Here at TexAgs we recently rated the top 50 victories of the Aggie Football Program. The 1963 Thanksgiving game should be in the top 5, if not number 1. (Not criticizing the people who rated them, the criticism goes to the refs.)
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History: This game was to be the revenge game for the sips knocking off the defending champions, and #1 ranked Aggies in 1940. The 1939 Aggies were undefeated 11-0 and National Champions. The 1940 Aggies went to Austin on Thanksgiving Day, 9-0 and ranked #1. The sips came out on top, 7-0.
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Fast-forward to the week before the 1963 Thanksgiving game. The #1 ranked, 9-0 sips are traveling to Kyle Field to face the 2-6-1 Aggies. Players of the 1940 Aggie team swarmed the campus to visit with the current 1963 players to explain and empress upon the current players the significance of this game, and the desire for revenge. Some of the former players lived with the players in the dorm during that week, constantly cajoling and hyping the game directly to the players.
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It was a heavy overcast, chilly, drizzling Thanksgiving afternoon. The 2 Aggie wins that year were over the U of H Cougars and the Rice Owls. One of the many, huge banners the students put together for games in those days hung over an entrance to Kyle Field: "Houston was for practice, Rice was for fun, when Turkey Day comes we'll blast number one."
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The Fall of 1963 was also the football season the Aggies kidnapped each of the other Southwest Conference mascots, including Bevo. Bevo had been returned to Austin earlier that month, but was back in College Station on game day with its sip handlers, in front of their student section at the south end, on the Kyle Field track. At the north end in the horseshoe, draped on the face of the stadium at ground level, a huge banner, WELCOME HOME BEVO.
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By kick-off time, the Aggies were sufficiently hyped mentally to face the undefeated, #1 nationally ranked team.
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The Aggies took a 13-3 lead into the 4th quarter. (A missed extra point resulted in the 13 points.) In the 4th quarter the sips got a touchdown to bring the sips to a 13-9 score. The Aggies stopped the attempted 2 point conversion.
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These were the days of the "2 yards in a cloud of dust" type of football. Passing was thought to be the strategy used by teams struggling on offense. A quote of the sips' Coach Royal, "When you throw the ball, one of three things will happen, and 2 of them are bad." But Coach Royal found his team trailing late in the 4th quarter, and needing a quick score to pull it out, so he replaced the starting quarterback with the back-up who was more of a passing quarterback. The strategy worked, and the sips' offense improved on moving the ball against the Aggies.

With less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, the sip quarterback launched a pass into the end zone. The Aggies' Jim Willenborg grabbed it for the interception and secured, arguably, the biggest win in the program's history. Except the refs called it differently.

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My father explained it to me by informing me that the Southwest Conference official who was head of managing all the SWC referees is a sip, and his office is in the Texas Tower in Austin. The referees on the field want to keep the boss happy and keep their jobs. I later found articles on this guy, confirming what my father told me. I have been unable to find it again to post a link here. If anyone knows this information, or can find it, please reply with the info.

The only time I have ever watched the longhorn network is on a documentary about this game.

Of course, they said the refs were correct in their call and the reporter standing just outside of your picture said he could confirm this.

I don't know what really happened but go figure, the call went their way and preserved a title

Guy who made the call defended it at the Dallas A&M club not too long after. Naturally, he said there was no doubt that the A&M defender was out of the end zone.

It was a judgement call at the time - so what ever you think, his call stands.

Off to tear down my neighbor's fence.

The owner of the office building I am located in is an Aggie from that generation. He has a picture of that play in his office showing dirt and grass being kicked up as the receiver dragged his foot in the end zone. That's how bitter he still is about that game.

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It was a judgement call at the time - so what ever you think, his call stands.

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Yep, just like getting away with murder. Justice doesn't always prevail.

That tu game, the Arkansas game in the 80s, and the Tceh game in the 90s will go down as the biggest shafting in A&M history.

