Want to Admire 1947 Texas Tech By Using a Thrilling Time Machine?
"These are the bells. The bells of a college telling its story." That's how this 1947 commercial starts for the Texas Technological College, based in the potential metropolis of Lubbock.
This video is amazing. Obviously, the quality isn't great by today's standards, but to get a glimpse into the past is incredibly surreal. It's like the City of Lubbock and the campus of Texas Tech are being broken out of a time capsule for the first time. The Goin' Band from Raiderland, or as it was called in 1947, The Matador Band, walking the streets of downtown Lubbock for the homecoming parade like it happened last week.
Granted, the football didn't quite look like today either. That's real grass. And 1947 was actually the very first season for Jones SBC Stadium, or Jones AT&T Stadium as it's known today. That means the video above shows the very first homecoming game in the history of The Jones. The grass they are playing on was replaced with astroturf in 1970 before getting upgraded to field turf in 2006.
The 1947 homecoming game was played against Hardin Simmons. Texas Tech won, 14-6.
The Matador Band is back for halftime and does an incredible Double T formation, but is absolutely outshined by what looks like 100 Texas Tech freshmen racing to midfield to put on a pair of shoes out of a pile. Could you imagine that being done today? I feel like at 32, I was part of the last generation that was asked to be incredibly reckless in the name of fun by well-meaning adults.
The coolest part of this video has to be the Victory Bells and the final words spoken by the narrator: "As the bells mark the hours of the Texas Tech students' life, they speak only to his triumphs, for they are Victory Bells, foretelling the assured success of his future. His unlimited future, afforded him by an education at Texas Technological College." All while the classic-sounding Matador rings in the background.