causing them (the players), as well as the coaches, undo stress. San Angelo was mostly concerned with the travel, especially in inclement weather. Midland officials withheld comment, even though Midland held the District Chair seat.
The concerns expressed by the "southern contingent" created an outcry in the communities of Pampa and Borger, as well as in Amarillo and Lubbock. Amarillo and Lubbock officials dearly wanted to retain Borger and Pampa in the district.
At the time, neither Borger nor Pampa had sufficient enrollment numbers to automatically qualify for AAAA status. But, by UIL rules , so long as the other members of the district voted unanimously, Pampa and Borger could remain in the district. Beginning with the 1954 school year, a school's enrollment had to be at least 1100 in order to automatically qualify for AAAA. A school had to have at least 500 students to be considered for an AAAA district. If there was only one vote against admitting a school, then the school could not be admitted into the district in the higher classification.
As the district's annual December meeting grew closer, everyone waited with eager anticipation, as the members convened in Odessa. Businesses in Pampa, Borger and Amarillo gathered numerous signatures and had them presented at the gathering.
When the storm clouds cleared that Saturday night in December of '53, by unanimous vote, Borger and Pampa were allowed to remain in the district.
The 1954 Abilene football squad became the fourth consecutive team from District 1-AAAA to appear in the Class AAAA State Title game. Unlike their counterparts from Odessa the season before, the Eagles were not to be denied the title, in edging Houston Stephen F. Austin, 14-7. It would not be Abilene's last trip to the title game, as the district's nickname, "The Little SWC," was beginning to stick.
When 1954 came to a close, most felt the 1955 season would probably be the last one these teams would spend together in District 1-AAAA.
With the populations of both Lubbock and Amarillo growing at a rapid rate, new schools in both cities would soon open. Monterey was scheduled to open in Lubbock by the start of the 1955 season as a Class AAA school, but by 1956, become AAAA. Likewise, in Amarillo, Palo Duro was opening its doors in the fall of '56 as AAA, but was expected to quickly move up to AAAA.
The thinking was, by '56, two Lubbock schools, Amarillo, Borger, Pampa and Plainview were certain to have their own AAAA district.
Meanwhile, the communities of Odessa, Midland and Abilene were experiencing growing pains of their own, with all three cities putting new high schools on the drawing boards.
Only time would tell what would eventually happen with the 1-AAAA district.
On the wings of a 23 game winning streak, the Abilene War Eagles sailed to their second consecutive AAAA title in December of 1955. It was also the fifth consecutive year a team from District 1-AAAA appeared in the title game. Fans across the state were beginning to wonder if the "real" SWC was actually the "Little SWC!" But Abilene's title runs were not about to come to an end.
Apparently the ramifications behind the Eagles' winning streak stretched a lot farther than the corporate limits of Abilene.
During its 1955 title run, Abilene had hammered El Paso High in a bi-district game to the tune of 61-0. In the same game the year before, El Paso Austin had fallen to the War Birds by the exact same score. The Eagles' 1955 drubbing of El Paso High caused El Paso school officials to abruptly fire all five head football coaches at the city's high schools, according to reports in the Amarillo Daily News. The affected schools were, El Paso High, Austin of El Paso, Jefferson, Bowie and Burgess. Only the Ysleta coaches were spared, and that was because Ysleta was not a part of the El Paso ISD. The changes were thought to have been made after comments appeared in El Paso newspapers about the city's inept schoolboy teams.
As expected, when the 1956 season began, it found some major modifications. Not just in West Texas, but all over the state. The UIL expanded from eight districts to 16 in Classes AAAA and AAA. This was accomplished by the UIL revamping the enrollment numbers in all the classifications. Class AAAA's enrollment requirements were actually adjusted downward from 1200 + in 1955 to 845 + for the 1956 season. To no one's surprise, it marked the end of District 1-AAAA, as it had been known.
Two Amarillo schools, Palo Duro and Amarillo High, were grouped with two Lubbock schools, Monterey and Lubbock High, to go along with Borger, Pampa and Plainview to form the new District 3-AAAA, for 1956.
Changes 'down south' for the '56 season, saw Big Spring joined with Odessa, Midland, Abilene and San Angelo to form District 2-AAAA, causing a sports writer with the San Angelo Standard-Times to quip; "Formerly District 1-4A, the new loop lost the weak sisters of the northern end, Amarillo, Lubbock, Pampa and Borger, and retained all the tough ones, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo and two time state champion Abilene. Into this awesome array enters Big Spring, up from Class 3A and not very happy about it..."
