In 1916, artist James Montgomery Flagg produced one of the best-known pieces of artwork of the first half of the 20th century. It was originally printed on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly — a portrait of Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the reader with the title, “What Are You Doing for (War) Preparedness?”
The cover was later turned into a World War I recruiting poster with the line “I Want You For (the) U.S. Army.”
Nine decades later the University of Houston should reproduce the poster, with athletics director Dave Maggard, his Cougars ballcap replacing Uncle Sam’s star-spangled stovepipe, pointing his meaty index finger at UH fans with the line, “Uncle Dave Wants You To Attend the Fort Worth Bowl.”
Maggard not only wants it, he’s demanding it.
Maggard makes no attempt to hide the fact that he has been hugely disappointed with the attendance at this year’s football games, especially with the “crowds” that showed up for the Southern Miss game (announced at 15,119) and SMU (only 14,650 with bowl eligibility on the line).
But Maggard wants to erase all those bad memories of empty seats by filling up Amon G. Carter Stadium with a sea of red for the Dec. 23 Fort Worth Bowl against Kansas.
“I indicated that if we were to receive a bid that we would bring thousands of Cougar alums,” Maggard said. “We’re counting on that. We’re counting on it from the standpoint that if we’re going to be a bowl team year-in and year-out, and that is our goal, then we need to travel that way. We need to have people buy tickets, attend the games and so on. In the past, the University of Houston has not been known as a great travel team. We have to change that. That has to change. We have to begin that this year.
“I’m making this point because not only do bowls look at the record, but they also look at the number of people who come to the games from the two (teams). We want to make a very big, strong push for our (fans) to get together in Fort Worth on Dec. 23 for this bowl game.”
