The Hardin–Simmons Cowboys football team represents

Hardin–Simmons University Hardin–Simmons University (HSU) is a private Baptist university in Abilene, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Southern Baptist Convention). History Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist ...

in the sport of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. Hardin–Simmons began competing in intercollegiate football in 1897. The program rose to prominence under

Frank Kimbrough Frank Kimbrough (November 2, 1956 – December 30, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz pianist. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill before moving to Washington, D. C. in 1980 and then New York City i ...

who compiled a 47–8–3 record () as head coach from 1935 to 1940. Kimbrough's teams played in the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and

1937 Sun Bowl The 1937 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Texas Mines Miners and the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys. Background This was the first bowl appearance for the Miners; head coach Mack Saxon had been one of the coaches of th ...

s, and his undefeated and untied 1940 team was ranked No. 17 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. From 1941 to 1961, the team competed as a member of the

Border Conference The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. ...

. During this time, the Cowboys won three conference championships:

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

(shared with

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

) and

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

under head coach and

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

inductee Warren B. Woodson, and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

under head coach and College Football Hall of Fame inductee

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football player and coach. During his college and professional careers, he most notably played quarterback, but also played as a safety and punter. He ...

. During the period of its membership in the Border Conference, the team appeared in seven bowl games, including a record three bowl games (

Grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

Shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

, and

Camellia Bowl Camellia Bowl can refer to one of three college football bowl games: * Camellia Bowl (1948) The Camellia Bowl was a post-season major college football bowl game played at McNaspy Stadium in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 30, 1948, between t ...

s) for the 1948 team. From 1960 to 1963, the football program compiled a record of 3–35–1 and was outscored by a total of 999 to 313. In January 1964, the university trustees ordered the elimination of the university football program. The chairman of the board said the move was necessitated by "financial difficulties and losses" in the athletic program. The school did not field a football team from 1964 to 1989. The football program returned in 1990, but the school now competes at the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

level. Jimmie Keeling was the head coach for 21 years from 1990 to 2010, winning 11

American Southwest Conference The American Southwest Conference (ASC) is a college athletic conference, founded in 1996, whose member schools compete in the NCAA's Division III. The schools are located in Texas and Arkansas. The conference competes in baseball, men's and wome ...

championships and compiling a record of 172–53 (). Jesse Burleson has been the head coach since 2011.

Bowl game appearances

The Hardin–Simmons Cowboys have played in 8

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

-sanctioned bowl games with a record of 5–2–1. The Grape Bowl is listed in NCAA records, but was not an NCAA-sanctioned bowl game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin-Simmons Cowboys football American football teams established in 1897 1897 establishments in Texas