Collin County 6 man Football

By: Joe Wooten 

Most people don’t realize that at one time in the fairly recent past (like the 1960’s) the metromess did not extend much beyond Dallas, Ft. Worth, and the adjacent suburbs. In fact, back before and after World War 2, most of Collin County was an agricultural area much like the rest of the state at the time. There were a lot of small towns that had schools that drifted in and out of playing football, based on whether they had enough boys to play. Towns like Allen, Westminster, Nevada, Josephine, Murphy, Blue Ridge, Floyd, Princeton, Anna, Southmayd, Sadler, and Floyd all were small and had small high schools with usually less than 100 students. 

In 1938, the 6 man craze hit Texas after some early demonstrations of the game in West and South Central Texas. Six man districts popped up all over the state and Collin County was no exception. That summer the following schools met and formed the Collin County 6 man League. Prosper later dropped out, as there were no games listed and later articles indicated they played their first football games in 1950. 

Allen (now 6A)
Nevada Community (Now 4A)
Blue Ridge (Now 2A)
Murphy (consolidated with Plano)
Floyd (Now part of Merit-Bland)
Princeton (Now 4A)
Prosper (now 5A)

In 1939, Josephine replaced Prosper, then in 1940 Murphy dropped out to be replaced with Westminster and Justin. In 1941 it went back to the original 7 schools from 1938. In World War 2, all of them seemed to drop football, but in 1945 the district was re-formed with just Allen and Westminster. Nevada, Josephine, and Blue Ridge rejoined in 1946, which was the last year for football, and a high school for Josephine. In 1947 Anna replaced Josephine, then in 1948 Anna, Nevada, and Blue Ridge went 11 man, leaving just Allen and Westminster in the district in 1948 and 1949. Allen was the dominant team, winning the district title almost every year.

In 1950, the UIL formed a zoned mega district, with the North Zone consisting of Allen, Westminster, Prosper, and Blue Ridge and the South Zone consisting of Corsicana Mildred, Rice, Abbott, Palmer, Venus, Mount Calm, and Richland. In 1951 the district was split into two separate districts. In 1952, Collinsville, Lone Oak, Gunter, and Quinlan were added. Quinlan did not finish the 1952 season and was replaced in 1953 with Celina. This district stayed the same for the 1954 season. In 1955 Nevada and Caddo Mills joined to form a 10 team district. In 1956 Sadler and Southmayd both fielded 6 man teams and the district was split into two districts.

In 1958 one of the districts, consisting of Allen, Southmayd, Prosper, Sadler, Collinsville, and Howe went 8 man. Howe joined the district that year from the 11 man ranks. Nevada, Westminster, Lone Oak, Caddo Mills, and Blue Ridge stayed in 6 man. Celina went into a Class B 11 man district that year. This district stayed in 6 man through the end of the 1960 season. Blue Ridge won the last 6 man district title in Collin County that year, losing to Lueders in the regional game. After 1960, all the small schools were either 8 man or 11 man in Collin and Hunt Counties. With the end of the 1975 season 8 man football ended in Texas. Westminster, Gunter, and Blue Ridge were the last teams left. Westminter dropped football while Blue Ridge and ZGunter went to 11 man.