The all new "Little SWC" had been born.
In the UIL's new Class AAAA alignment, the El Paso area schools were assigned District 1-AAAA.
Abilene began the new era of "The Little SWC" where it ended the old one, by hoisting its third consecutive title trophy. As the Eagle win streak had reached 37 by season's end, The Associated Press referred to the Abilene club as "The Little Oklahoma team of Texas."
It appeared Abilene was well on its way to an unprecedented fourth consecutive state championship, as the Eagles unbeaten streak reached 49 games.
On December 14, 1957, Highland Park shocked the entire state in holding the War Birds to a 20-20 tie in the state semi-finals. Highland Park advanced to the championship game on the strength of a 5-3 edge in penetrations. The tie snapped, at the time, the longest winning streak in the nation.
It had taken six consecutive years to keep a team representing "The Little SWC" out of the Class AAAA title match. Over that span, "The Little SWC" went 5-1 in championship games.
Highland Park went on to win the 1957 AAAA title over Port Arthur, 21-9.
Abilene finally lost on the scoreboard, the next season, when they fell to Sweetwater, 19-0 in the second game on the schedule. It was their first loss since Breckenridge pulled the trick in the third game of the 1954 campaign, and the first time in 52 consecutive games the Eagles had been outscored.
As the years passed, "The Little SWC" went through several other changes, with the edition of new schools from Odessa, Midland and Abilene. For two years, Odessa supplied three schools into the district, with Ector's brief stay from 1968 through 1969. Ector's admission into the district came about after the UIL again revamped the enrollment numbers, and increased the number of 4A districts from 16 to 32, beginning with the 1968 school year.
The district was dominated by Permian in the 60s, 70s and 80s, as the Panthers reeled off five state titles over that span, along with three other appearances in the title game. All told, the Odessa school, known worldwide as MOJO, has won six state titles and made a state record eleven appearances in the championship game.
San Angelo, after opening a new campus and changing the name to San Angelo Central High in 1958, won a title in 1966. Abilene Cooper finished as runner-up in 1967 and 1996.
Following the 1985 season, Big Spring was removed from the district into Class 4A (5A had become the largest classification in 1980).
Beginning in 1990, the UIL created a two-tiered playoff format (Division I and Division II) by allowing the top three finishers in each district to advance into the playoffs. The Division I and Division II brackets were determined based on enrollment by the top three finishers in each district. As a result, the UIL began crowning two separate state football champions for Class 5A. Some fans and media still think this move by the UIL may have "watered down" the playoffs. In subsequent years, Classes 4A, 3A and 2A added the two-tiered format.
Midland's Robert E. Lee High, in matching Abilene's 1950s run, won three consecutive state titles in 1998 (5A-II), 1999 (5A-I) and 2000 (5A-I). Lee also finished as Class 5A state runners-up in 1983.
In 2002, Midland High ended Texas schoolboy football’s longest playoff drought (a period spanning 51 years) by claiming the district’s third place spot.
First-year Midland High coach, Craig Yenzer, made sure the Bulldogs weren’t content with just ending the 51-year playoff absence, by leading the team all the way to the 5A-I title game, where it took a Hail-Mary touchdown pass by Converse Judson on the game’s final play to end Midland’s quest for the trophy.
With Midland’s appearance in the 2002 title game, it gave the six current “Little SWC” members the distinction of being the only district in Texas, regardless of conference, to have all of the district’s schools reach the championship game (at least once) in UIL football.
Maybe the biggest news to occur in "The Little SWC" since the break-up after the 1955 year, occurred at the conclusion of the 1997 season. San Angelo Central was moved back into the Amarillo-Lubbock district (for football only) in order to give that district six football schools. Central's appeal to remain in the district with the Odessa, Midland and Abilene schools was initially granted by the UIL. However, Lubbock and Amarillo officials protested the UIL's decision, and Central was placed back into the northern district by the UIL.
With the overall West Texas population slowly declining, recent rumors have the UIL combining the schools in Amarillo, Lubbock, Odessa, Midland, San Angelo and Abilene into one district in some form or another. So far, the rumors have yet to materialize.
This web site will allow you to take a look at how each team, who has called "The Little SWC" home, has fared on a game-by-game basis while a member of the most famous football district in Texas schoolboy football annals. The records are from 1951 through the present.
Special thanks to the Texas State Library in Austin and the
Tom Green County Library in San Angelo for supplying the newspaper archives used for retrieving most of this information.
