By Billy Hightower
Hail to the red and the blue, we’re the Mustangs from SMU!
The clock is ticking – tomorrow morning the duel of DFW, a rivalry spanning almost 100 years between SMU and TCU, will begin. The series between the two DFW teams began in 1915 with a 43-0 win by TCU. Over the course of this series the TCU Horned Frogs have maintained at 45-40-7 lead in the series, but not for long! This rivalry is also known as the battle of the iron skillet. The history behind the iron skillet trophy fields back to 1946, with the rivalries between the two teams steadily getting more and more aggressive each and every year, the student council of SMU greeted TCU with the idea of granting the winning team with a trophy. Considering there was over $1000 worth of damage done to the universities by their rivals in the year before, TCU gladly obliged. After that first game, Derrell Tipps, TCU’s student body president was presented the skillet by Bobby Harris, SMU’s student body president. Inscribed the skillet was the phrase, “Presented in token of southwestern friendship to the winner of annual TCU-SMU football game. Student tradition sponsored jointly by student governments of the universities.” The question still remains…why an iron skillet? Many claim that SMU alum were frying frog legs at a tailgate before the game and TCU alum wagered them into the frog legs and the skillet to the winning alumni.