The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-07
MISSOURI ONCE
HADAvAGRANT
FOOTBALL TEAM

Kansas City, MO-, Dec wv io
union of old Missouri university
men is ever quite regular or com
nlete until somebody retells the
story of the Missouri team that
vent to the city of Mexico in 1895. |
Thai team did not win many scned-
uled football games, but 1t Is
unioue in the annals OF missouri |
football.
Never before OF since has
whole team decamped, gone o. W. U.
l. left the territorial boundaries
of the United States, as that team
did. Some of its adventures were
recalled here recently when Holmes
Hall of Sedalia, Mo-, now federal
referee in bankruptcy but in 1886,
Missouri's quarterback, met George
II English. Jr., a colonel in the
World war. and now a practicing
attorney, but in those by-gone days
manager of Missouri's football
team. They went over the whole
thing once more. while younger
graduates, to whom the story of
the vagrant football team was only
a tradition, listened wide-eared.
1eIilnS dDOUt H. SViOhCA AH6 ion
smiled.
The year before" he said, Mis-
! souri, had a wonderfully good team.
| And we got all swelled up about it,
| and decided we could beat the
world When l became football
manager, they had left me sched-
! ule that called for games with Pur-
due. Illinois and Vanderbilt at St
/ Louis. They all beat US, and we
I couldn't persuade much of any
body living in St Louis that foot
ball was a good enough game to
/ pay money to watch. So we lost
| money. rs well as games. We fin
/ ished the season with a so to de-
I feat at the hands of Kansas, and
! then we played a post-season game
with the University of Texas team.
/ And that was how the football inya-
! sion of Mexico began.
| When we got to Austin, Texas.
/ We found a team that we could
: beat. There also we found 4 man
named George A. Hill, who was pro-
noting a Christmas excursion to
/ the City Of Mexico. One OF the at
/ fractions he had advertised TO take
/ along was two football teams, the
I University of Texas team and
picked team of all-stars, old play
ers. Our defeat of Texas rather
put crimp in his plans, and be-
/ sides he had been unable to line up
/ his all-st team satisfactorily. So
I he asked US whether we wouldn't
/ like to go along, with all expenses
/ paid, and play the University OF
Texas again, at Laredo, Monterey,
the city of Mexico and outlying
points. AS there was nothing to
restrain US except college disci-
pIine, we said we'd love to. We
! didn't communicate with college au-
thorities back in Columbia at all.
What would have been the use?
They would only have ordered US
! to come home. 1t was on Dec. IL
/ that We played our scheduled post
! season game with Texas at Austin.
/ The Hill expedition was not due
/ to start until Dec. "a So we stuck
around Austin, playing football
games for Hill, as he was paying
our expenses. We played the deaf
and dumb school and one or two
other teams OF that general cal
fber, and found we could handle
them nicely
/ Then We all entrained for Mex
! leo, where everybody had a wonder
full time. We played Texas once
at Monterey and twice in the City
! Of Mexico, and once more in La
redo, Texas, on the return trip. We
beat them every time.
The Mexicans did not take the
least interest in football. They
evidently regarded it as merely an
other bit of evidence pointing to
madness of all Americans. The
American colonies, however. turn
ed out well for US. l remember
Hill tried very hard to get Presi-
dent Diaz of Mexico TO come out
to the game. The president thank
ed him, but didn't come. He sent
out some chief of staff or aide-de-
camp to occupy the box that was
! rendered him, to show how he an
preciated the courtesy. And short
ly after New Years we came back
TO the United States and returned
to Columbia
Here Colonel English smiled
again.
"A rather painful period ensued
at Columbia. There were star
chamber sessions with the disci-
pInary committee of the faculty
and It ended by the coach of the
Missouri team leaving for pastures
new, while Tom ShaWhan. captain
and halfback, and English. the
manager were suspended from the
university.
My suspension, however. was
not such a severe penalty" said the
exmayor. 1T was made effective
during the week of the mid-yea~
: examinations, and as my standing
was luckily good enough for me
to pass in all my courses without
examinations, it merely gave me a
weeks holiday while eyerybodv
else was 'boning' for exams"