The history of Hendrix football

As written by James E. Lester Jr. in the 1984 book, “Hendrix College: A Centennial History”

As early as 1892, Hendrix College designated a large lot near the campus as an athletic field and then, in 1901, with the aid of a donation by Conway businessmen, student volunteers graded the ground and erected a small grandstand at the northern edge of the campus, which created “the best athletic field in the state,” according to historical sources. The site of the grandstand is the present location of Galloway Hall. The original playing field would eventually be designated as “Russell Field” in honor of the long-time Academic principal, Marcus J. Russell.
At many smaller colleges like Hendrix, for several years administrators restricted football to games between various student groups on their respective campuses. On Thanksgiving Day, 1902, while Yale and Princeton clashed in faraway New York, the preparatory boys and freshmen of Hendrix College played a team composed of the school’s sophomore, junior and seniors. Unfortunately for the latter squad, the student newspaper reported that “a fair-sized crowd witnessed the upperclassmen go down to an inglorious defeat, 15 to 5.”
In the fall of 1906, Hendrix College met rival Henderson College of Arkadelphia in the school’s first intercollegiate football game, losing 26-0. The Hendrix team improved as the first season progressed and managed to win games over Hot Springs High School and Draughon’s Business College of Little Rock. The following year, Hendrix suffered a 45-0 defeat at the hands of the University of Arkansas. Despite the loss, the editor of the student newspaper maintained considerable optimism. “We are very glad to have opened athletic relations with the U of A, and in the future … we fell sure that the tide will somehow turn in our favor."
From the beginning, football at Hendrix promoted a host of fond memories that generations of alumni would associate with their collegiate experiences. “Some of us remember how we ran up and down the sidelines to follow the play,” one graduate recalled of the 1908 season, “and built fires along the way to warm us between halves.”
Initially the Hendrix athletic teams were coached by faculty members. Professor Staples took time off from teaching history to coach football, and Professor Wilson split his time between his classroom duties in mathematics and coaching the basketball team.
Football continued into the 1920s. Perhaps nothing symbolized this new spirit better than the rage for stadium building that swept America in the post-World War I decade. In Los Angeles, the Colosseum and the Rose Bowl accommodated the crowds who thronged to witness the new football spectacles, while on a more modest level, Young Memorial Stadium on the Hendrix campus served the same purpose in central Arkansas.
Starting in early 1922, a group of Hendrix alumni began promoting the idea of an on-campus memorial to Robert W. Young of Okolona, who had been a member of the class of 1915, the captain of the baseball team, and a tackle on the football squad. In 1918 he had been killed by German bullets at Aincreville in the Meuse-Argonne. Since Young had been an outstanding athlete during his college days, the alumni felt a stadium would be a fitting memorial to the war hero and launched a state-wide fundraising campaign that exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.
As the campaign gained momentum, the Hendrix campus went “almost mad with excitement” and by February, 1923, the editor of the school newspaper foresaw the stadium dedication as “the most glorious day in the history of Hendrix.” Designed by Martin Roberts of Nashville, Tenn., the man who designed the athletic field at Vanderbilt University, the new concrete stadium at Hendrix mirrored the classic lines of an ancient Greek arena. Completed in the summer of 1923, the 5,000-seat structure cost more than $75,000.
On Oct. 12, virtually ever store in Conway closed at noon for the dedication of Young Memorial Stadium and the ensuing Hendrix College football game with Centenary College. Arkansas Gov. Thomas C. McRae ordered all state capitol offices to close early to enable officials to be in Conway for the 1 p.m. ceremony, and Hendrix supporters in Little Rock chartered a special train to attend the dedication.
Young Memorial Stadium stood as a landmark on the northwest corner of the Hendrix campus for more than 50 years. In addition to hosting Arkansas’ official Armistice Day celebration in 1924, the stadium also served as the site of numerous state high school track meets, including the first nighttime track meet in Arkansas.
Intercollegiate football at Hendrix dates back to 1906 and had experienced considerable success in the years before the construction of the stadium. In 1913 the “Hendrix Bulldogs” had defeated the University of Mississippi and in 1914, under Coach William M. Headrick, had won the state championships in football, track, basketball, and baseball.
