A new exhibit at The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports celebrates the history of the Lone Star Showdown, the football rivalry between the University of Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies. 
 

The first competition between football teams from the University of Texas and Texas A&M took place in Austin over 130 years ago in 1894, on a roped-off field two miles north of campus around what is now 44th Street and Duval. Texas won 38-0, and like this first, lopsided score, the Horns have remained dominant over the years with an all-time record of 77-37-5. Not limited to football, anytime the Longhorns and Farmers square off in any sport, more is on the line than just the game. From its founding in 1883, The University of Texas seemed to be in full opposition to Texas AMC. It offered higher education that focused on liberal arts and the humanities and its campus was located in beautiful, downtown Austin. Once sport became a part of campus life, friction between the rural, conservative “Farmers” of A&M and the big-city “Steers” of Texas grew into a true rivalry. We tell “aggie jokes.” They call us “t-sips.” Our fight songs bid each other farewell.

In 1900, the Texas and Texas A&M football teams faced off on Thanksgiving Day for the first time, rooting the rivalry deep within Texan culture for many generations of Aggies, Longhorns, and the unaffiliated. The game has always carried such immense cultural significance, that when Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeast Conference in 2012, state legislators attempted to pass a bill to restore the rivalry a year later; Governor Greg Abbott pushed an agenda of political compromise when he articulated his desire to bring back the game during a 2019 address of the legislative session. In 2024, the rivalry finally renewed when Texas joined the SEC and reappeared on Aggie football schedules. This year marks the 120th Texas versus Texas A&M football game. In celebration, this exhibit pays tribute to the great players, coaches, history, hijinks, and traditions that have made the Lone Star Showdown mean so much to so many, and the so many more to come.