A Mother's Love For SMU And Doak Walker

My Mother attended SMU with the great Doak Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1948. She was a diehard Mustang fan, but quietly in her later years. Her first and primary love was for her Lord and Savior. She and my Father were both Spirit-filled Believers. And if you were living in our house, you were at church whenever the doors were opened. They were both very active, and at times even worked or volunteered in a variety of positions. But this blog is not about that. This is about her love for SMU.

Doak Walker SMU

But first, let me supply a little background information on her and my family. She was a Methodist preacher's kid, and the middle child of three. She moved around a lot as a child. For a brief time she had some health issues, and it was then she devoured the Bible and built a solid foundation for her future. She had just started classes at Oklahoma City University when World War 2 started. Like many, she stopped attending classes and took a job at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma working in logistics.

Frances Matney Woodard 1942

One of their tasks was doing some final work on B-29s before they headed to the Pacific. One of my favorite pictures has several people from Tinker posing around a B-29. If you look closely, you can see her underneath the plane, directly under the top turret. 

Both my Father and Mother served. He fought in Africa, Italy, and then Southern France. When I was young, I claimed my Father killed Hitler, and my Mother defeated the Japanese. In a small way, that was true. And I was quite proud of both of them, and their contributions to winning the war. 

Dad was the oldest of 13, and was joined by 4 of his brothers overseas. His family put their faith in God, and all 5 came home. And they all experienced dangerous situations at times. My Father left with one, and then two more came later, all in the same theater as my Father. This helped him keep in touch and communicate their status with home. The 5th joined later and was sent to the Pacific.

Hollis H Woodard US Army WW2

With her experience at Tinker behind her, my Mother enrolled at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She was a little older and wiser, so the school gave her a job as Dorm Monitor, or what is now called Resident Advisor. Back then the men and women had separate dorms of course. 

Mom At SMU Circa 1947

She graduated and took a job with 4H as an organizer or counselor - not sure how to exactly describe it. But unlike many women back then, she was a working girl. And she had a bit of a "wild" streak. Her uncle owned a dealership and helped her buy a brand new Studebaker. I love this picture and wish I would have known her back then.

Mom And Her New 1953 Studebaker

While in college, my Mother was a huge Mustang fan. She attended many games, and like most folks, was a huge fan of Doak Walker. She collected many of the magazine covers and stories about him. I thought they were lost over the years, but stumbled across a handful that survived all the moves, and selling the family home. It truly is remarkable how much publicity Walker received. And of course, it put SMU in the national conversation for about 4 to 5 years.

SMUs Doak Walker Magazine Covers

She did not save complete magazines. Instead, she retained the covers and articles related to Doak and SMU. Back then people made a lot of scrapbooks, so I assume that was her goal. And then of course life simply took priority. Between three kids, two older sisters, and then me of course, she had plenty to keep her busy between us, work, and Church.

This post will include a few miraculous stories. I include them because they are relevant to the subject. And because they are fun to share. All glory of course goes to God. If you choose not to believe, that is fine. I lived through it, and can never deny what I experienced. And the events mentioned here are just a handful of the many good things God did for us.

At a very early age, I heard my Mother say, "All of my children will graduate from Southern Methodist University (SMU)." At the time, I was clueless as to what that even meant. I was a Longhorn like my Father, who had attended UT with Tom Landry. I watched Longhorn games sitting on his lap. But if my Mother liked SMU, it must be good. She made that statement many times in our lives. And based on our finances, it would require a big miracle for even one of us to attend. But she never gave up. Long after she graduated to Heaven, my oldest sister, who had dropped out of SMU to get married and have kids, went back and got her degree. And after her graduation, my Mother's faith had manifested. All her kids graduated from SMU. You can read a more detailed account of this - Mark 11:21-23 – Speak To The Mountain And Do Not Doubt

Collier's Magazine Dec 1948

I apologize for the image. Trying to pick the best between scans and photos can be tricky. Collier's was a general interest magazine that did have quite a bit of college sports coverage. This edition featured their All America picks, which included QB Doak Walker illustrated above in the top left, also in the list. Inside the article, this was written about Walker.

QUARTERBACK: Doak Walker of Southern Methodist, 21 years old, 5 feet 11 inches, 168 pounds, senior from Dallas, Texas. Does more things well than any other back in college football. Averages 56 minutes per game because Coach Matty Bell can't afford to take him out of the defensive line-up. Says Bell: "If I do, we lose 50 percent effectiveness. Never saw anybody who can touch him defensively - except Scott of Arkansas." Dangerous passer in the clutch. Not a long punter, but stays among nation's leaders by minimizing opposing runbacks. Angles punts away from safety men - low, rolling kicks that usually die out of bounds. Great runner. Slides through tiniest holes and makes maximum use of blockers. - Bill Fay Collier's December 11, 1948

During the Pony Express days, I remember Lance, Eric, and Craig appearing on several covers, but they were almost exclusively sports magazines and newspapers. Granted the 40s and 50s were likely the high water mark for magazines, as radio and TV were growing quite quickly. It just amazes me to see Doak and SMU on the cover of magazines like Life. That was huge publicity.

I do enjoy the story of Kyle Rote. One time, he saw a guy buying a football magazine at a newsstand. 'Don't buy that one,' Rote said. 'It's not official. It doesn't have a picture of Doak Walker on the cover.'" There is some truth to that statement.