There were differences though. The ref in the Arkansas game (who was an Arky alum) was fired by the SWC. The refs in the Tceh game were suspended for 1 game. Yet, the officials in the tu game probably (my personal guess) were rewarded for that game somehow.

Yeah I think a&m had two turnovers in the 4th if I remember correctly.


One was nuts, the a&m defense recovers a fumble and then the player coughs the ball up and a Texas player recovered the ball.

I was there, standing in the end zone where the catch DID take place. The field was sloppy and you could see the mud trail where the knees came down inside the end zone. Definitely a SWC call to keep the national championship in the conference.

If that picture was just a little wider you would be able to see a reporter in the upper right portion.

During the documentary for this game they interviewed the reporter and he said he started to juggle his hands to show the ref it wasn't a catch. They lead you to believe this reporter convinced the official that was it wasn't a catch. The reporter talked about how the ref looked at him like what did you see.

For the life of me I can't remember who the reporter is, but he's fairly well known and still alive.

That reporter was Bill Little.

If you don't know who he is, look him up, look at what position he held at that time, and ask yourself if that's an unbiased opinion.

We got hosed. No other way to see it.

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In the LHN documentary, you can see the player bobbling the ball as he goes out of bounds. Look at the picture posted above; it looks like the ball is not going to be an easy catch.

Also, y'all soaked the field before the game to stop the Texas ground game.

The Aggies played over their heads and could have put the game away if they hadn't fumbled, if I recall correctly.

I know you're not convinced because complaining about this game is now a tradition.

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Oh here's a tshirt whorn to give us his unbiased opinion based on something he saw on the LHN. You think it was incomplete, we think it was an interception. No one really asked for your opinion on our board about this.

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That reporter was Bill Little.

If you don't know who he is, look him up, look at what position he held at that time, and ask yourself if that's an unbiased opinion.

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Wow
That explains a lot

What's amazing to me is here this happened in 1963, with the refs impartiality in legitimate question.

48 years later, we got another ref whose impartiality was in legitimate question, more accurately, outrightly exposed, making an even more egregious, game changing call in a game between us.

So glad we left that bull**** for the SEC.

I was there on the back north end zone line. The descriptions in this thread are accurate. Classes were dismissed the following Monday, upholding the tradition following a victory over tu. The response we gave to anyone who said we lost was "You saw the scoreboard. I saw the game."

Sips have had the benefit of improper officiating forever. I don't expect that to ever change.

I was 14 and was at the game with my father, '44. I am 67 and still devastated by that loss.

To the sip above: A&M did not soak the field. It had been raining off and on for several days.

A&M had a chance to win on the same drive, the one the sips finally scored on, when we intercepted a pass with about three minutes left and promptly fumbled it back to the sips.

As far as the interception above, I have watched the only available film many times, and it is not clear if the Aggie has possession before he goes out of bounds. He was juggling it quite a bit. It was a judgment call that long years of bias and tradition played a part in.

Video

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In the LHN documentary, you can see the player bobbling the ball as he goes out of bounds.

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Totally disagree. The video I have seen shows that he firmly has the ball clamped between his hands BEFORE he goes out of bounds. As does the still picture on my building owner's wall. Furthermore, most sports figures who have seen the video, but don't have a dog in the fight, have said they thought it was a catch.

If you can't win, cheat.

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So glad we left that bull**** for the SEC.

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You think this kind of stuff doesn't happen in the SEC?

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I was 14 and was at the game with my father, '44. I am 67 and still devastated by that loss.

To the sip above: A&M did not soak the field. It had been raining off and on for several days.

A&M had a chance to win on the same drive, the one the sips finally scored on, when we intercepted a pass with about three minutes left and promptly fumbled it back to the sips.

As far as the interception above, I have watched the only available film many times, and it is not clear if the Aggie has possession before he goes out of bounds. He was juggling it quite a bit. It was a judgment call that long years of bias and tradition played a part in.

