Well, Covid has closed Fondren again, this time at least until January 3rd. What this means is that my Christmas posts will have to come from whatever odds and ends I’ve scanned and saved on my laptop over the years. I’ll do my best.
Update: Check the comments!
Up first, a Christmas tree in Rice Stadium at half time of the Bluebonnet Bowl on December 16, 1961:
There are a couple of interesting things about this game. First, it was the second bowl game Rice played in 1961 after losing in the Sugar Bowl in January to national champions Ole Miss. (We lost the Bluebonnet Bowl too, 33-7.) And second, it was the last bowl game for the Owls until 2006.
Bonus:
17 December 1960 – Alabama vs Texas
It was a 3-3 tie.
How do you know that? It says 1961 on the back of the picture!
End zones offer a clue too.
I think it is 1960. I was at the Kansas-Rice game in 1061, and the crowd was much smaller than shown in the photo. Someone must have assumed that, since it was a bowl game, it happened in January.
68,000 attendance – the largest in the Bluebonnet Bowl’s history.
BTW, there’s too much sun for 1961 bowl. Nasty weather that day.
I was thinking the same thing when I saw the clear skies and full house. The few photos I’ve seen from the ’61 game who a dreary, muddy mess (probably not much different than the Super Bowl except the mud was no longer an issue). Had one of the players who had played in the two bowl games in ’61 say this was a miserable experience from start to finish since they stayed on a deserted campus (no events he could recall) and no one came to the game. It was the reason the seniors on the ’63 team voted to turn down a bowl opportunity (in those days the non-New Year’s Day games lined up teams as early as they could). One other odd note from the ’61 Bluebonnet Bowl: Kansas quarterback John Hadl signed with the Los Angeles Chargers on the field after the game, where he eventually replaced former Owl Tobin Rote.
I took my future father-in-law to the game. It took until the second half to work up the courage to ask him for permission to marry his daughter. Sat in the upper deck and it was miserable!! A few minutes after he gave his approval we decided to leave!!
Is that the Shamrock Hilton in the background?
That’s the old Hermann Professional Building, now the UT Health Science Center.
Wasn’t there an old greasy spoon on the first floor of that building? Anyone remember the name?
In the mid-1960s, when I attended Rice, we called that place Sweaty Betty’s, after the waitress and chef who was on duty all day and night. The real name may have been Dutch something or other. It was a popular place to go for late night burgers.
Dutch Kettle?
I think that was it!