Prairie View A&M Football's 80-Game Losing Streak

On September 26, 1998, Prairie View A & M does something they had not done in nine years. After losing 80 straight games, Prairie View A & M wins. Wins a game 14-12, and this would be the beginning to change their fortune. Today we're going to dive into how a team loses 80 games in a row on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your daily guide into sports history, helping you daily. And today's trivia question to listen out for is, how many national championships did Prairie View have before the end of the Jim Crow laws? Prairie View A & M' s football team had been around since 1905, and currently they're part of the SCS and part of the Southwest Athletic Conference, better known as the SWAC. which is made up of historically black colleges. And in the 50s and 60s, they actually were one of the best HBCU colleges out there, winning eight SWAC conference titles and five black college national championships, led by Billy Nix, who was known as the Bear Bryant of college football. And legendary grambling coach Eddie Robinson would say he dread playing against Prairie View, as they were that good. And Prairie View would actually be the first historic black college to... to play in a post-season bowl game as they put together their own bowl game, the Prairie View Bowl, that would play from 1929 to 1961. Now, an unfortunate side effect to the Jim Crow laws being abolished was that the historic black colleges lost a lot of their talent as they would go to these bigger football programs. And it made it harder for Prairie View to really compete at the level they were competing before. Not only because Bill Nix had retired They had a new coach, but just because the talent pool was less and the game was starting to change. And the 1980s is really when the downfall, as they had winless seasons in 1974, 79, 83, and 84, including a 28-game losing streak from 82 to 85. But the real issues started when they hired head coach Heaney Ketchings in 1987. He initially was the interim coach who finished the final seven games in 1987. As the previous coach was fired, But in 1988, he put together the first non-losing season for the team in 13 years, going 5-5. But the problem was how he did this. As he regularly was trying to force his players to abandon their studies and catchings would withhold textbook and financial aid. until players would, quote, prove themselves on the field. And some wouldn't get their books until the middle of the semester. As a result, 43 of the 55-man roster had grade point average below the NCAA minimum of 2.0, which is a C average. And the players actually demanded that Ketching be fired, as they boycotted the team when their demand was not met by the administration. Ketching was eventually fired, but not due to what he had done to the players. Instead, what he had done to the university as he misreported financial information and there was more than $ 100, 000 missing from the athletic department account as Ketchings was filling out fraudulent expense reports. And he actually pled guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges due to this and had to serve five-year probation and pay over $ 1, 500 in fine and restitution. Following the 1989 season, they would disband the team as they didn't have the money to support a team and give out scholarships, as well as fix up the field and the track to serviceable standards. But they did decide in 1991 to return, but to do so without scholarships. Now, I previously coached at a Division III school that doesn't have scholarships. That went from an NAI school that has scholarships to a Division III school. It is beyond my comprehension to play schools that have scholarships versus a school that does not. You're asking questions. players to pay to play, which is very difficult when you're facing another guy who's getting offered at least a little bit of money to play and that makes them feel like something. And so they're going to take that. So recruiting is harder. You have less talent and you have less budget. And throughout the 1990s, they lost as they could not afford scholarships. They would eventually ask alumni to help support possible scholarships, but the most they could get was for a total of nine scholarships. And to do that facing against schools who have regularly over 60 players of scholarship, it's a daunting task. And they would lose by huge amounts. And they would have six straight winless seasons. So by the time in 1998, nobody on the team had won a game. But luckily the team started to realize maybe we should play some different teams. and they started to play some lower-level competition, but they still had to play their conference games, which were all scholarship teams. But they did play Howard Payne, who was a Division III school, for the second game of the season, and they lost 14-22. And coming into their fourth game of the season, they were 3-0 and had lost 80 games, but they were facing Langston College, who was an NAIA school. If you heard our The previous episode about how the NAIA started, you know that they do have scholarships, but it's only 24 compared to the 63 at FCS and the 80 at BS, which is changing. So Langston University did have scholarship players, but it was much less than who was in their conference. So they were playing Langston on September 26, 1998 at home, and they were able to get the lead going into the fourth quarter, 14-6. in front of 9,000 fans hoping for the first win in the decade in the 1990s. But Langston drove the length of the field and scored a late touchdown in the final minutes, making the score to 12. And Langston went for two to tie the game. Now, though this would technically end the losing streak, a tie would end that. They did not want to end that way. And they held a defensive stand and stopped the two-point conversion, which led them to win the score to 12. ending their losing streak. Now that was still their only win that season, although they did come within three points facing another NAIA school, Oklahoma Panhandle State. In the next five years, they would only win 11 games. But things started to change as Prairie View started to gain a little bit more financial backing and were able to start offering scholarships again. And due to this, it changed the fortune around. When you start to get scholarship players, Because when you start to get scholarship player, your team can start facing scholarship players with more equality and have better chances of winning. And in 2009, they finally won another conference title, going 9-1, winning the SWAC title, becoming a great school again. And in 2014, they actually broke ground on a $ 50 million stadium and athletic field house, showing that they were back to being a school that prioritized football and had the money to support a FCS school. And a lot of times, that's what you need to really compete. And if you want to learn more about the FCS, check out FC Nation, where they go through the biggest games in the FCS, breaking down what happened about the football championship series so that you can stay on top of what is going on in the FCS. We'll put a link to their description below. Now is a great time to listen. As conference play is starting to pick up, you get some of the best rivalries in the FCS. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please let us know by leaving us a review wherever you're listening. And if you want, leave us your name and a topic you want us to cover, and we'll do that episode just for you. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. And the answer to today's trivia question is, how many national championships did Prairie View have? before the end of the Jim Crow laws. Prairie View had five black college national championships before the Jim Crow laws were abolished and national championships were now open to everybody.