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By Joe Gulick
Avalanche-Journal
Dirk West was just being playful when he drew Bevo, the University of Texas’ longhorn mascot, as a cow in this Nov. 2, 1991, cartoon. However, some UT fans saw the joke as malicious and insulting. Other Longhorn fans didn’t seem to mind.
The week after the cartoon ran, Dirk was telling me about some of the responses he had received, which mostly ranged from mildly annoyed to furious.
He got that familiar Dirk West twinkle in his eye and said, “Longhorn fans don’t have nearly the sense of humor that Aggie fans have.” Dirk always appreciated the Texas A&M fans who recognized his cartoons were all in fun.
The Longhorns were in Lubbock to play Texas Tech in Spike Dykes’ fifth season as head coach. Dykes had beaten the Longhorns twice in his first four years, but Texas beat the Red Raiders 23-15 in 1991.
The character at the left is Texas coach David McWilliams, whom Dirk called McNuthin’. McWilliams was the Tech coach in 1986 but left after one season to take the job at Texas. Dirk was right about the vultures — McWilliams would be replaced at the end of the season.
However, Dirk turned out to be very wrong about the pass defense. Texas quarterback Peter Gardere completed 7 of 19 passes that day for 136 yards. The 37 percent passing rate was weak enough, but the Red Raiders also intercepted three passes. Free safety Tracy Saul snagged two of them. Tech finished 1991 with a 6-5 record.
Previous Dirk West Cartoons
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