Scorpions, Broncs Rivalry Dates Back to 1950s
Posted October 30, 2007

The UTB/TSC Scorpions take on their second-ever NCAA Division I opponent when they renew a rivalry against The University of Texas-Pan American at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 1, at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

UTB/TSC has faced one NCAA Division I opponent thus far twice -- Houston Baptist University -- and lost both times, accounting for one-third of the team's six losses.

Except for scrimmages, the Scorpions and Broncs have not played a game of any kind because the Broncs began playing intercollegiate athletics as a four-year program in 1952.

Prior to that year, the UTPA was called Edinburg Junior College, and UTB/TSC was simply Texas Southmost College.

They played against each other since 1930s in many sports.

In the 1950-51 season, the last for TSC with a football team, the Scorpions beat the Broncs, 13-6. In that same season, the Scorpions lost a game to Del Mar College, 101-0.

In basketball that year, the Scorpions beat the Broncs, 64-63.

When Pan American College was born in 1952, the rivalry ended, at least temporarily.

Universities with four-year athletic programs and junior colleges did not, and still do not, play each other. Doing so would pit a school with students from freshmen to seniors against another with only freshmen and sophomores, an obvious unfair advantage.

So for decades, the only two higher-education institutions in the Valley never played against each other in athletics. South Texas College, based in McAllen, and Texas State Technical College in Harlingen do not have intercollegiate athletic programs.

Pan American College became Pan American University, and in 1988, became The University of Texas-Pan American. The Broncs were originally an NAIA institution, and won the 1963 NAIA national championship in basketball. Pan Am joined the NCAA Division I in the 1970s.

TSC formed a partnership with the University of Texas System and became The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in 1991. However, the Scorpions continued participating in junior college athletics because the university did not commit to expanding athletics until 2005.

UTB/TSC is in its second year as a member of the NAIA, after more than 70 years competing as a junior college.

Even though the Scorpions joined the NAIA, many NCAA Division I universities will not schedule NAIA opponents. Some conferences will not allow competitions at all. UTPA is not affiliated with a conference.

So how did the matchup become a reality? UTPA Director of Athletics Scott Street and UTB/TSC Director of Athletics Dan Huntley discussed the possibilities and came up with a resolution.

The future of a Broncs-Scorpions rivalry is uncertain, because matchups between NCAA Division I schools and NAIA schools is not common.