I’ve been digging around recently in some very old football materials and one of the things I came across is something I’d noticed before but never bothered with. (I have no real idea why I’m bothering with it right now. Sometimes I’m a puzzle even to myself.) Here it is:
It’s the caption that’s kind of interesting, of course. Although one might take issue with the amount of fame these fellows actually garnered, that’s not what interested me. I should also say that the guy whose scrapbook is the source of the photo–the tall one in the middle, “Tiny” Kalb–seems to have been sort of a wit, and a self-deprecating one at that. So I think his tongue may have been at least partly in cheek with the claims to glory.
It’s the Waxahachie business that caught my eye. Why Waxahachie? The only game the Owls played that season outside of the Houston area was against Trinity.
Here's a ticket from the game--it was printed in Waxahachie, by a firm that still exists! It's for sale on ebay, by the way.
At first I thought that we might have simply played a game at a neutral site, which was very common in those days (mostly because of the difficulty of travel). Sadly, what I failed to realize is that Trinity was located in Waxahachie from 1902 to 1942! That’s just embarrassing. I’m supposed to know things like that.
Of course, I could have kept my mouth shut, but then I wouldn’t be me.
Bonus: Here’s the 1915 Trinity football lettermen.
Rice beat Trinity 7-0 in 1913, part of an undefeated four-game season in Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association play. (That was Rice’s first conference affiliation.) I don’t know if that crucial inch was on offense or defense. In 1915, we beat them even worse, 46-0.
I can’t read the fine print on the ticket, but FWIW the ’13 game was played on Thanksgiving Day.
It was the last game of the season, too. The win preserved the unblemished record.
I believe that Trinity, a Presbyterian school, moved from Waxahachie to San Antonio.
Yeah, that’s why I was confused. I failed to remember that it had not always been in San Antonio! It actually started life in Tehuacana in 1869, so Waxahachie was it’s second stop.
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Tiny Kalb was my Great uncle. I would really to hear more about him. Is the scrapbook you speak about somewhere we could look at. As a child my Great aunt Elva Kalb Dumas told me many stories about those early days at Rice. I would like to see anymore artifacts or writngs about Tiny Kalb or Elva Kalb Dumas.
David Greer Morgan
Yes, we’d love to have you come in and see his scrapbook! You can send me an email at kean@rice.edu and we’ll arrange it.
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