Missouri's Unauthorized Trip to Play the First Football Games in Mexico
Like many Yale football players of the time, Frank A. Patterson accepted an offer to coach football following his graduation in 1895, so he headed to Columbia, Missouri, to teach those Tigers a thing or two. He must not have taught them much since the Tigers went 3-5 in the regular season, losing five border battles while beating Vanderbilt and two schools that no longer exist.
They endured a stomping by Kansas in the regular-season finale, brightened only by the prospect of meeting the University of Texas a few weeks later. Missouri’s faculty had given the team permission to travel to and play one game in Texas, just had they had two years earlier in one of football’s earliest post-season games.
Texas’ coach was Harry O. Robinson, who played at Tufts before coaching Missouri in 1893 and 1894, so it was Robinson that led Missouri in their 28-0 beatdown of Texas in 1894. Arriving in Austin in 1896, most Texas fans believed Robinson had made strides with the team. Their record stood at 4-1-1 as they prepared to host Missouri on December 14.
So it was that the Missouri Tigers left Columbia on the evening of December 10, 1896, for what was to be a seven-day trip. They arrived in Dallas the next night and awoke to the news of a game arranged with the Dallas Athletic Club, who had previously played Texas, tying once and losing the second game. Missouri dispatched Dallas 26-0. Following the game, George Hill, an agent for the Mexican National Railroad, and Texas’ Harry Robinson approached Missouri about a potential trip to Mexico to play several exhibition games. Hill wanted to package the games as part of an excursion he had booked for one hundred tourists. Originally planning for Texas to play an all-star team, Hill turned his attention to Missouri after the all-star team fell through.
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