In retrospect, 1911 was a real mismatch

ROBERT TURBEVILLE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Hugo Bezdek just wanted to separate the starters from the reserves when his Arkansas Razorbacks took the field for their season opener in Fayetteville on Oct. 7, 1911, to play Missouri State Normal.
Bezdek didn't get a very good look because the game was a rout. But in the process, those Razorbacks earned a place in the school's record books.
Arkansas beat Missouri State Normal, now Southwest Missouri State, 100-0 that day. It stands as school records for highest score in a game and largest margin of victory.
Now, 89 years later and for the first time since 1924, Arkansas and Southwest Missouri State meet again tonight at 8 at War Memorial Stadium.
The Bears' rallying cry surely won't be "Remember 1911." But if nothing else, a trip down memory lane can show how much times have changed.
It starts with just finding out about the game. Arkansas' media guide lists it as being played on Sept. 30, a week earlier than it actually took place. One part of the media guide lists Southwest Missouri State as the opponent that day, but in another, it says the opponent was SMU.
It turns out it was SMS after all, and as the score indicates, it was ugly.
"At no time in the game did the visitors have the ghost of a chance to score," read the game story in the Arkansas Gazette, "the entire battle being waged in the opponents' territory."
Arkansas held SMS without a first down in the first quarter, and the Razorbacks led 56-0 at halftime. Arkansas' reserves didn't come in until the third quarter.
"The scrubs even were too much for the Normals," the Gazette said, "keeping the ball on the opponents' territory all the time and piled up the score 12 points more.
"Arkansas' interference was invincible. The backfield showed much speed, while the line was strong on defense."
Arkansas apparently didn't mind running the score up. The first team played the fourth quarter and scored 32 points.
Finding out much else about the game isn't easy. Newspapers during that time weren't much on giving first names for players, much less statistics.
A little digging shows Boyd Cypert returned two kickoffs the length of the field for touchdowns, Russell May made 6 of 7 field goal attempts and team captain Dan Estes, a left tackle, somehow scored on an 80-yard touchdown run.
"It was seldom that the visitors made a first down, and on every attempt to gain through the line [they] were thrown for a loss," the Gazette said.
Unlike today, when the Razorbacks seem to rule the state, the Gazette buried the game story on the second page of its three-page section, giving better play to Little Rock High School football, professional baseball and Ivy League football.
The game didn't end up in SMS' record book. Pittsburg (Kan.) State handed the Bears their worst lost in school history the next year, beating SMS 150-0.

This article was published on Saturday, September 2, 2000

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