SMU Players

Walker was the most visible, but many other players were featured, as was coach Matty Bell. And ultimately the university benefitted from all the publicity. Its not like SMU was running a national advertising campaign. Yet people all over the country were learning about the university.

Mustangs At Practice

This was fantastic publicity for the team. Multipage spreads, articles, covers talking about the Mustangs. How could you not love Doak Walker and this team?

 

The scans don't do this spread justice, as it is a mini biography of Walker through pictures. Not sure which magazine, as this is not labeled. I just thought it was really nice.

The famous cover from LIFE magazine. And also, how you can retire on $200 month. I apologize for cutting off that story. But for those interested - you can't.

I wonder where "Timmy" is these days. Look at that beautiful color picture, full page spread of Walker taking a drink. Wow!

There were two pages like the above in this edition of LIFE. Good stuff. And for my final scan, this was also in this same edition.

Its a brief article on recruiting and the Mustang Club. Would have been nice to experience this firsthand, but I got my chance in the 80s, and expecting great things moving forward. 

Its time for SMU to return to the national spotlight. The realignment drama, and invitation to the ACC helped to get SMU back in the conversation. But then the season started, and other teams like Colorado, and players have grabbed the spotlight. Its time for SMU to go on a run in their last year in the AAC. And we need a player to emerge like Rashee Rice that we can rally around and promote nationally. Quarterback Preston Stone is a possibility. And there are a few more that may emerge as dominant players in league play.

I have two more SMU/parent stories to share - because I am feeling nostalgic and miss them - especially on game day. 

In the late 90s, my wife at the time said she wanted to be with somebody else. The divorce was simple enough, we had no kids, minimal assets to divide, but emotionally it was devastating. I never expected that to happen to me. My Mother was no longer with me, so the next strongest female in my life was my Aunt Evelyn, my Mother's younger sister. She lived near Shreveport, and my Father lived in Longview, out in East Texas. I needed to share the news and speak to someone with female wisdom. It was not something I wanted to do over the phone. By coincidence, SMU had scheduled their home game against Arkansas in Shreveport that year. It had been a few years since my Father attended a game with me, so I called and invited him to go to the game and visit our relatives. Both visits were wonderful - I needed to be around folks that loved me. And we had great time talking just good memories - many about my Mother. 

And then something amazing happened that night at the game. SMU and Ramon Flanigan put the beatdown on the Pigs, winning 31-9. It was one of the best moments of an otherwise really bad year for me. It also turned out to be the last football game my Father ever saw in person. That memory alone, along with all the time alone with him I treasure to this day. I attempted to find some highlights of the game, but could not locate any, which is sad.

The next memory will be quite familiar to many older Mustang fans. The year was 1982. I was a senior in high school and living in Longview with my folks. My folks had one of those massive console record player/radios that for some reason was in the entry way facing the Living Room - I assume so we could listen in the living room, which we rarely did. The television was in the den, which is where we generally congregated. In high school, my parents allowed me to drive myself, and a few select friends, to HOME SMU games. But away games were verboten. And since not every SMU game was televised, that meant I had to find a radio station and tune in the game. I would shut off the rest of the house, crank up the game, and prepare for an SMU win. 

That year, SMU had rolled through its nonconference games and SWC games and was 9-0 before it was time to face Texas Tech in Lubbock. It was Saturday, November 13, 1982. SMU was ranked #2 in the nation. I loss would be devastating, especially to the Red Raiders. Losing in Lubbock might drop them out of the top 15. The Red Raiders tied the game at 27 with just 17 seconds left. For the few minutes while commercials were running, a stream of expletives flowed quite loudly from my mouth - which did not happen in our house. It was so loud, my Mother came in to investigate. She calmed me down and asked what was wrong. I explained the dire situation and she nodded thoughtfully. Her exact words, "Don't worry. SMU will win." She smiled that beautiful sly smile, and closed the door. I stood there dumbfounded. I knew my Mother loved SMU. I knew she had remarkable faith, and that NOTHING is impossible with God. But what the heck! There's no time! Just 17 seconds. What could we do?

I considered her statement. It was not a joke. Truly it was spoken in complete confidence of the outcome. 

The announcers came back on providing a summary of where we were. They seemed to agree that the game was headed for a tie. And started imagining what the consequences of a tie might be - at least that is what I remember. That seemed to be the longest commercial break ever. And back then, there was no overtime. When the clock stopped, the game was over.

They say radio is the most visual media. I believe that. Because I could see EVERYTHING in my mind. I saw the kickoff, Blaine Smith trying to get a handle on the ball. And then what? He threw the ball across the field to Bobby Leach. Who then ran it back for a touchdown, securing SMUs 10th win of the season.

Stunned, I sat there in silence, listening to the announcers trying to explain all that just happened. Later, I watched the highlights on the news, as it was a national story for a time. The images were exactly what I had seen in my mind.

Once the game was officially over, and I had done sufficient physical displays of joy, I remembered what my Mother said, "Don't worry. SMU will win." How did she know?

I sheepishly walked into her bedroom where she was reading and gave her a big hug. "SMU won!" I said. And she whispered back, "I know."

Go Mustangs!