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On this day in 1972, William J. McClanahan's last regular cartoon appeared in the Dallas Morning News. He had started his career at the News as a sportswriter in the late 1920s, and did not find his forte as a cartoonist until 1946, when his first regular sports cartoon appeared. McClanahan became well known--as the "father of the Southwest Conference cartoon mascots"; as the popularizer of the "Grid Gram," a column that was, according to him, a "visual box score of a football game"; and as the inventor of the challenging "Texas Sports Exam." In 1957, after the retirement of senior News cartoonist John F. Knott, McClanahan joined Jack Howells (Herc) Ficklen as an editorial cartoonist for the paper, a position he held until his retirement in 1973. Among his numerous awards McClanahan won the Southwest Journalism Award in 1970 and multiple National Freedom Foundation awards. In retirement he published two books, a collection of cartoons called Texas: The Way It Used to Be (1968) and Scenery for Model Railroads (1958, 1967). McClanahan died of a heart attack in Dallas on September 7, 1981.

http://www.tshaonline.org/daybyday/12-29-002.html

Although not a SWC cartoon, here is an example of McClanahan's work:

I was a student then and would look for his Friday cartoon, I believe it was his "Prediktions" of the games to be played that Saturday. Then he did a second that reflected the results--all the characters were battered and beaten. Great humor and great memories of the old conference--I really miss them. The worst, was his version of Hayden's "flying wishbone". Hayden really needed a press agent to come up with a better name--it showed ole Peruna in a bi-plane always getting the wings shot off.

He was the best.

Truly a Great One!!!

Mexmustang wrote:I was a student then and would look for his Friday cartoon, I believe it was his "Prediktions" of the games to be played that Saturday. Then he did a second that reflected the results--all the characters were battered and beaten. Great humor and great memories of the old conference--I really miss them. The worst, was his version of Hayden's "flying wishbone". Hayden really needed a press agent to come up with a better name--it showed ole Peruna in a bi-plane always getting the wings shot off.

If my memory serves me correctly, I remember McClanahan referring to it as the SMU or Mustangs' 'aerial circus' in his cartoons.

You're dead on - '65!

That was during the Hixson years capping if off in the Astro-Blue Bonnet Bowl!!!

28-27!!!

NavyCrimson wrote:You're dead on - '65!

That was during the Hixson years capping if off in the Astro-Blue Bonnet Bowl!!!

28-27!!!

I was there!

Loved his weekly SWC predictions.............

Funny, I was just thinking about McClanahan - as a kid I used to copy his cartoons and make posters. You could alway tell how many losses each SWC team had by the number of bandages and band aids on thier ears, horns or paws.