CWU-West Texas A&M Preview Capsule

Setting

Time: 11 a.m. Place: Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, Canyon, Texas

Radio: KXLE Ellensburg (1240).

Series History: First meeting.

Records, rankings: Central is 10-1 and ranked eighth in the AFCA poll and fifth by D2Football.com.
West Texas A&M is 10-1 and ranked ninth in the AFCA poll and ninth by D2Football.com.

West Texas A&M University (A&M stands for agricultural and mechanical) was founded in 1910 in Canyon, a small city south of Amarillo, as West Texas State Normal College and began as one of seven state-funded teachers colleges. It had 152 students and 16 faculty members. Presently the university has an enrollment of 5,657 undergraduates, 1,616 postgraduates and a faculty of 350. Its campus covers 135 acres. Noted faculty and alumni include NBA player and coach Maurice Cheeks, famed Miami Dolphin running back Mercury Morris, First Lady of Texas Anita Thigpen Perry, women’s basketball coach Marsha Sharp, actor French Stewart and professional wrestlers Dusty Rhodes, Dick Murdoch, Tully Blanchard, Ted DiBiase, Tito Santana, Stan Hansen, Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr.

The school was known as West Texas State when running back Duane Thomas played there before moving onto the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1970s. Thomas is known mostly for refusing to speak with any Dallas players, coaches or management for the entire 1971 season, but helped the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl win (Super Bowl VI in 1972).

The Buffaloes competed in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference until 1984, when they moved to the Division II Lone Star Conference. The school joined the Texas A&M University system in 1990 and then-president Barry B. Thompson dropped the football program. It returned a year later, though without scholarships. A&M’s rival is Eastern New Mexico University, which the Buffs play for the coveted Wagon Wheel Trophy.

A&M presently competes in football, baseball, basketball, cross country, equestrian (women only), golf, soccer, softball and volleyball.