Texas Tech University joined the Southwest Conference (SWC) in 1958. When Tech joined
it was a huge occasion not only for the school, but for all of west Texas. Think of
University of Texas, Darrell Royal, Texas A&M, and the University of Oklahoma. We
were the seventh school to join. Eventually the membership grew to nine with the admission
of the University of Houston in 1972. The SWC remained unchanged until Arkansas departed
in 1990.
Being born in 1954, the SWC was the only conference in my book, as it was for almost
everybody else in Texas. I remember Humble Oil Company (forerunner to Exxon) sponsored
the SWC Highlight Reel every year, and the local Humble Distributor in my hometown,
Mr. Schneider, would bring it to our school and show it at an assembly. All the students
really looked forward to that day.
Also, the local Humble Service Station (yes, real service, including checking the oil levels, air pressures, and washing your windshield)
would give out a free SW Conference drinking glass with each fill-up. We had to collect
all nine!
I tell this because the COVID-19 pandemic has created some friends among former SWC
rivals. I am talking about the University of Arkansas. We are now “frenemies.” Here
is how it happened:
Back in the spring, when it became clear we did not have enough Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE), I contacted my friend, Dr. Ryan Schmidt in the School of Health Professions.
I knew Ryan was an expert in supply chain management—both by experience and formal
education. I also recruited Matt Driskill and Kassie Pelham to the team I was putting
together to work on obtaining PPE. Ryan put us in touch with his colleagues at the
Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas. As you might guess
from the name of the business school, these Arkansans are closely aligned with a little
company you may have heard of—Walmart. And Walmart knows a thing or two about moving merchandise.
A few nights later, Matt, Ryan and I were on a phone call with an American who had
lived in China for thirty years — a former US Marine in the automobile parts business
with his dad. After some negotiations, and with a lot of help from our Texas Tech
Purchasing Department, we had loads of PPE on planes and in ships leaving China headed
eventually to Lubbock.
All this made me tease our new professor friends at the University of Arkansas by
telling them, “Years ago, we were enemies (not really, competitors is the better term)
on the athletic field, and now we are best friends forever because you are helping
us obtain PPE from China!” All of this was interesting to me.
Furthermore, I thought back to getting those free SWC drinking glasses from the service
station when I was a boy, and smiled at the twists and turns of life: A Red Raider
and a Razorback working together to get PPE from China.