From Ponies to Cash Cows

Opinion

Hannah O’Gara | Co-Sports Editor

Thirty-five years after the Death Penalty was instated against SMU football, the program now faces its biggest changes that will influence its future: membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The offer to join the conference came on Sept. 1 and boosters hope the move will put SMU football back on a path to prominence.

“This is such an important day for SMU,” said SMU Board Chair David B. Miller ‘72. “Becoming a member of the ACC will positively impact all aspects of the collegiate experience on the Hilltop and will raise SMU’s profile on a national level. SMU is committed to excellence in everything we do, and this move will strengthen that commitment.” monuments and buildings on SMU’s campus. Yet some names remain plastered around the Hilltop today.

Some fans of the ACC project fear that SMU will not hold their own, merely becoming another small school that teams will trample. The pressure will fall entirely on SMU to prove doubters wrong.

Even though SMU will be losing broadcast revenue, boosters have stepped up to support the move; the university raised $100 million from donors in the week after the ACC announcement.

Change seems to be on the horizon 35 years after one of the most infamous college football punishments was cast upon SMU.

BUF is committed to conducting research on how to begin the process of removing Ownby’s name from campus on behalf of the Black community at SMU but hasn’t officially demanded it.

“At this time, a formal request to pursue the removal of this name from the street has not been made,” BUF co-president Nick Jones said in a written statement.

Trust is not easily gained, especially from a school with a campus that features buildings that bear the names of enslavers (Caruth Hall), Ku Klux Klan supporters (Selecman Hall) and ethically ambiguous Nazi artifact collectors (Harlan Crow and Kathy Crow Commons).

“SMU should do the right thing and show that [they] are sensitive and responsive to a changed America,” said Dr. Rick Halperin, director of the SMU Human Rights Program. “As long as there is accountability, there is a hope for a better, more inclusive version of the Hilltop.”

Ownby’s legacy has no place in SMU’s 2023 Homecoming celebration. His hateful representation of Black people should not be honored by an increasingly diverse SMU. Black football players and students who must stand in what was formerly Ownby Stadium should not have to dwell on physical reminders of a century-old donation he paid to begin the school’s first stadium.

College campuses serve as small echo chambers of a greater society and as a reflection of that institution’s values and priorities. As SMU seeks to become a more inclusive space, it must expand the sense of belonging felt by those who step onto this campus and address BUF’s list of demands. an increasingly diverse SMU. Black football players and students who must stand in what was formerly Ownby Stadium should not have to dwell on physical reminders of a century-old donation he paid to begin the school’s first stadium.

The early 1980s was the time to be an SMU football fan. The Mustangs just came off back-to-back national championship recognition in 1981 and 1982, and running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James had just put SMU football on the map. The backfield duo was known as the “Pony Express” and remains the cornerstone of what was the most iconic era of SMU football.

However, their reign as the most famous part of the program came to a crashing halt in 1987. SMU was busted for paying players and recruiting violations. It faced the NCAA’s harshest sanctions.

SMU football has yet to recover. SMU finished in the collegiate Top 10 three times between 1981 and 1984 and has not seen a single Associated Press ranking since.

John Williamson, SMU class of ’89, arrived on campus his sophomore year, unaware of the events that would unfold and drastically change his college experience.

“It was surreal because nothing like that had ever happened before,” Williamson said. “Everybody knew that teams were cheating, but for them to just completely shut down the football program was just shocking.”

After the suspension, a majority of recruits left SMU football in the dust and transferred schools. Upwards of 50 scholarships were stripped and nine sponsors were restricted in working with Dallas’ team.

SMU students at the time had no idea the impact the suspension would cause in years to come. For football fans such as Becca Bets, SMU class of ’00, she was sad she had missed the years when SMU football was a crown jewel.

“It’s funny now because when I was going to school here, SMU wasn’t even playing on their campus yet and so it was hard for all of us as fans to rally,” Bets said. “My family and I now live in Highland Park, come to each home game and so to see the expansive school spirit for the football team nowadays just does not remind me of my time as a student here.”

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