Video

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So it did rain before hand? The documentary states it hadnt rained in some time and that a&m soaked the field and it goes on about the impact it had on the Texas running game and that royal was pissed off

I grew up with the official's kids... Mr. Covin was a great guy... No hose job... Willenborg was juggling the ball as he went down... I cried after that loss, thinking we were cheated... But after GROWING UP, and looking at the play, it was the correct call...

Yes, my memory from 53 years ago is that it had rained. Now, our first full day in town that year was Thanksgiving Day itself. We lived in Shreveport and had left after school and driven to my aunt's house in Bryan on Wednesday, the day before the game, arriving late that night.

The "soaked the field to stop the run" argument doesn't make sense to me. All teams were running teams in those days, including A&M. The sips were just better at it than anyone else.

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That reporter was Bill Little.

If you don't know who he is, look him up, look at what position he held at that time, and ask yourself if that's an unbiased opinion.

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That insufferable lifetime sip troll should have never been allowed that close to the field.

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Also, y'all soaked the field before the game to stop the Texas ground game.

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Yeah, we used our weather machine to make it rainy all week prior to the game. Dip****.

tu, on the other hand actually did do this in the game against us in '98. That field, which will dry out in a matter of hours thanks to good drainage, was a sloppy mess...and it hadn't rained in Austin for over a week. I still remember the commentators wondering why the field was a mud pit all through the first half.

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I grew up with the official's kids... Mr. Covin was a great guy... No hose job... Willenborg was juggling the ball as he went down... I cried after that loss, thinking we were cheated... But after GROWING UP, and looking at the play, it was the correct call...

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The call could've gone either way, honestly. It's debatable.

What isn't debatable is the long history of questionable to downright bull**** calls the sips got against everyone in the SWC and b12. Especially with something like what was on the line with the outcome in that game.

I tried looking up the weather history for college station a week leading up to the 1963 game.

Too hard on a phone. Maybe someone can so we can see if there's any validity to the sips claim.

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I grew up with the official's kids... Mr. Covin was a great guy... No hose job... Willenborg was juggling the ball as he went down... I cried after that loss, thinking we were cheated... But after GROWING UP, and looking at the play, it was the correct call...

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I was there. It happened about 30 feet directly in front of me. No one will ever convince me that my eyes lied to me that day. The WRONG call was made. Period.!!!!

Ref was from SMU - believe his name was Jordan .

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I grew up with the official's kids... Mr. Covin was a great guy... No hose job... Willenborg was juggling the ball as he went down... I cried after that loss, thinking we were cheated... But after GROWING UP, and looking at the play, it was the correct call

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I've got visual evidence in front of me right now that says you're wrong. Hands were CLAMPED around the ball as he went out.

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I was 14 and was at the game with my father, '44. I am 67 and still devastated by that loss.

To the sip above: A&M did not soak the field. It had been raining off and on for several days.

A&M had a chance to win on the same drive, the one the sips finally scored on, when we intercepted a pass with about three minutes left and promptly fumbled it back to the sips.

As far as the interception above, I have watched the only available film many times, and it is not clear if the Aggie has possession before he goes out of bounds. He was juggling it quite a bit. It was a judgment call that long years of bias and tradition played a part in.

Video

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2:15 mark, I believe.

Any way you can upload that? I would love to see it!

Here's something that nobody has addressed yet: the rules for a catch in 1963. They didn't have all of this "completing the act of the catch" crap back then. If a player got his hands on the ball and it looked like a catch, it was a catch. No replay, no debating. The only argument that can be made here is if the player got his feet down in bounds and it's clear he did. Just another play in sip lore.

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That reporter was Bill Little.

If you don't know who he is, look him up, look at what position he held at that time, and ask yourself if that's an unbiased opinion.

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EOT. We're done.

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So glad we left that bull**** for the SEC.

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You think this kind of stuff doesn't happen in the SEC?

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At least the sips aren't in the SEC.