In 1919, Hendrix formed the Athletic Association of Arkansas Colleges with Ouachita Baptist College and Henderson-Brown College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas College in Batesville, and the College of the Ozarks in Clarksville.
Ivan H. Grove became the head coach at Hendrix in 1924 after serving two years as the freshman coach at the University of Arkansas. Grove immediate found a home in the small college community. His first year in Conway he taught a Sunday School class called “Athletes of the Bible” at the local Methodist church and started a relationship with Hendrix College that would endure for nearly 60 years.
While Grove’s teams played numerous exciting games over the years, few equaled the Oct. 16, 1926 game between the Hendrix Bulldogs and the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Billed as “Hogs vs. Dogs,” the game was held on Kavanaugh Field in Little Rock during the state fair, and the Hendrix Pep Luncheon and the pre-game parade provided a classic example of the 1920s football frenzy. Marching down Markham Street in the capital city, the cavalcade wound its way past the Hotel Lafayette on Louisiana to the scene of the contest. Headed by a trio of young men bearing Hendrix flags, the parade included the college band “playing music held dear for a decade by Hendrix supporters, the maids of honor riding in an open car, the Booster Club brightly dressed in new uniforms of Hendrix colors and ended by 30 rooting girls. The procession was a brilliant flash of Hendrix College colors and spirit,” according to the school newspaper. Played before a crowd of more than 6,000 spectators – allegedly the largest crowd to ever witness an athletic event in Arkansas to that time – the game ended with the Razorbacks narrowly defeating Hendrix 14-7.
Football’s presence on the Hendrix College campus continued into the 1930s. In 1933, a special train ran to Pine Bluff so fans could see the newly-named Warrior football team play Arkansas A&M (now the University of Arkansas at Monticello).
In the fall of 1941, for the first time since 1906, Hendrix did not field an intercollegiate football team. To replace football, the college emphasized the school’s intramural program and expanded the old department of physical training to the status of the other academic departments under the title of the Department of Health and Recreation. To some observers, however, an intangible something seemed to be missing from the crisp fall Saturday afternoons on campus. Within a few years the program would be modified and the Warrior teams would again resume their gridiron clashes – at least for a few years.
Immediately after the end of World War II sentiment began to grow, especially among students and alumni, suggesting that if Hendrix wanted to return to normal, that normality should include the resumption of the football program which had been abandoned in 1940. The faculty, however, disagreed and in January, 1946, voted not to field a football team the following fall. The student body learned of the decision through the Log Cabin Democrat and, according to the editor of the student newspaper, “The majority of the students were upset, worried and somewhat bitter.” The Student Senate sponsored a petition asking the faculty to reconsider their decision, and coach Ivan Grove declared that “the football issue is not dead.” The faculty ultimately changed its mind, and in April of 1946, authorized the reestablishment of the football program. A record 77 candidates reported for the first football practice the following September, and the Warriors opened the 1946 season with a 14-0 victory over the College of the Ozarks.
In the spring of 1947, however, Hendrix officials became frustrated because other schools in Arkansas had begun to subsidize athletics, football players room, board, tuition and oftentimes spending money in exchange for their participation in athletics. This development meant that some schools “will have the best football teams that money can buy,” Hendrix College President Ellis said at the time. Hendrix football teams were then clearly at a disadvantage, with the Warriors faltering in the second half of football games against larger and more skilled opponents. By the fall of 1955, the Hendrix football team included only 22 players, and over a three-year span the Warriors won only one football game. These factors, combined with the mounting expense of fielding a football team, forced this second discontinuance of football at Hendrix in 1956.
Football returned in 1957, however, when school officials decided on a limited subsidy plan with necessary funds raised outside the school’s regular budget.
Following the 1960 season, Hendrix College President Steel announced at a convocation that Hendrix would again discontinue intercollegiate football. He said the decision was not a backward step, “but a progressive one which can perhaps lead to greater academic perfections.” Intercollegiate football has remained absent from Hendrix College since then.