Willis Library exhibit features images of Mean Green football history, legends

From Inhouse, UNT's faculty news source

Legends of the Mean Green exhibit at Willis Library

The Willis Library exhibit, Legends of the Mean Green: A Century of UNT Football, celebrates UNT's football history, legendary players and Fouts Field.

The library also has created an online digital collection of the exhibit in the Portal to Texas History. Visit Legends of the Mean Green: A Century of UNT Football, to find images of games, teams, spirit groups, pep rallies and more beginning in 1906.

UNT's new Apogee Stadium opened this fall for football and sports and entertainment events. Fouts Field is still used for track and field and other sporting and community events.

The exhibit highlights some of the photos from the university's archives focusing on the history of football at UNT, says Kristin Boyett, librarian and project coordinator.

"We decided that with the opening of the new Apogee Stadium and the retirement of football at Fouts Field, this would be a perfect time to highlight some of the photos held in archives," she says.

In 1906, UNT's first football team took to the field, and during the next century the team had some incredible successes.

The first bowl game win was Dec. 21, 1946, against the College of the Pacific in the Optimist Bowl. UNT would move on to other bowl games: the Salad Bowl (precursor to the Fiesta Bowl), the Sun Bowl, and multiple appearances in the New Orleans Bowl.

Legendary players such as Ray Renfro, Abner Haynes, Richard Gill, and Joe Greene drove UNT to even greater accomplishments. Images of the players are displayed in the exhibit.

Visit the Willis Library Forum during library hours through Dec. 16 to view the exhibit and celebrate this fascinating look at the university's football history.

Read other stories in this issue:

• President's Note
• Find yourself and friends with UNT's EaglePan image
• Moving Forward: Two more faculty named national fellows
• Murphy Center luncheon to feature former Florida governor Jeb Bush as keynote speaker
• Researchers explore link between flu vaccine effectiveness, insomnia
• Faculty Focus: Jaime Jimenez
• Traditions: Legends of the Mean Green: A Century of UNT Football
• Featured Link: Video highlights fashion design program and Texas Fashion Collection
• UNT Alumni Association