The New Mexico State-El Paso High School Battles

Football fans sometimes argue about colleges that played football in the distant past including in their all-time records victories over high schools, athletic clubs, and military teams. Some of the criticism is deserved, but much stems from misunderstanding football back in the day. In early football, college rosters often had players who had never played the game before going to college, while high schools and others might have players well-schooled in the football arts.

I came across one of those examples when I acquired an RPPC from 1915 showing two players from Texas' 20th Infantry, a state militia force deployed along the Mexican border, to keep Pancho Villa out of the U.S., with more or less or less success.

Two 20th Infantry football players at an encampment along the Mexican border in 1915. (RPPC, Personal collection)

Militia or National Guard units played a lot of football along the border in 1915 and 1916. While I came across a few mentions of 20th Infantry games, they were less common than references to some 20th Infantry officers refereeing the second game of the year between the New Mexico State Aggies and El Paso High School, which were 45 miles apart.

New Mexico State can be forgiven for playing El Paso High twice, largely because there were not many teams worth playing in that neck of the desert, especially since the militia teams put their footballs away and were doing militia things that fall.

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