Barry Sykes of Odessa provided the coaching names and composite coaching records for Abilene, Abilene Cooper, Midland, Midland Lee, Odessa and San Angelo (Central), as well as the all-time won/loss records for the aforementioned schools.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL), was implementing a new plan whereby its member schools would be divided into different classifications, based on enrollment. This was done in order to equalize the competition among high schools of different size. The UIL labeled the classifications AAAA, AAA, AA, A and. Class B. Separate divisions were created for Six man and Eight man teams.
This move by the UIL would forever be known as "the modern day" era of Texas schoolboy football.
Originally, Class AAAA and Class AAA were comprised of approximately 50 schools each, with eight districts in each classification or conference. The districts were numbered one through eight, roughly from northwest to south-southeast. The playoffs were structured in such a way as to have the District 1 winner meet the District 2 winner, the District 3 winner meeting the District 4 winner, etc., in first round (bi-district) games. This culminated into the crowning of a State Champion in each conference around Christmas Day, except in Class B, Six man and Eight man, which were initially limited to regional championships. The 1972 season saw the UIL began to crown state football champions in Class B, Six man and Eight man.
In later years, other changes were made. Most notably, the elimination of Eight man competition following the 1975 season and dropping the Class "B" Conference after the 1979 season. With the elimination of Class B, the football conferences became 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A and Six Man, beginning with the 1980 campaign.
This web site is meant to pay homage to the football teams, which began as, then, District 1-AAAA.
The charter members of District 1-AAAA were Abilene, Amarillo, Borger, Lubbock, Odessa, Pampa and San Angelo. Not counting the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) schools, each of these communities had but one high school. And Friday night football was the one thing that set them apart from the rest of the state.
While high school football had been around for more than 30 years prior to the fall of '51, it began to take on a whole new meaning with the advent of the "modern day" era.
Lubbock wore the crown of District 1-AAAA champs at the conclusion of that first fall campaign. The Westerners, in conquering all six of their district foes by an average margin of more than 26 points, rolled to a spotless 10-0 record. They didn't stop at winning just the district title. By the time the high plains dust had settled that December in 1951, the Hub City school had earned Texas' first Class AAAA state football championship, while finishing with an overall mark of 13-0. The black and gold clad Westerners defeated Robert E. Lee of Baytown, 14-12, in the title game played in Dallas.
When the next season rolled around, the district faced a mild change. By order of special permission from District 1-AAAA officials, and with UIL approval, Midland was added to the fracas with the beginning of the 1952 season. The Bulldogs were moving up from Class 3A, where the previous season saw them make a run at the title in that classification. This created an eight team loop, making it easier to draw the district schedule.
When the schedule was drawn up, it was decided to hold the district "rivalry" games on Thanksgiving afternoon, in the final week of the regular season. The "rivalry" games were deemed to be; Odessa vs. Midland, Amarillo vs. Lubbock, Pampa vs. Borger and Abilene vs. San Angelo. The Thanksgiving Day affairs quickly became a popular tradition, where overflow crowds generally packed the stadiums at the game-sites.
In '52, Lubbock rolled to its second consecutive 4A state title, matching 1951's 13-0 campaign. Again, Baytown Lee was the victim; this time by a 12-7 score.
During the 1952 football season, Amarillo Daily News sports writers began to refer to the district as "The Little Southwest Conference." The nickname quickly caught on; not only with West Texans, but also the rest of the state.
Odessa derailed the Lubbock Westerner express in the 1953 season and laid claim to the district title. Likewise, the Bronchos made it to the 4A state tile game, only to be denied the crown by Houston Lamar, falling by a 33-7 score. With the loss, Odessa finished the season with a 9-2-2 record.
Not only was the district turned back in the 1953 state championship game, it was becoming apparent, animosity was beginning to sit in among the district's member schools.
At the conclusion of the 1953 campaign, it was revealed that school officials from Odessa, Abilene and San Angelo were all in favor of expelling Borger and Pampa from the district. The officials cited, among other issues, travel concerns, too many district games and lack of a natural rivalry involving teams from Borger and Pampa with the schools in the southern part of the district. One Abilene official told the Amarillo Daily News, his team could play non district games in East Texas and still be closer to Abilene, rather than driving to Borger for a district game. The official went on to tell the newspaper, gate receipts were much higher for Abilene's non district games with teams such as Breckenridge, rather than with Borger and Pampa. Odessa officials were noted as saying; seven district games were just too many for the players, as it was causing them (the players), as well as the coaches, undo stress. San Angelo was mostly concerned with the travel, especially in inclement weather. Midland officials withheld comment, even though Midland held the District Chair seat.
