Still Standing

Member of SMU's 1935 National Championship Team Active At 93

CUSA Fans SMU Correspondent Rick Atkinson brings you his latest SMU sports update.

CORSICANA, Tex. – Maco Stewart, 93, says he has slowed down a bit and his memory isn’t what it used to be. But he doesn’t blame it on aging. He says it was that darned 12-gauge shotgun during a recent West Texas quail hunt.

“I threw that gun up and didn’t get it to my shoulder,” he said. The blast knocked him to the ground and badly bruised his ribs. “It was five weeks before I got over that,” Stewart said.

Most folks don’t hunt or fish at 93, but Stewart - one of two surviving members of SMU’s 1935 national championship football team – is an exception.

1935 team captains, from left, J.C. Wetsel, Harry Shuford and Maco Stewart. PHOTO: SMU Heritage Hall

Physical stamina is just one thing that made him a winner. There’s this, too: “I don’t care if it’s tiddlywinks,” he said. “I’m a hard loser, I’ll tell you that. I worry about it.”

Stewart didn’t have much to worry about in ‘35 when the Mustangs posted a perfect 12-0 regular season, the best in school history. There were eight shutouts - with “goose eggs” administered to both Texas and Texas A&M, the only time that happened in 71 seasons of trying.

This group was also the only Southwest Conference team to play in the Rose Bowl. (Easy, Bevo-breath. Texas was in the Big 12.)

With the recent death of All-American back Harry Shuford, Stewart and Maurice “King Kong” Orr are the last living links to that special season. (Orr, an All-SWC tackle now living in Kyle, Texas, is not in good health after a stroke two years ago.)

Today, Stewart can be found in Corsicana, just south of Dallas, where he, Bobby Wilson, Billy Stamps, and Bob Finley starred on high school teams that folks still talk about.

And they all played together for SMU in 1935.

“There was just an unbelievable SMU connection in those days from Corsicana,” said Gerry York, 71, Curator of SMU’s Heritage Hall.

In fact, most all the ‘35 squad was “homegrown,” he said. “Of the starting eleven, and even the key reserves on that team, they were all from, like, a 70-mile radius of Dallas,” York said, “except for one guy who was from down around Lufkin.”

Maco Stewart, 93, played on SMU's 1935 National Championship squad.

‘Good Boys’

Most days, Stewart has coffee with friends or visits the Stewart Motor Company, a local car dealership he owned with his brother for decades. One of his five children, Paul, has owned it since 1983.

Stewart’s wife of 66 years, Betty, died in 2004. “I’m by myself at home,” he said, “and so I just get out to get change, you know.”

“We had a bunch of good boys,” Stewart said of the ’35 team. “The reason I say that is, nearly all those boys came out with good jobs. We didn’t have any thugs.”

Coached by the legendary Matty Bell, the team had four All-Americans: Shuford, Wilson, tackle Truman “Big Dog” Spain, and guard J.C. Wetsel.

Stewart was a starting end on both offense and defense and a team tri-captain along with Shuford and Wetsel.

Stewart said he played at about 189 pounds, Wilson weighed 150 and Shuford, about 185. Spain and Orr went 220. “The rest of them, 190,” Stewart said.

Before the season began, Stewart said new SMU head coach Bell asked his captains for advice. “I think you need to play Bobby Wilson 60 minutes,” Stewart told him. “That’s the best move Bell made,” said Stewart. “Bobby was a great player. He was dangerous at running back punts.”

Stewart said Wilson’s talent was comparable to Doak Walker’s. “Doak could probably do more things,” Stewart allowed. “Wilson couldn’t pass. Doak could.”

SMU ran the single wing, snapping the ball directly to one of three or four backs. “We didn’t do a whole lot of passing,” Stewart said. “Most of the time it was Shuford handing it off.”

Game of the Century?

Stewart remembers the ’35 season well: the cold sleet in St. Louis when the Mustangs beat Washington (Mo.), 35-6; the Interurban train ride from Dallas to Waco to play Baylor; his future wife watching the Mustangs roll into Abilene to play Hardin-Simmons.

And, of course, there was the mammoth game at TCU with a national championship and Rose Bowl bid at stake. “Everybody was crazy back then,” Stewart said of the hysteria surrounding the match up.

The showdown pitted No. 1 SMU with No. 2 TCU and its All-American quarterback, Sammy Baugh. The Mustangs were considered underdogs with Shuford out with a bad knee. Finley, more the passer, took Shuford’s place.

