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Marching bands and cheerleaders sounded off in the streets of the Bishop Art District Sept. 6, while students and alumni yelled and screamed as they demonstrated their school spirit for two historic high schools in Dallas.

“Beat-those-Bisons. Beat-those-Bisons,” said Adamson head coach Josh Ragsdale, as he led the team and crowd in the chant.

“Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight,” could be heard from the other end of the street as Sunset High prepared for victory.

It has been nine years since they’ve faced each other on the good old gridiron and the rivalry has been revived. The Adamson Leopards and Sunset Bisons had the biggest high school football rivalry in the state of Texas since 1925, but growth in student body at Sunset High School and pranks between the two schools ended the tradition.

Within the past year, coaches have received tons of feedback from the community, which ultimately weighed their decision to bring it back.

“The rivalry is a game that the community wants, it’s a good game for our kids and hopefully we can have a good game without any problems,” said Joseph Contreras, vice president of the Sunset Alumni Association.

Student population rose at Sunset High, said Glen Straus, founder of the Adamson Alumni Association, that’s mainly why the teams were put in separate districts and divisions. Placing Sunset in 5A and Adamson in 4A.

Although re-districting played a role between the split of the rivalry, Contreras said, DISD decided that too much vandalism occurred at the schools when they played each other.

“Ten Police Squads Called to Control Student Rally,” headlined the story in The Dallas Morning News, detailing how Adamson and Sunset supporters became extra peppy one Wednesday night in October 1953.

The story reported that “more than 1,000 teen-agers lined both sides of the street for several blocks” near Llewellyn Avenue. “Egg-throwing youngsters splattered squad cars and stores in the vicinity,” the story continued, tallying the arrest of “eleven juveniles” and a father, jailed “when a pair of brass knuckles were found in his pocket.”

“When I went to school they (Sunset students) would take dead fish and throw it on their steps and they would cover our Sunset bison logo with blue paint,” said Contreras.

These games bring back memories, said John Ruiz, president of the Adamson Alumni Association, and the communities surrounding the schools are mostly filled with alumni from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

“Now with their kids attending these schools, it has the potential to bring these communities back together and give the chance for parents to share a new kind of experience with their kids,” said Ruiz.

Even though the teams played in 2003, it wasn’t considered a district game. The last time they played in the same district was in 1979.

“It was a great tradition we use to have with Sunset. They had to pull a lot of strings just to get this to happen,” said Ruiz.

The schools’ fight songs were surely heard Thursday night, but there wasn’t a replay of fight scenes, like the one on Jefferson Boulevard in 1953.

While that type of school spirit died down through the years, others are reigniting.

“The crowd was big, you could feel the school spirit. They were pumped and their enthusiasm kept us going,” said Valarie Morillos, cheerleader and sophomore at Sunset High School.
Adamson Leopards and Sunset Bisons will battle it out again for North Oak Cliff football bragging rights and a trophy for future games between the teams.

Go Blue. Go. Purple.

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