The concerns expressed by the "southern contingent" created an outcry in the communities of Pampa and Borger, as well as in Amarillo and Lubbock. Amarillo and Lubbock officials dearly wanted to retain Borger and Pampa in the district.
At the time, neither Borger nor Pampa had sufficient enrollment numbers to automatically qualify for AAAA status. But, by UIL rules , so long as the other members of the district voted unanimously, Pampa and Borger could remain in the district. Beginning with the 1954 school year, a school's enrollment had to be at least 1100 in order to automatically qualify for AAAA. A school had to have at least 500 students to be considered for an AAAA district. If there was only one vote against admitting a school, then the school could not be admitted into the district in the higher classification.
As the district's annual December meeting grew closer, everyone waited with eager anticipation, as the members convened in Odessa. Businesses in Pampa, Borger and Amarillo gathered numerous signatures and had them presented at the gathering.
When the storm clouds cleared that Saturday night in December of '53, by unanimous vote, Borger and Pampa were allowed to remain in the district.
The 1954 Abilene football squad became the fourth consecutive team from District 1-AAAA to appear in the Class AAAA State Title game. Unlike their counterparts from Odessa the season before, the Eagles were not to be denied the title, in edging Houston Stephen F. Austin, 14-7. It would not be Abilene's last trip to the title game, as the district's nickname, "The Little SWC," was beginning to stick.
When 1954 came to a close, most felt the 1955 season would probably be the last one these teams would spend together in District 1-AAAA.
With the populations of both Lubbock and Amarillo growing at a rapid rate, new schools in both cities would soon open. Monterey was scheduled to open in Lubbock by the start of the 1955 season as a Class AAA school, but by 1956, become AAAA. Likewise, in Amarillo, Palo Duro was opening its doors in the fall of '56 as AAA, but was expected to quickly move up to AAAA.
The thinking was, by '56, two Lubbock schools, Amarillo, Borger, Pampa and Plainview were certain to have their own AAAA district.
Meanwhile, the communities of Odessa, Midland and Abilene were experiencing growing pains of their own, with all three cities putting new high schools on the drawing boards.
Only time would tell what would eventually happen with the 1-AAAA district.
On the wings of a 23 game winning streak, the Abilene War Eagles sailed to their second consecutive AAAA title in December of 1955. It was also the fifth consecutive year a team from District 1-AAAA appeared in the title game. Fans across the state were beginning to wonder if the "real" SWC was actually the "Little SWC!" But Abilene's title runs were not about to come to an end.
Apparently the ramifications behind the Eagles' winning streak stretched a lot farther than the corporate limits of Abilene.
During its 1955 title run, Abilene had hammered El Paso High in a bi-district game to the tune of 61-0. In the same game the year before, El Paso Austin had fallen to the War Birds by the exact same score. The Eagles' 1955 drubbing of El Paso High caused El Paso school officials to abruptly fire all five head football coaches at the city's high schools, according to reports in the Amarillo Daily News. The affected schools were, El Paso High, Austin of El Paso, Jefferson, Bowie and Burgess. Only the Ysleta coaches were spared, and that was because Ysleta was not a part of the El Paso ISD. The changes were thought to have been made after comments appeared in El Paso newspapers about the city's inept schoolboy teams.
As expected, when the 1956 season began, it found some major modifications. Not just in West Texas, but all over the state. The UIL expanded from eight districts to 16 in Classes AAAA and AAA. This was accomplished by the UIL revamping the enrollment numbers in all the classifications. Class AAAA's enrollment requirements were actually adjusted downward from 1200 + in 1955 to 845 + for the 1956 season. To no one's surprise, it marked the end of District 1-AAAA, as it had been known.
Two Amarillo schools, Palo Duro and Amarillo High, were grouped with two Lubbock schools, Monterey and Lubbock High, to go along with Borger, Pampa and Plainview to form the new District 3-AAAA, for 1956.
Changes 'down south' for the '56 season, saw Big Spring joined with Odessa, Midland, Abilene and San Angelo to form District 2-AAAA, causing a sports writer with the San Angelo Standard-Times to quip; "Formerly District 1-4A, the new loop lost the weak sisters of the northern end, Amarillo, Lubbock, Pampa and Borger, and retained all the tough ones, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo and two time state champion Abilene. Into this awesome array enters Big Spring, up from Class 3A and not very happy about it..."
The all new "Little SWC" had been born.
In the UIL's new Class AAAA alignment, the El Paso area schools were assigned District 1-AAAA.
