1955 Football Team - 50th Anniversary
October 01, 2005 | Football
Oct. 1, 2005
by Kelsey Yantis
Texas Tech Media Relations
In a time when the world was at war, not only across oceans but on American soil with the turmoil of people striving to be equal, the steady competition of sports and the physical strengths of athletes prevailed. "Sugar" Ray Robinson triumphed through the boxing stage, while Brooklyn took the World Series from the Yankees. In 1955, Texas Tech was in its 30th year of Red Raider football and the team was also looking for its break through year.
The Red Raiders were led by coach Dewitt T. Weaver who was also the athletic director. Weaver was named Southwesterner of the Year by the Texas Sports Writers Association. He was a coach that emphasized fundamentals and organization, but it was a split-T conversion with the forward pass that made the Red Raiders attack unique and lethal.
Jack Kirkpatrick was the squad's quarterback and was one of Tech's most sensational players. He was a widely acclaimed split-T hurler and was named most valuable player in the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Conference his sophomore year.
"We ran the split-T offense and there were not many schools around that did," Kirkpatrick said. "Sometimes you would have to change the plays at the line of scrimmage and the quarterback had to call his own plays."
Weaver's offensive strategy resulted in national scoring championships and the Red Raiders were ranked second in rushing and total offense. There were 27 lettermen that returned from the previous season. Under Weaver's reign, Tech won the conference title four out of five years, with the last victory in 1955. The squad finished the season 7-3-1 after starting 2-2-1. The Red Raiders earned the chance to play against Wyoming in the Sun Bowl, but fell 21-14 to the Cowboys.
Arlen Wesley served as the team's captain along with James Sides. "The offense was very quick," Wesley said. "Everything was designed around speed and quickness. We spread our offense out a lot like Coach Leach does." Wesley still makes it out to all the games. "I love watching Coach Leach. We tailgate and bring a lot of friends out and go to all the games. We really enjoy the games."
The Red Raiders also made a mark in the University of Texas record books as they defeated the Longhorns 20-14 in front of 47,000 fans. This game was Texas' first night game and first home-opening loss in UT history. "We opened the season on September 17 on the road in Austin, and at this time UT had never been beaten and we went down there and beat them," Wesley said.
The 1955 season marked the last year the Red Raiders would play in the Border Conference as the next season they made the transition to the Southwest Conference. The Southwest Conference is where Tech started meeting Texas and Texas A&M on a yearly basis. The '55 team played some of the teams in the Southwest Conference and competed well with all of them, Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick says the main thing that has changed over the past 50 years has been the things available to the student-athletes.
"We were a bunch of country boys and we didn't read all the press clippings - we just enjoyed playing football," said Kirkpatrick. Another difference he noted was the facilities. "Before we started, there were no weight rooms. I guess many people didn't have weight rooms or workout facilities for their teams. We also didn't play football all year round; these days if the boys aren't playing football, they are in the weight room."
Wesley also noted that the size was the main difference he noticed. "The biggest thing is the size of the team now. The backs now are about the same size as the linemen then."
There are some things that never change and there are things in this world that can never be torn down or hidden. The things that can stand the test of time and the bond formed as teammates are something that will always stand strong and hold true. "We had a good time and we played with wonderful men," Wesley said. "We all still stay in touch."