The 1926 Fighting Wildcats (taken from the "El Campito", the annual published for that year.)

Week 26

"1922 - THE INAUGURAL SEASON. The first Littlefield Wildcat football team was organized in 1922. Hamilton Shepherd, who was the principal and E. D. Parnell, the ag teacher were the coaches of the inaugural team of 12 players Superintendent R. I. Speight persuaded the school board to give the team $135 to use on uniforms and equipment.

"The first two games the Wildcats played, they suffered two of the worst defeats in school history. The Wildcats lost their inaugural game 78-0 to Plainview. Next on the schedule was Lubbock, who paid Littlefield $40 to play them. Lubbock whipped the Wildcats 108-0. In this game it was reported in the County Wide News that Sid Hopping, a Wildcat gridster, suffered a broken nose, broken arms and several broken ribs. These injuries gave him a one week’s stay in the hospital.

"The Wildcats played their home games in an area around where the present day bus barn resides. There were no bleachers, so the spectators just stood along the sidelines. It did not cost anything to get into the games, but donations were made by passing the hat. Ten or fifteen dollars was normally collected and was kept by the home team. (Team members on that first roster were: Sid Hopping, Tollie Gray, Fontaine Parker, Earl White, Ross White, Leonard Wright, Alph Wright, Todd Williams, Cecil Williams, Lloyd Springer, Bonn Hamilton, Luther Hargrove. The Wildcats won 3 and lost 3, playing Plainview [0-78], Lubbock [0-108], Brownfield [Wildcats won], Farwell [Wildcats won], Hale Center [Wildcats won], and Slaton [2-18].)

"Interesting Facts About Littlefield Football:

Ø "An Athletic Booster Association was set up in 1926 to accompany the boys when they went to neighboring towns.

Ø "In a game against Lubbock High in 1926 a fight broke out that left several of our buys out of the lineup with injuries. The fight started when a referee cursed one of our boys and told him he would whip him after the game, so the Littlefield player hit him right there on the playing field and the referee fought back and broke the player’s jaw in two places. After this a pretty good brawl broke out and it took a while before order could be restored.

Ø "In 1929, Coach Tucker, who was the head coach at the time attended a coaching school in Dallas that was conducted by Knute Rockne of Notre Dame and Pop Warner of USC.

Ø "All the way through the 1920's and early 1930's, Littlefield played a football game at either the South Plains Fair in Lubbock or the County Fair in Olton.

Ø "In the 1931 season, Littlefield played on back to back days. On Friday, October 9^th they played Levelland and turned around and played Farwell the next afternoon. Both games took place at Seely Field with Littlefield coming out on top in both games.

Ø "The 1934 Ralls game was for the North Zone Championship. The Booster Association sold $1.35 round trip tickets aboard a 5 car Santa Fe Railroad Train. The first four coaches were for the fans and the rear coach was reserved for the football team and the coaching staff. The train left Littlefield at noon for the 2:30 kick-off.

Ø "Excerpt out of the October 10, 1935 edition of the County Wide News: ’There will be a few vacant spots in the Wildcat den this week, because several players are out of school for the cotton harvest.’ - Coach Bill Sanders. It was common practice in these days for school to shut down for about two weeks so that the kids could help with the cotton harvest.

Ø "Seely Field was named after Ed Seely. Mr. Seely was amember of the school board and was instrumental in getting the football field built. The field was dedicated to him in a pregame ceremony September 18, 1936. This field was located north of the present day elementary building. One of the goal posts still stands as a reminder of the past.

Ø "On Thanksgiving Day in 1937, Lamesa sent a train of 500 people to attend a football game at Seely Field. Littlefield won the game 7-0.

Ø "The 1938 game with Ralls was a historic event. The school sent 17 school buses to carry the players, band, pep squad and as many students as possible. Individual car owners took an additional 100 cars to take the overflow students and accompanied the bus caravan. The County-Wide News called this the largest such caravan the state of Texas had ever seen. The caravan started with the buses lined up at the First National Bank building in downtown Littlefield.

Ø The 1942 football season was cancelled due to World War II. The boys did still practice together, but they had no coach. The divided up into to teams (Army and Navy) and played a few games against each other on Friday afternoons at Seely Field. Admission was either 10 cents or you could bring scrap iron and get into the game. The scrap iron was donated to the war effort.

(Coach Green includes many more interesting facts and anecdotes, but I don’t want to give everything away. Buy a book and find out for yourselves!)

The year of 2006 marks the second time the Wildcats have gone all the way to the State Championships, and the third time for the Semifinal Championships.

That memorable year of 1949, when Littlefield won the State Championship, the coach was the legendary J. S. Fikes. The team members were: Dale Landrum, Walter Brantley, Joe Walden, Joe Paul Owens, Johnny Edwards, Clifford Hopping, Glenn Bob Barnett, Charles Askew, Billy Frank Davis, Joe Walters, Bobby Cox, Arlen Wesley, Billy Cowan, Jackie McCanlies, Dick Hopping, Robert Attaway, Frank Gage, Floyd Pinkerton, Stephen Brock, Freddy Howard, Donald Crossley, John Fowler, Jim Fowler (the famous Fowler twins!) Teddy Brewster, Bobby Barker, Floyd Goff, Gene Renfro, Bobby Edwards, Tommy Bailes, M. C. Northam, Joe Rogers, Jerry Cotter, Bill Gray, and Darrel Nichols. Assistant coaches were Forrest Martin and Pat Patterson, and the Manager was Jerry Dunn.