SMU Flies High With “Aerial Circus”

The pass-happy Ponies of Southern Methodist clipped the Rice Owls’ wings on Nov. 15, 1926 setting the stage for a showdown with the Baylor Bears to crown the king of Southwest Conference football.

The shut-out was sweet revenge for Coach Ray Morrison, whose 1916 team was humiliated by the boys from the Institute 146 to 3. The 22-touchdown rout, worst loss ever for SMU, was the low point of a winless season which ended with the firing of Morrison.

The former Vanderbilt All-American returned to Dallas five years later to tutor a freshman class that included nine of the “Immortal Ten,” future core of the college’s first championship crew. The frisky Colts romped through their schedule without surrendering a single first down and came within three points of whipping the upperclassmen.

Morrison refused a promotion to the varsity, when the coach quit after the third game, but accepted his old job for the next season. He took one look at a squad that averaged 166 pounds per man and realized “I couldn’t win any games by brute force. So we passed on first down, second down and third and found it paid off.”

In an era when the forward pass was the tactic of last resort, Morrison’s “Aerial Circus” put up the pigskin 30 or more times a contest. Forced to defend against the pass on practically every play, opponents left themselves wide-open to a ground attack, a weakness the innovative coach exploited to the hilt.

Captained by John Maclean Brooks, the only five-sport letterman in Southwest Conference history, the sophomore sensations of 1922 looked like world-beaters winning six of their first seven outings. But the offense went ice-cold late in the season, and a tie was the best the youngsters could manage in the last three games.

Led by an invincible defense that yielded a grand total of nine points, the 1923 Ponies left everybody in the dust on their way to a perfect season. Logan Stollenwerck, a deadeye passer, and four other starters made the All-SWC eleven.

The Immortals went undefeated again their senior season but tied the Aggies, Arkansas, Baylor and Oklahoma A&M, a conference member until 1925. Baylor was awarded the title, their last for half a century, and SMU played in their first “bowl.”

Five thousand hardy souls braved a blue norther to watch the Fair Park contest. The strange season ended on a strange play that started with a desperation pass by the visitors from West Virginia Wesleyan. The ball bounced off the shoulder pads of the Mustang safety and into the hands of the startled receiver, who scored the go-ahead touchdown.

With just four lettermen coming back, Morrison designated 1925 a rebuilding year. But a walk-on quarterback named Gerald Mann more than filled Stollenwerck’s shoes and sparked the band of overachievers to five triumphs against two setbacks and two deadlocks.

Big things were expected from Mann and his teammates in 1926 but not a second firstplace prize for the trophy case. Though clearly not the equal of the 1923 champions on either side of the ball, they somehow got the job done.

Heart-stopping comebacks were their stock in trade. Trailing Texas A&M by a point in SMU’s brand-new stadium, Mann connected on a pass inside the Aggie 20 in the fourth period. The triple threat then kicked the game-winning field goal.

The next Saturday in Austin, the Ponies spotted the Longhorns ten points with six minutes to go. “The Little Red Arrow,” Mann’s colorful nickname courtesy of sportswriters, hit Ross Love for 35 yards and a TD that closed the gap to three with a successful extra-point.

Following an unproductive possession, the Mustangs were forced to punt. The Texas return man fumbled the ball, Mann grabbed the loose pigskin and sprinted untouched the 25 yards to the end zone. Final score: Southern Methodist 21, University of Texas 17.

After disposing of Rice with ease, SMU obliterated Baylor 31-3 to clinch the crown. Texas Christian, as usual, tried to rain on the Ponies’ parade, but an 80-yard drive knotted the count at 13 and Mann calmly converted for victory number eight. The lone blemish on their otherwise perfect record was a tie with nonconference foe Missouri.

Nineteen twenty-seven looked like a repeat of ’26, until the Mustangs traveled to College Station. They left 26-point losers, the most lopsided defeat in 54 games, and the Aggies went on to win their third SWC championship of the decade.

With Gerald Mann and most of his supporting cast graduated, Redmon Hume shouldered the load in 1928. But the gifted running back, who set an SMU scoring record that stood for 54 years, was slowed by a bad ankle, and the Mustangs slid to fifth place.

The conference race of 1929 came down, as it so often did over the decades, to the finale with TCU. A win would have given Morrison his third title, but the Horned Frogs finished first by virtue of a tie.

Ray Morrison was rewarded with a third SWC trophy before he went home to his alma mater in 1935. With the team he inherited from the coach with the most victories in SMU history, Matty Bell won a national championship and an invitation to the Rose Bowl.

“Texas Depression Era Desperadoes” includes Bonnie and Clyde and other outlaws of the 1930’s too. For your copy by mail a check for $24.00 to Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 130011, Spring, TX 77393.