How/When Did You Become a Longhorn Fan?

With me "it's nothing but a family thing" older brother and sister both went, it really started with some of the older neighborhood kids going off to play for UT- Tommy Nobis and Phil Harris!
 
Goosehorn....I laughed myself to tears reading your post. What a great story.
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Funny one there, goosehorn!! LOL

I would have to say I was born as a Hornfan. My earliest recollection is watching the Horns take on aggy on Thanksgiving Day. I would go in the living room, sit with my Dad, and watch the game. Every time a good play or bad play would occur, my Dad would yell at the top of his lungs at the tv, and the whole neighborhood knew he was watching Longhorn football. It stuck with me then, and I do the same thing now when I watch the Horns. Needless to say, I'm not a quiet one when it comes to the games!
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Born n raised in Toronto, 13 years old when I sat down to watch my first college football game - Texas/ou. Was Hooked that day and 31 years later I still get chills when The Horns run out of the tunnel. Hook Em! Beat bama!
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I grew up in rural east Texas near Tyler in a poor farming family. Due to family hardships both my parents had had to drop out of public school at a very young age; however, both were intelligent and stressed education to both me and my brother.

Like most from my high school I matriculated at Tyler Junior College in the late 60's after having graduated valedictorian of my class. I was planning to head to Stephen F Austin with the rest of my friends but a counselor at TJC spoke with me during the Fall semester of my sophomore year about attending Texas. I was one of 4 in my TJC class to graduate with a 4.0 and the counselor thought I should consider a more academic school than SFA.

After a visit to Austin during winter break my sophomore I fell in love with the campus. Being from such a small town I liked all the hippies and the anti-Vietnam war students on campus. I graduated from UT and still live in Austin and love the horns.
 
At least by when I was 3 years old, going to Gregory Gym. Here's a cute story about that:

My mother was at a bridge game with some women at someone else's house. (Remember bridge?) She had put me down for the night before she went out, with me in some pajamas that had the full feet on the legs--you know, with rubber on the bottom.

So, at the other house, they had the UT basketball game on TV (it may have just been during the sports part of the local 10 pm news broadcast), and at some point the bridge players look over there, and there's my father and me on the screen in the crowd on the front row. The TV is on me because I'm in my (longhorn) pajamas dancing with the cheerleaders during a time out.

So, at least 50 years!
 
My connections to UT and its sports are very deep:

Speaking of my father and UT sports, I have mentioned before that he went to every OU game from 1947 to 2007--61 years of consecutive games without a miss. I have on my desk a game ball given to him in 1965 signed by all the players (such as Nobis, Talbot) and coaches (such as DKR) for a game where he was an "honorary coach."

My mother has three degrees from UT, and I ended up with two. My father was also an editor of the Daily Texan.

Once when I was a very little kid, I got to lead the UT band with a baton--with Vincent R. DiNino letting me.

When I was young, I took golf lessons from Harvey Penick.

I got to swim for a year for coach Eddie Reese in his first year at UT.

When I was in elementary school, we would go over on campus for all sorts of things. I especially remember two years of competing in a program called "who knows the answer?" that KLRN held in its studio on campus.

Hard to imagine my life without UT--not even counting the actual 6 years I was on campus.
 
New Year's night 1965, I was a little kid in northeast Texas.
After a hard day of playing with the still new Christmas toys and spending some time with our horses. We had horses and cattle. We also had two Shetland ponies and a Welch.

So I come in, plop down on the couch. Back then there was only three tv stations for ABC, CBS, and NBC. Dad had been watching football. I liked playing more than watching football at the time. I think I had seen some Cowboy games on television, but it wasn't must see tv for me yet.

So the Orange Bowl game came on and I saw this team called Texas come out. At the time I think I thought all teams were from cities like Dallas. What was this team called Texas? Did they represent the whole state? Then they showed a a cow like I had never seen before. We had lots of cattle, but none looked like that one. I had never seen horns like that on a cow.

This whole thing becomes more interesting to me by the minute. There were these cowboys with a cannon. I already liked cowboys, but cowboys with a cannon, it couldn't get better than that. The big band was also dressed like cowboys, at least the hats. I kind of thought the other things they were wearing looked like what Indians wore with that crooked stripe on the pants. Then they brought out this huge Drum which was also like nothing I had ever seen and then an even bigger flag. This just kept getting better and better and the game hadn't even started yet.

