Archives On The Air 196: Cowboys And Gridirons—American Heritage Center Football Collections

By Wyoming Public Media

Published June 15, 2020 at 6:13 PM MDT

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University of Wyoming's first football team, 1894. Box 11A, Holliday Family papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

American Heritage Center

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University of Wyoming's first football team, 1894. Box 11A, Holliday Family papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

American Heritage Center

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UW football team during a scrimmage on Prexy's Pasture, ca. 1910. Merica Hall can be seen to the left and Old Main on the right. Box 31, B.C. Buffum papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

American Heritage Center

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American Heritage Center

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Homecoming football game in 1926 on Corbett Field, which was located on land that is now College of Business and the east end of the Union parking lot, and was the home of Cowboy football from 1922 until the construction of War Memorial Stadium in 1950.

American Heritage Center

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American Heritage Center

Football officially began at the University of Wyoming on February 22, 1893 when the 11-man UW squad defeated Cheyenne High School 14 to nothing.

The university team won a total of nine victories before suffering their first defeat on October 15, 1898, against the Colorado School of Mines.

The southwestern corner of what is now Prexy's Pasture was the first football field.

When Merica Hall was built as the first women's dormitory in 1908, female fans had a bird's eye view of the field by sitting in the dorm windows.

The team had been nicknamed the Cowboys since 1891, but it became the official name in 1912. That year the familiar bucking horse emblem was also bestowed on the team.

Learn more history of UW football at UW's American Heritage Center.