UNIVERSITY PARK -- The 2017 football season marks the 70th anniversary of SMU's first trip to the Cotton Bowl. The 1947 Mustangs went 9-0-1 en route to the prestigious game, which ended in a 13-13 tie with Penn State.
Seventy years later, not many players from that team remain, and fewer still live close to campus. The right tackle, John Hamberger, resides in Highland Park and frequents the Cisco Grill, a block from campus.
Hamberger, who turns 93 in October, still sports an SMU polo when he's out. He has the mementos from consecutive trips to the Cotton Bowl, including a gold football with 11 diamonds for the team's 11 games in 1947.