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 LONGVIEW - As the 1937 Lobos scored a Christmas Day victory, a crowd of people, including former Lobo Queen, rushed the field fo the Cotton Bowl stadium to congratulate the players on being state champions. "Dick Miller - he was our all-star player - intercepted the ball and made the winning touchdown," said Mary Elizabeth Hill flat, 1937 Lobo Queen. "The game was suspenseful until the very last minute." Flatt, 87, described the 1937 season as "extremely exciting," as the lobos finished with a 14-0 record and added a state championship to their list of titles. She said she expects the state title game today to be just as exciting for the new generation of Lobo players and fans. "I don't go to the game, but I still keep up with how the team is doing in the newspaper. They've done very well," said Flatt, a 1939 Longview High School graduate. She recalled that in 1937 participants and fans took a train from East Texas to Dallas for the game. "It was a thrill to be at the Cotton Bowl because the stadium wasn't very old then," Flatt said. The stadium opened in 1932. Flatt was in the bad and marched during the half-time performance. She carried the Texas flag into the stadium. "I wasn't very musical. I couldn't play an instrument, os they let me carry the flag," she said. When the game resumed, the crowd was worried that after a perfect season the Lobos would not win the championship, she said. "At the end we were all rather worried that it wasn't going to go our way, until Dick Miller made that last touchdown," Flatt said. The 1937 title is the only one for the Lobos, though they played in the 1997 title game. A positive energy filled the train on the ride back to Longview, but Flatt's excitement did not stop there. A couple weeks later she was crowned football queen. That was the first year the queen was crowned based on a popular vote, she said. Before that year, queens had been crowned based on which nominee could collect the most pennies, she said. "It was such an honor for me to win," she said. Wearing a white grown, Flatt walked from the back of the former Foster Junior High School auditorium tot eh stage, where she was crowned and sat in a ahair that had been made to look like a throne, she said. Flatt said she will be cheering for the Lobos in spirit today and hopes the team takes the throne at the title game. |