KU vs. MU begins in heated rivalry

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Waves of crimson, blue, yellow and black rush over Arrowhead Stadium. The loud clamor of the fans leaps into a roar as the players emerge unto the field. Going from a humble game on a field in the 1890s to last year’s highly anticipated game at Arrowhead Stadium, the Border Showdown has evolved over the years.

Photo courtesy of Spencer Research Library

KU fans from the 1940s ride together in a car labeled "Massacre Mizzou." The fans took many of their traditions from the Jayhawker and Bushwacker struggle that led to Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence.

No rivalry has been as vicious as the Border Showdown between Kansas and Missouri. It is a rivalry that not only runs deep in each school, but also in the states the schools reside in. The rivalry, which originated from the struggles between Jayhawkers and Bushwackers, led to Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. When the schools were established, they took many of their traditions and, of course, rivalry from this pre-Civil War time.

According to Larry L. Campbell’s “A History of Football At The University of Kansas, 1889-1920,” this historical rivalry crossed into football in 1889. Kansas, coached by Professor E.M. Hopkins, defeated Missouri met at Exposition Park in Kansas City, Mo., 22-8, notching a victory in front of a crowd of 3,000. For the first time, fans celebrated a victory over Missouri by throwing bonfires on Massachusetts Street as the players returned.

For the next couple of years ,the teams fought for the title Champion of the West, which later became the Western Interstate League championship, according to Campbell.

The 1911 game was played at Rollins Field in Columbia, Mo., and Chester L. Brewer, Missouri’s athletic director, asked alumni to return and cheer for the team against big rival Kansas. A crowd of 10,000 people showed up, according to Campbell. This is widely seen as the first homecoming ceremony in the U.S. In 1912, Kansas held the match-up against Missouri with its first homecoming ceremony and won the game. According to Clifford Griffin’s “The University of Kansas: A History,” the schools alternated between housing the game and homecomings for the next couple of decades.

As the rivalry grew, so did the spirit of tradition for Kansas. In 1919, in anticipation of the 28th annual Border War game, the Jayhawks wore white shirts and red sashes and bought 25-cent Loyalty Arm Bands. The attendance of 15,000 supporting fans at McCook Field demonstrated the beginning of the school spirit.

Another tradition was the traveling Indian war drum trophy, which was created in 1937 through the Missouri almuni and KU athletic lettermen’s club. That trophy was exchanged each year to the winner until 1979. Then in 1986 a Taos American Indian war drum was used until 1999, when it was replaced by a marching band bass drum.

“It was more toward promoting something more politically correct,” Kevin Corbett, president of KU Alumni Association, said. “And it wasn’t really any history of an Indian influence at any of the schools.”

The Border War was changed to Border Showdown in 2004.

Corbett said it had a lot to deal with promoting good sportsmanship and following 9/11 there was a push for universities to show sportsmanship, even in a heated rivalry.

Kansas-Missouri was the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi, Corbett said.

“There is a lot of history behind that rivalry that will take some years to move into a more friendly environment,” Corbett said. “And it won’t take away from the fact that Missouri hates Kansas and Kansas hates Missouri. It’s just how we behave as fans and how players behave at sportsmen. ”

— Edited by Anna Kathagnarath

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