Sorry, Penn State. Texas Invented the Whiteout

Most college football fans acknowledge that Penn State brought whiteouts to college football in 2004 or 2005, though it is clear they adapted the idea from Calgary Flames fans who created the "C of Red" during the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs. Like others, I was sufficiently convinced of the Penn State origin story that I included it in How Football Became Football, which I published in May. However, new information tells me that whiteouts became a thing at the University of Texas in 1919 and 1920 as college football returned to normalcy following the end of WWI.

Before diving into the Texas whiteouts, let's review the outfits fans typically wore to football games before WWI. As the image below shows, men wore dark suits, ties, and hats, while women wore ankle-length dresses, mostly in dark colors.

The crowd at the Missouri-Washington University game in 1906 is largely attired in formal, dark clothing.

While fans generally wore such clothes to the games of the time, there were instances in which groups of fans wore capes or other garments of particular colors to display letters or other patterns in the crowd. A pattern first occurred when a Stanford student distributed white muslin to fellow students who tossed the muslin over their heads and shoulders to form a large "S" in Berkeley's stadium during the 1904 Big Game.

An imaginary scene shows the 1905 team captains superimposed on a background from the 1904 Big Game when Stanford fans formed an S.

Other schools picked up Stanford's idea, though most switched to using large colored cards for what became known as card stunts.