Abilene Christian University Wildcats Football: A Storied History

The Abilene Christian Wildcats football program represents Abilene Christian University (ACU) in college football. The team's first season was in 1919, marking over a century of football tradition. Currently, the Wildcats compete in Division I FCS as part of the United Athletic Conference (UAC).

Program Overview

University: Abilene Christian University
Team Name: Wildcats
First Season: 1919
Athletic Director: Zack Lassiter
Head Coach: Keith Patterson
Stadium: Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium
Location: Abilene, Texas
Division: Division I FCS
Conference: United Athletic Conference
All-Time Record: 540-459-14 (.540)

Conference Affiliations: A Timeline

The Abilene Christian Wildcats have been members of several conferences throughout their history, reflecting the evolving landscape of college athletics.

1919-1924: Independent
1925-1932: Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA)
1933-1953: Texas Conference
1954: Independent
1955-1956: Gulf Coast Conference (GCC)
1957-1963: Independent
1964-1973: Southland Conference (SLC)
1973-2012: Lone Star Conference (LSC)
2013: FCS Independent
2014-2020: Southland Conference (SLC)
2021-2022: Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
2023-Present: United Athletic Conference (UAC)

The Wildcats were a member of the Southland Conference through the 2020-21 season. In July 2021, they joined the Western Athletic Conference, coinciding with that league's reinstatement of football as an official conference sport. After the 2022 season, the WAC fully merged its football league with that of the ASUN Conference, creating what eventually became the United Athletic Conference, and ACU accordingly moved its football team to the new league.

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Keith Patterson is currently in his 3rd season, with a record of 20-14 (.588).

Home Field Advantage

The Wildcats play their home games at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium, a facility built in 2016 with a seating capacity of 12,000. The field surface is FieldTurf, providing a modern and safe playing environment for the team.

Historic Moments

Abilene Christian University's football program boasts a rich history filled with remarkable achievements and unforgettable moments.

Individual Achievements

Bobby Morrow (1956): Junior sprinter Bobby Morrow solidified his place in history as the "World's Fastest Man" by winning the 100 meters at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. He also contributed to the 4×100 relay team (world-record 39.5) and the 4×400 relay team, contributing a lap of 45.6 on a team that ran 3:02.2 for a world record. In January 1957, Morrow was named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” for 1956.
Ove Johansson (1976): On October 16, 1976, during a Homecoming game, Ove Johansson, a Swedish kicker who had never played football before trying out for ACU, kicked a world-record 69-yard field goal on the final play of the first half in Abilene Christian’s 17-0 win over East Texas State.
Wilbert Montgomery (1996): Former Wildcat all-America running back Wilbert Montgomery was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. In his four-year Wildcat career, Montgomery set college division records for career touchdowns (70) and touchdowns in a regular season (31 in 1973).

Memorable Games

November 22, 2008: ACU and West Texas A&M played in a second-round NCAA Division II playoff game at Shotwell Stadium. The Wildcats and Buffs combined to set 44 NCAA, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division II playoff, conference and school records in the Wildcats’ 93-68 win. Senior running back Bernard Scott rushed for 292 yards and six touchdowns and caught passes for another 61 yards and one TD. Quarterback Billy Malone completed 16 of 25 passes for 383 yards and six touchdowns, and Johnny Knox caught five passes for 125 yards.

Postseason Appearances

The Wildcats have demonstrated their competitive spirit through appearances in national tournaments.

NAIA Playoffs: The Wildcats appeared in the NAIA playoffs two times with an overall record of 4-0.
NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs: The Wildcats have made one appearance in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.

Other sports

February 27, 1968: John Ray Godfrey opens Moody Coliseum in style as he scores 41 points in Abilene Christian’s thrilling 96-93 overtime win over Arkansas State, giving the Wildcats their third Southland Conference title. A near-capacity crowd of 4,100 fans watch as Godfrey pours in what was, at the time, the second-highest single-game point total in ACC basketball history.

Read also: Understanding ACU Tuition
February 27, 1982: Billy Olson wins the NAIA national indoor championship in the pole vault with a world indoor record vault of 18-10. The win is the seventh of his eight straight pole vault titles and one of 11 indoor world records Olson set during his career. His win at the outdoor national championship meet led ACU to the team title.
March 22, 1996: Jennifer (Clarkson) Frazier scores 31 points to lead ACU to an 83-65 win over Delta State in the third-place game at the NCAA Division II national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota. Clarkson - a two-time NCAA Division II Player of the Year and the university’s second-leading scorer with 2,463 points - scored in double figures in her last 105 straight games. During the 1995-96 season, she led the Wildcats to a 31-2 record, a No. 1 national ranking and their only Elite Eight appearance.
March 16, 2017: The Dimba twins - Lizzy (16 points) and Suzzy (12 points) - lead five Wildcats in double figures as ACU captures the university’s first NCAA Division I postseason victory in a 66-56 win over Oklahoma State in the first round of the Women’s NIT in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
2018-19 SEASON: Five teams win Southland championships - regular-season titles in men’s and women’s tennis, and NCAA Tournament berths for men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s soccer - in a record-setting year in Division I. Wildcats also are named the top athletes in the Southland in two other sports (women’s track and field, and baseball).
November 10, 2018: Women’s soccer becomes the first ACU program to earn an NCAA postseason tournament berth in the Division I era when head coach Casey Wilson’s team plays Baylor in the first round in Waco.

Read also: Abilene Christian Baseball
MARCH MADNESS 2019: Abilene Christian’s men’s and women’s basketball teams win their respective Southland Conference postseason championships and earn their first bids to the NCAA Tournament in just their second season of eligibility. The men face Kentucky in the Midwest Regional and the women drew No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Baylor. The ACU-Kentucky game in primetime drew more than 3 million viewers, the most for CBS of a first-round game in five years.

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