Stewart holds a copy of the 1935 SMU-Texas game program. SMU beat Texas, 20-0, en route to a perfect 12-0 regular season.

About 37,000 fans crammed into and around sold-out TCU stadium (capacity 25,000) for this clash of unbeatens. The game attracted national media attention, unlike any seen before in the southwest.

The score was tied, 14-14, with eight minutes remaining. Stewart caught a 25-yard pass before a Mustang drive stalled just across midfield. On fourth down, instead of punting, Finley pulled up and lofted a 45-yard pass to Wilson near the goal line.

“Wilson went down into the end zone and came out,” Stewart said. “Bob hit him and he fell back in there.”

The extra point attempt failed, but SMU hung on for perhaps its greatest win ever.

The next week, the Ponies wrapped up the SWC and national titles with a 24-0 thumping of A&M at College Station. (National champions then were generally determined pre-bowl.)

The Finley-to-Wilson play at TCU became known as “The $85,000 Pass” – as it effectively earned a Rose Bowl payout of 85 grand. The money was used to pay off the mortgage on SMU’s Ownby Stadium.

Rose Thorn

Stewart calls the 7-0 Rose Bowl loss to Stanford his toughest defeat of all. “It had to be,” he said, adding that the Mustangs second-guessed themselves the whole train ride home.

For starters, Stewart said it was probably a mistake for the team to arrive in Los Angeles five days before the game. “Some of the boys got to runnin’ around,” he said.

And it didn’t help when the team bus got stuck in traffic, arriving at the game just 20 minutes before kickoff, Stewart said. He remembers Bell yelling, “Get out! Get in there!” as they pulled up.

“Still,” Stewart said, “Stanford had a good ball club – a great ball club. They were big and they were strong, and they knew what they wanted to do.”

SMU had beaten UCLA, 21-0, earlier in Los Angeles. “After UCLA, [the pundits] said, ‘You’re not gonna have any trouble with Stanford,’” Stewart said. “But, they were ready. And we weren’t.”

Stanford quarterback Bill Paulman’s one-yard run in the first quarter provided the game’s lone score.

The Mustangs got inside the Indians’ five-yard-line in the second quarter, but fumbled. “And we never did make another threat,” Stewart said.

Wilson nearly broke a punt return, Stewart recalled, but instead of heading for the sideline, as was his custom, he cut back to the middle and was tackled. Wilson told Stewart he didn’t know why he did it.

What Came Next

Two players from the ’35 Ponies went pro: Wilson, one season with the Brooklyn Dodgers and center Caroll Raborn, two years with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bell coached SMU through the ‘49 season, winning three more SWC titles.

Stewart coached Texas high school football in Mexia and McAllen before serving in the Navy during World War II. Next, he coached five seasons in Longview, while earning an MBA from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stewart returned to Corsicana in 1952 to partner in his brother’s car dealership and they retired together in 1983. During this period, for over 20 years, Stewart officiated high school and college football games and got to know several SWC coaching legends along the way. He listed TCU’s Abe Martin, UT’s Darrell Royal, Arkansas’ Frank Broyles, Rice’s Jess Neely, and A&M’s Bear Bryant.

Orange Highlight

Stewart umpired the ‘65 Orange Bowl, when Texas defeated Bryant and No. 1 Alabama. He calls the game the highlight of his officiating career. “Nip and tuck,” Stewart said.

Trailing, 21-17, late, ‘Bama faced fourth down, two feet from Texas’ goal line. Quarterback Joe Namath, gimpy leg and all, took the snap and dove into the line. A huge pile-up followed.

“Nobody knew where that ball goes,” Stewart said. “They dug in there and put it back on the two-foot line. It cost [ Alabama] the ballgame.”

“Ol’ Bear didn’t holler,” Stewart said, admiringly. “He didn’t holler.”

Stewart also worked the ‘71 Cotton Bowl, when Notre Dame faced No. 1 Texas. “I went in the Notre Dame dressing room [before the game], and I said, ‘ Texas can’t beat these boys.’ Man, they were big and strong.”

The Irish topped the ‘Horns, 24-11.

Stewart said today’s game is too commercialized and players’ behavior is often disrespectful. “You didn’t have jawin’ at people and all that stuff [when I played],” Stewart said. “But, that’s what the people like.”

Stewart said he doesn’t follow SMU football as closely as he once did. “I loved it,” he said. “But, you know, you get older …”

“Oh, it’s a good school,” he said. “I still watch ‘em. I just don’t worry [now.]”