Chapter 1 ‘The Big Shoot Out On December 6", 1969, in the wintry landscape of Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Texas Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks met in what was heralded then and in the decades since as the “Game of the Century.” The game, also famously coined “The Big Shoot Out,” by legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal, was the brainstorm of ABC—in effect the first national championship game arranged for television, foreshadowing televisions’ heavy hand in major sporting events in years to come. At the direction of ABC sports head honcho Roone Arledge, Beano Cook, after pouring over countless football schedules the previous spring, cherry picked the two heavy weight teams of the Southwest Conference to postpone their traditional October date until December with the hope of two undefeated teams squaring off on the last Saturday of the 1969 season. The bait for the two universities? If both teams lived up to their end of the bargain, President Nixon would attend the nationally televised game and crown the winner national champion in celebration of the centennial season of college football ‘The Big Shoot Out was more than just a football game—like 1969 was more than just a year. A lot happened on December 1", 1969, only five days before the Big Shoot Out. Charles Manson got himself busted for a murdering spree in California. Lt. William Calley of the United States military was indicated for the My Lai Massacre, an incident that resulted in 109 South ‘Vietnamese men, women and children losing their lives. Senator Fulbright, President Nixon's nemesis on the Vietnam War, announced that he was sending an investigative team toVietnam. The United States held its first draft lottery for men between the ages of 19 and 26. If your birthday was one of the first 150 or so randomly selected, as soon as your student deferment expired, Uncle Sam would reward you with an all-expenses paid trip to Southeast Asia, prompting thousands of college-aged youngsters to flee to Canada and Timbuktu and beyond, On the next day, December 2, with both teams indeed undefeated, and ranked one and two in the land, the White House announced Nixon would attend the “Game of the Century.” Oh. yeah, it was the last national championship to be decided with all white guys on the gridiron. Integration would leave the bench for the playing field for both teams the following year. The night before the game, in Fayetteville, some good ole boys in a pickup truck shot a black Arkansas student after the pep rally in retaliation for a black student protest of the Arkansas band's tradition of playing Dixie after a Razorback score. Fortunately, the bullet caused little injury - the victim eventually graduated from Arkansas law school and years later would interrogate a future president from Arkansas by the name of Bill Clinton concerning an incident known as Whitewater. Coach Royal observed that "ABC looked smarter than a tree full of owls to postpone that game." Furthering the hype, despite their schools’ bitter on-field rivalry, Coach Royal and Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles were as close as helmets and shoulder pads. On December 6th, much to the chagrin of an also undefeated Penn State and its coach Joe Paterno, President Nixon boarded Air Force One with a National Championship plaque in hand and headed for Hog country. And oh, the political cast that accompanied Nixon to the Ozarks. Among the dignitaries on Air Force One: Arkansas Governor Rockerfeller, Senator McClellan, a still relatively unknown Henry Kissinger, also Arkansas Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt and Texas Congressman George Bush -- both members of the same politicalparty, both pilots and heroes during the war, but standing on opposite sides of the sideline so to speak on game day. Consider the presence of Senator J. William Fulbright, past president of the University of Arkansas and harsh critic of Nixon's Vietnam policy, Both men would later temporarily call a truce to their own "political shootout" and enter the postgame Arkansas dressing room together. God was even present that day, sending Billy Graham to deliver the pre- game invocation. With luxury suites still a Jetsonian fantasy, Secret Service snipers were strategically placed to protect Nixon and his high ranking government pals in the stands. According to eye witnesses, ‘Nixon received only one VIP concession compared to the great unwashed public; i.e, the over 45,000 freezing fans. Shortly before half-time a man of color wearing a Razorback Red waiter’s jacket approached the President in the stands, holding a silver covered serving tray, steam climbing into the frigid air. Inside: a stack of hot fried chicken, surely a treat compared to the cold hot dogs served at the concession stands. Anti-war demonstrators, led by a retuming Vietnam veteran, staked out their own strategic position on a hill overlooking the stadium but in full view of the President's 35 yard line seat, How ironic -- or perhaps tragically appropriate -- that one player on the field had already lost a brother in Vietnam. Itwas a game for the ages played before a frenetic hog-calling crowd, including Colonel Eugene Holmes, former WWII POW and highest ranking military officer in northwest, ‘Arkansas—the last person in the stands to need any protection. Only months before, at the ‘encouragement of Senator Fulbright, Colonel Holmes had assisted young Clinton in delaying his draft notice -- a decision the Colonel would later come to regret, But on this day, despite a philosophical bridge too wide to cross, the old soldier and future president would join in rootingfor the Hogs, especially Holmes whose future son-in-law would score the game's first touchdown before Nixon could even find his seat, Finally, in front of the largest television audience in college football history, the game included a performance by a Texas defensive back as courageous as Colonel Holmes surviving the torture of the Bataan Death March while 18,000 of his fellow American soldiers did not. It ‘was the most courageous performance ever on a football field.