Abilene began the new era of "The Little SWC" where it ended the old one, by hoisting its third consecutive title trophy. As the Eagle win streak had reached 37 by season's end, The Associated Press referred to the Abilene club as "The Little Oklahoma team of Texas."
It appeared Abilene was well on its way to an unprecedented fourth consecutive state championship, as the Eagles unbeaten streak reached 49 games.
On December 14, 1957, Highland Park shocked the entire state in holding the War Birds to a 20-20 tie in the state semi-finals. Highland Park advanced to the championship game on the strength of a 5-3 edge in penetrations. The tie snapped, at the time, the longest winning streak in the nation.
It had taken six consecutive years to keep a team representing "The Little SWC" out of the Class AAAA title match. Over that span, "The Little SWC" went 5-1 in championship games.
Highland Park went on to win the 1957 AAAA title over Port Arthur, 21-9.
Abilene finally lost on the scoreboard, the next season, when they fell to Sweetwater, 19-0 in the second game on the schedule. It was their first loss since Breckenridge pulled the trick in the third game of the 1954 campaign, and the first time in 52 consecutive games the Eagles had been outscored.
As the years passed, "The Little SWC" went through several other changes, with the edition of new schools from Odessa, Midland and Abilene. For two years, Odessa supplied three schools into the district, with Ector's brief stay from 1968 through 1969. Ector's admission into the district came about after the UIL again revamped the enrollment numbers, and increased the number of 4A districts from 16 to 32, beginning with the 1968 school year.
The district was dominated by Permian in the 60s, 70s and 80s, as the Panthers reeled off five state titles over that span, along with three other appearances in the title game. All told, the Odessa school, known worldwide as MOJO, has won six state titles and made a state record eleven appearances in the championship game.
San Angelo, after opening a new campus and changing the name to San Angelo Central High in 1958, won a title in 1966. Abilene Cooper finished as runner-up in 1967 and 1996.
Following the 1985 season, Big Spring was removed from the district into Class 4A (5A had become the largest classification in 1980).
Beginning in 1990, the UIL created a two-tiered playoff format (Division I and Division II) by allowing the top three finishers in each district to advance into the playoffs. The Division I and Division II brackets were determined based on enrollment by the top three finishers in each district. As a result, the UIL began crowning two separate state football champions for Class 5A. Some fans and media still think this move by the UIL may have "watered down" the playoffs. In subsequent years, Classes 4A, 3A and 2A added the two-tiered format.
Midland's Robert E. Lee High, in matching Abilene's 1950s run, won three consecutive state titles in 1998 (5A-II), 1999 (5A-I) and 2000 (5A-I). Lee also finished as Class 5A state runners-up in 1983.
In 2002, Midland High ended Texas schoolboy football’s longest playoff drought (a period spanning 51 years) by claiming the district’s third place spot.
First-year Midland High coach, Craig Yenzer, made sure the Bulldogs weren’t content with just ending the 51-year playoff absence, by leading the team all the way to the 5A-I title game, where it took a Hail-Mary touchdown pass by Converse Judson on the game’s final play to end Midland’s quest for the trophy.
With Midland’s appearance in the 2002 title game, it gave the six current “Little SWC” members the distinction of being the only district in Texas, regardless of conference, to have all of the district’s schools reach the championship game (at least once) in UIL football.
Maybe the biggest news to occur in "The Little SWC" since the break-up after the 1955 year, occurred at the conclusion of the 1997 season. San Angelo Central was moved back into the Amarillo-Lubbock district (for football only) in order to give that district six football schools. Central's appeal to remain in the district with the Odessa, Midland and Abilene schools was initially granted by the UIL. However, Lubbock and Amarillo officials protested the UIL's decision, and Central was placed back into the northern district by the UIL.
With the overall West Texas population slowly declining, recent rumors have the UIL combining the schools in Amarillo, Lubbock, Odessa, Midland, San Angelo and Abilene into one district in some form or another. So far, the rumors have yet to materialize.
This web site will allow you to take a look at how each team, who has called "The Little SWC" home, has fared on a game-by-game basis while a member of the most famous football district in Texas schoolboy football annals. The records are from 1951 through the present.
Special thanks to the Texas State Library in Austin and the
Tom Green County Library in San Angelo for supplying the newspaper archives used for retrieving most of this information.
Barry Sykes of Odessa provided the coaching names and composite coaching records for Abilene, Abilene Cooper, Midland, Midland Lee, Odessa and San Angelo (Central), as well as the all-time won/loss records for the aforementioned schools.