re: Hendrix football is undefeated at home vs Ole Miss and helped create shirttails

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The most recent football game played between a Conway-based institution of higher learning and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) was played in the fall of 2012. The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) Bears, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team, lost to Ole Miss, a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team, 27 to 49. Even though the Bears lost, UCA played well and was leading the upper division team at halftime.

The only institution of higher education in Conway to defeat Ole Miss in football is Hendrix College. During the 1913 football season, Ole Miss, coached by Bill Driver, brought a team of 18 players to Conway and was defeated by the Hendrix Bulldogs by a score of 8 to 6. The Troubadour (the Hendrix College yearbook) listed 16 men on the 1913 Hendrix football squad, but the 1913 team photograph showed 23 men in uniform. The “Bull Dog” (the Hendrix College newspaper now known as The Profile) reported that 14 Hendrix football players were used in the Ole Miss game. The Bulldogs were coached by W.M. Headrick, who was referred to as “our new coach,” in the 1914 Troubadour.

A great deal of pre-game anticipation was experienced by not only Hendrix College, its students and supporters, but also by virtually all of Conway’s residents. Newspaper articles about the game appeared regularly in the Log Cabin Democrat on several occasions before the event. The first article that discussed the big game was carried in the Log Cabin Democrat on Oct. 20, 1913. That article focused on the past success, tradition and power of Ole Miss, and the relative inexperience of the Hendrix Bulldogs. While no prognostication was made for the score in the game, it was apparent that Hendrix was not expected to win the contest.

According to the Log Cabin Democrat, “Ole Miss, the gridiron team which is dreaded by all southern colleges, will arrive in Conway Saturday, Nov. 8, for a battle with the Hendrix College football aggregation. The record on the scalping path made by Ole Miss this season as well as past seasons, is a source of much pleasure to their fellow-students, while, on the other hand, they invariably leave many mourners behind them…With thousands of students from whom the coaches select the varsity’s squad, it is certain that a team will be chosen which can ably defend the uprights of their alma mater.”

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