Introduction
Much of the communication between team managers were in the form of handwritten letters, ferried from Austin to places as far away as Boulder, Colorado, and back again. Presented here are scans of the letters that Stark wrote to other team managers during the process of setting up the schedule for the 1910 football season. In addition to hand-written letters, the collection is sprinkled with examples of the most current technology Stark had available–telegraphs. With the curt, abbreviated syntax emblematic of telegraph language, these dispatches illustrate the effort required to create a season’s schedule.
Taken as a whole, the collection evidences the issues and struggles involved in the establishment of a relatively “new” sport. In these letters, you’ll find contention over which rules to play under, how much money the school should pay a visiting team, as well as the perceived strength or weaknesses of an opposing team. Also in these letters, you’ll find the persistence, shrewdness, and intelligence that served Lutcher Stark well during the 24 years he served on UT’s Board of Regents–12 of them as Chairman—both of which remain records.
| Date | Opponent | Site | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 8 | Southwestern University (TX) | Clark Field Austin, TX |
W 11–6 |
| October 15 | Haskell Institute | Clark Field Austin, TX |
W 63–3 |
| October 22 | Transylvania | Clark Field Austin, TX |
W 48–0 |
| October 29 | Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University) | Clark Field Austin, TX |
W 9–0 |
| November 5 | Baylor | Carroll Field Waco, TX |
T 6–6 |
| November 14 | Texas A&M | West End Park Houston, TX (rivalry) |
L 8–14 |
| November 19 | LSU | Clark Field Austin, TX |
W 12–0 |
| November 24 | Oklahoma | Clark Field Austin, TX (Red River Shootout) |
L 0–3 |
Check out "A Prelude to Big Time Football: H.J. Lutcher Stark and The 1910 University of Texas Football Season" article by Tolga Ozyurtcu and Jan Todd in Iron Game History, Vol. 13 Issue 2 & 3 (November/December 2015). Ozyurtcu and Todd profile H.J. Lutcher Stark’s role in the 1910 season for the varsity football team at the University of Texas at Austin.
To learn more about what UT Athletics collections Stark Center houses check out our Stark Center's Collections