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Border War beginnings: CSU, Wyoming hatred started in 1899

November 6, 2015

For the participants of the Border War, winning is important for many reasons.

“To get the boot back would mean a lot to me,” senior Kevin Pierre-Louis said after last week’s loss to San Diego State. “It belongs to CSU. A guy who went to CSU.

“But it’s also a good week to look forward to because Wyoming hates us and we hate them,” KPL continued. “It’s not a secret. That’s just how it is.”

The hatred of one another runs deep, and tomorrow, the Colorado State Rams (3-5, 1-3 MW) face their heated rival in the Wyoming Cowboys (1-8, 1-4 MW) at 1 p.m. in Laramie, Wyoming.

It will be the 106th meeting between the two schools if you’re from CSU, the 107th if you’re from Wyoming. Wait, what? Why?

Well, rewind all the way back to the first time these two teams met for the real reason why.

1899 represents a big year for Wyoming football, as their first season as a team. It was also Colorado Agricultural & Mechanical College’s (CSU) first full season of football since 1894. The two teams met in Laramie on Thanksgiving Day that year, but neither was thankful at the conclusion of the game.

Back in those days, each school would have send a representative to act as an official. For CAC it was Professor Edward House, who had agreed to be the referee, while E.D. McArthur of Wyoming was to be the umpire.

As the game moved forward, House was berated by the Cowboys fans in attendance, who threw rocks onto the field and even came onto the field themselves to shake their fists and canes at the referee and the Aggies football team.

According to reports from the Collegian and other newspapers of the time, the fans yelled, ““Kill the __ __ __! Kill the whole outfit! Mob them right here!”

The Fort Collins Express said the crowd, “insulted, cursed and abused [House] in a way that was new to him at least. Every decision he made was questioned if it happened to be unfavorable to Laramie.”

This happens today, but not in the way it did back then. Fans coming onto the field and threatening the referee’s wellbeing? Whoa, Wyoming.

Following the violent threats, House had to clear the field of the fans and at halftime he decided to give up the refereeing duties, switching to umpire while McArthur of Wyoming would act as referee. McCarthur, of course, called the game in favor of the Cowboys.

But, late in the contest, House made a call — Rule 17 of the outdated and no longer in use rulebook from pre-1912 — which said a Wyoming player used his hands or arm to guard another player. This penalty was only allowed to be called by the umpire and it resulted in the Cowboys having to turn the ball over to the Aggies. McArthur decided to overrule the call, and when House pulled out the rule book, McCarthur slapped it from his hands and proclaimed he, “did not give a damn for the rules.”

House called the game over due to Wyoming not giving the ball back to CAC — the Cowboys had forfeited — and the Aggies left the field. But McCarthur told Wyoming to run the ball and they scored a touchdown. At the time of the game being called, CAC led 12-11, but Colorado State had the game as a win 12-0 for 100 years. In 1999, the NCAA decided forfeits do not officially count, so it’s no longer an official result for the Rams.

Wyoming, on the other hand, still marks the game as a victory, and therefore this is the 107th meeting between the two schools to the team to the north, not the 106th — as Colorado State correctly recognizes it.

Is this surprising? Heck no.

Imagine the effort it must have taken just to make the trek from Fort Collins to Laramie in those days. And imagine the condition of the town — even more dirt roads than today — which few country folks living on their own as farmers and the like. Hostile? Yep. Protective of their land? You betcha.

At the end of the game, as CAC left the field, a riot was incited due to the ruling; Aggies quarterback Mills was hit in the head with a cane while House was pushed and kicked.

Talk about good ol’ fashioned Laramie hospitality.

This incident may have occurred 116 years ago, but there’s no love lost between the two teams and universities to this day. As Pierre-Louis said, “Wyoming hates us and we hate them.”

Of course, the Bronze Boot — introduced into the series in 1968 — has only intensified the rivalry further. The boot was originally worn by Cpt. Dan J. Romero in the Vietnam War, was bronzed and immortalized as the trophy awarded to the winner of the rivalry game annually. It also symbolizes the two school’s ROTC traditions and is currently being run from Fort Collins to Laramie as this piece is being written.

“Obviously a big game,” said Rams defensive coordinator Tyson Summers about the upcoming Boarder War. “Being my first year here and all the things you hear about rivalries and being at other schools where you feel and hear all these things about natural rivalries. Felt like certainly one with Air Force and CU. This has been a totally different feel and even more anxious going into it.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT at War Memorial Stadium. Be there.

(Information in this piece was taken from John Hirn, Colorado State’s amazing athletics historian. Want more Rams sports history? Check out Hirn’s book “Aggies to Rams” at the CSU Bookstore.)

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