So the game starts and Texas is playing another team which I thought represented the entire state of Alabama. The announcers kept saying they were #1 in the nation. I was confused because I didn't think the state of Alabama was that big a deal. But the announcers kept sayin they were the best in the country.

So I watched this game and it stayed close and I thought Texas has a pretty good team representing the state to stay with this Alabama who was the greatest. The announcers talked a lot about the Alabama player named Namath and how good he was. They also talked about the Texas player named Nobis and how this was a great match up between the two.

So Texas was ahead late in the game and then Namath had Alabama on the one yard line and I thought I guess Alabama is the best. Then that big Nobis hit Namath like four times in a row and Texas won.

Well I thought that was the best thing I had seen on television since I got to stay up and watch Johnny Carson for the first time.

I had to see this Texas team play again. I found out that the local radio station carried their games on something called the Humble SWC radio network, but was sad I had to wait till next year as the season was over.

When next year came I listened to every game and this guy named Connie Alexander that would say things like a herd of Horns, a bevy of Bears, and a posse of Ponies. When a player would make a long run he would go into this auctioneer voice counting down the yardage. I understood this because I went to the sale barn nearly every week with Dad and my Uncle to buy cattle. This stuff was really neat to me.

I don't think I ever missed many games from that day forward either on radio or on television. Along the way I found out that there was a school involved with this team. As I grew older I knew that one day I had to go there and see a game in person and attend that school. I remember first hearing it was called The University of Texas and I am from Texas so I can go!

I found out later it didn't quite work that way, but I was still going to go there when the time came. It did and I did and two degrees later and now many years later I am still in love with that school, it's teams, and the state they represent.
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Nice story NBHorn7, It reminded me of the Andy Griffith routine about a football game.

Hook 'em,
Everette
 
If/when my kids go to UT, they will be 5th generation Longhorns. So I guess I was a fan shortly after conception...
 
Assuming your family cheered robustly throughout your nine month birth in the womb, you were a fan before conception.

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Born in Ft. Worth, grew up in Austin.
Pecan Springs
Pearce Jr Hi
Reagan HS
UT

Saw Texas cream Texas Tech @ DKR in 1961 for my first home game.
 
I'm "old Austin". Folks owned business very near (would be on campus present day) campus in 30's, 40's, and 50's serving faculty, staff and students. Safe to say my Horn loyalty began while living on Kerby Lane in late 40's then relocating way out to Allandale in 1952. Very fortunate having grown up around DKR. Will die loving, supporting, cussing, but never disowning the Horns.
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To be honest I was born into it. My dad has worked for the University for ages... but... I'm going to make a confession. I would appreciate no judgement... but... around 4th grade I REALLY REALLY wanted to be a veterinarian... so inevitably... I became an aggy. NOW STOP!!! YOU STOP JUDGING ME RIGHT THERE!!!! I was 10 years old and everyone told me that's where I had to go to become a vet!!!!

Eventually though, I grew out of it before I got to college, and haven't looked back. I was an orange-blood the whole time. Every child goes through phases!!!!! I would have broken my daddy's heart had I truly become an aggy.

Texas Ex '07! m/
 
Sitting in my Dad's lap for the 1969 Arkansas game. Ironically, sat very close to James Street at the Rose Bowl in 2005 and shook his hand.
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1979 Sun Bowl, first college football game i ever attended, I was nine years old and my dad took me to see Texas play Washington, Texas actually lost 14-7 but I was humming Texas fight throughout and at the end of the game I still distinctly remember hearing the band play the Eyes of Texas and seeing the Texas fans with the Hook Em Horns sign up and I was 'hooked" from then on.
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January 1, 1964 - I went to my first Longhorn game at the Cotton Bowl when the Horns took on Navy. I was 9 years old and it was great fun watching Texas win.
 
My mother's brother was an All America football player at UT. At my birth, firiends of his (he was killed in WWII) sent a telegram (who remembers those?) offering me a scholarship for the year I graduated HS. Completely non-binding, of course, other than on my own heart and allegiances. So, on Day 1. Anybody earlier?
 
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