Texas players carry coach Darrell Royal off the field in celebration after the Longhorns beat Mississippi 12 7 in the 1962 Cotton Bowl 4
1 New Year’s Day 1936 was bright and sunny in Pasadena California Football fans from around the country gathered at the Rose Bowl to watch Southern Methodist SMU play Stanford One of those fans was J Curtis Sanford He was a wealthy oil man from Texas After watching the pageantry on display at the Rose Bowl Sanford had an idea He wanted a bowl game to be played in his hometown of Dallas Texas The next year Sanford made it happen He spent his own money to create a bowl game It would be held at Fair Park Stadium on the grounds of the Texas State Fair No state grew more cotton than Texas did so Sanford named the game the Cotton Bowl Classic COTTON BOWL HISTORY SANFORD'S FOLLY SUCCEEDS 5
The stadium was also renamed the Cotton Bowl in the lead-up to the game But only 17,000 fans attended the first game Sanford lost a lot of money in the first few years People began referring to the Cotton Bowl as Sanford’s Folly After the 1940 game Sanford gave control of the game to a group of Dallas business officials They formed the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association The group entered into an agreement with the Southwest Conference SWC Every year the SWC champion would play in the Cotton Bowl That relationship ended up lasting more than 50 years The opponent was usually the runner-up The Cotton Bowl parade is a traditional part of the festivities in Dallas 6
or third-place team from the Southeastern Conference SEC Sometimes a major independent program such as Notre Dame played That system lasted through the 1994 season Many great players and great teams played in the Cotton Bowl For years it was considered one of the most important bowl games every season Through 2015 the Texas Longhorns had appeared in the Classic 22 times more than any other school Texas A M had appeared 13 times and Arkansas had 12 appearances All three were SWC powers Georgia Tech’s R J Jordan 46 breaks through the Texas defensive line at the 1943 Cotton Bowl 7
