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By Joe Gulick
Avalanche-Journal
Election days, like Halloween and Thanksgiving, were usually weaved into cartoon themes by Dirk West.
This cartoon ran exactly 26 years ago, on Nov. 2, 1982, which was Election Day that year. It was an off-year for a presidential election, but Texas Attorney General Mark White defeated Republican incumbent Bill Clements to become governor.
Unlike Moss, who ran for president in 1980, the Red Raider was running for an unspecified office here. When he acknowledged taking the day off, he was talking about the 27-0 whipping Texas Tech received from the Texas Longhorns the previous weekend.
It was the second shutout of the year for the Raiders. The season opener was a 14-0 loss to New Mexico, which explains Moss’ comment.
Tech was 3-5 when this cartoon ran, having also lost to Baylor, Arkansas and Washington and having beaten Air Force, Texas A&M and Rice.
The Red Raiders won their next game, against TCU, and finished with home losses to SMU and Houston for a season mark of 4-7 in Jerry Moore’s second of five seasons as Tech’s head coach.
Baylor also was having a difficult season. The Bears were 2-5-1 when this cartoon ran and had just lost 30-15 to Tulane.
Notice the bandage on the Aggie’s face. Dirk drew it there because SMU hammered the Aggies 47-9 three days earlier in Dallas. Elsewhere, Rice had been overpowered 24-6 by then-undefeated Arkansas.
SMU won the 1982 Southwest Conference championship with a 10-0-1 record, including a 17-17 tie against Arkansas.
Previous Dirk West Cartoons
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