November 8, 1924: Texas' Memorial Stadium Opens

November 8, 1924: War Memorial Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. Surprisingly, the Longhorns lose to Baylor University, 28-10.

It was renamed simply Memorial Stadium in 1948, Texas Memorial Stadium in 1977, and Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in 1995, after the coach who led the Longhorns to the 1963, 1969 and 1970 National Championships. It is known as "DKR" for short. Longhorn fans have not given it any other nicknames, either cutesy or tough.

It opened with a capacity of 27,000. It was raised to 40,000 in 1926, 60,000 in 1948, 66,000 in 1968, 78,000 in 1971, and its current 100,119 in 2009. On September 10, 2022, for Texas' 20-19 loss to Alabama, it attracted a record crowd of 105,213. The field was converted to AstroTurf in 1969, back to natural grass in 1996, and to FieldTurf in 2009.

Following the 3 National Championships won under Royal, the Longhorns won a 4th under Mack Brown in 2005. Since the stadium's opening, they've won 26 Conference Championships. In the old Southwest Conference, they won in 1928, '30, '42, '43, '45, '50, '52, '53, '59, '61, '62, '63, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73, '75, '77, '83, '90, '94, '95 and '96. In the Big Twelve Conference, they've won in 2005 and 2009. (UPDATE: They won the Big 12 again in 2023, but are moving to the Southeastern Conference for 2024.)

They've had 2 Heisman Trophy winners: Running backs Earl Campbell in 1977 and Ricky Williams in 1998. Other notable Longhorns include 1940s quarterback Bobby Layne, 1960s linebacker Tommy Nobis, 1980s defensive tackle Kenneth Sims, and 2000s quarterbacks Vince Young and Colt McCoy.

In 1971, the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum opened, almost right across Robert Dedman Drive from the stadium's east stand. Although he wasn't a UT graduate, it was pretty savvy of LBJ to put his Presidential Library across from, aside from the State Capitol, the Alamo and the Cotton Bowl, the most famous building in Texas. 

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November 8, 1924 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played that day:

* Army beat Florida, 14-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. This was only the 4th game at their new stadium.

* Navy beat Vermont, 53-0 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Columbia beat New York University (NYU), 40-0 at Baker Field (now Wien Stadium) in Upper Manhattan.

* Princeton beat Harvard, 34-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston. For reasons lost to time Rutgers played at arch-rival Princeton's Palmer Stadium, and beat Lafayette, 43-7.

* The University of Illinois and the University of Chicago played to a 21-21 tie at Stagg Field in Chicago. Three weeks earlier, Illinois had dedicated their Memorial Stadium in Champaign by beating Michigan, with Red Grange scoring 5 touchdowns, passing for another, and intercepting 2 passes.

* Notre Dame beat Wisconsin, 38-3 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Three weeks earlier, Notre Dame had beaten Army at the Polo Grounds, leading the nation's top sportswriter at the time, Grantland Rice, to call their backfield "The Four Horsemen," comparing them to those of the biblical Apocalypse.

There was 1 game played in the fledgling NFL: The Frankford Yellow Jackets beat the Kansas City Blues, 42-7 at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia.

Also on this day, Johnny Bower, the Hall of Fame goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs' 1960s dynasty, was born. So was actor Joe Flynn.