V-12

That was the name of the Navy/Marine Corps Officer Training Program that made UAM a football power in 1943. With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, UAM suddenly found itself with an influx of college football players from major powers like Oklahoma, SMU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. UAM wasn’t supposed to have a football team in 1943, but with all that talent on hand, a team was organized and in its first game, traveled to Fayetteville and whipped Arkansas 20- 12. That was to be the only game played that season, but the Weevils were then asked to assume the schedule of Memphis Navy, whose players had been shipped overseas. Because UAM assumed the schedule of Memphis Navy, the University of Arkansas refuses to recognize in its records that it ever played UAM (then known as Arkansas A&M). The UA record book shows a 20-12 loss to Memphis Navy, but that team was really the Arkansas A&M Boll Weevils. The ’43 Weevils went on to post a 5-2-1 record and played in the Oil Bowl in Houston against Southwestern Louisiana and future major leaguer Alvin Dark.