When The Frogs Were Princes

TCU dipsy-doodled into the conference in 1923, and almost immediately the Frogs became a major contributor to its jinx-ridden, upset-prone reputation. On an average of every other season in their first 15 years as a member, the Frogs either defeated or tied the team that won the championship. But it didn't stop there.

For close to 40 years, the Frogs repeatedly pulled off gigantic upsets, even in those seasons when they could do little else but provide an excuse for the Texas Christian University Swing Band to prance onto the field in policemen's caps and strike up a rendition of Plenty of Money and You.

A lot of legendary folks felt the sting of the TCU upset. Like Joel Hunt and the powerful Aggies of '25 and '27, and Bill Wallace and the powerful Owls of '34. Like Jack Crain, Mai Kutner and the powerful Longhorns of '41, who went into the TCU game rated No. 1 and had just been splashed on the cover of LIFE magazine. The baggy pants knocked them off. And then there was Doak Walker, the best all-round football player anybody ever saw when he was at SMU. Doak never got better than a tie with the Frogs in the seasons of '47, '48 and '49 when he was college football's last three-year consensus All-America back.

But the Frogs were much more than spoilers. Upsets were just the comedy relief provided by Francis Schmidt, Dutch Meyer and Abe Martin, the three men who coached TCU through the glory years.

Those years began in 1929 when Cy Leland's breakaway running brought the Frogs their first conference championship and the glory ended with the last title in 1959 (shared with Texas and Arkansas), which was the result, by and large, of Bob Lilly's mayhem in the trenches, as the Illustrated Football Annual might have put it.

Over this span of 31 consecutive seasons, from '29 through '59, the Frogs were the best team in the Southwest Conference. I just happen to have the proof. All TCU did was:

—Win more national championships (two, '35 and '38) than anybody else in the conference.

—Win more conference championships (8) than anybody else.

—Go to more bowl games (11) than anybody else in the conference.

—Produce more All-Americas (16) than anybody else in the conference.