EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Nearly a century after El Paso High and Austin High first lined up against each other, the “Battle of the Claw” remains one of the oldest high school football rivalries in Texas, drawing students, alumni and the wider community into a weeklong tradition that goes far beyond the final score.
“It’s the brown and gold versus the orange and black,” one supporter said.
El Paso High and Austin High have been playing each other since 1930, according to the El Paso High School Alumni Museum website. That makes it the fourth-oldest rivalry game in the state.
“There wasn’t always a trophy, but there was always a rivalry,” the report noted. In 1960, the matchup gained a signature prize: the Claw trophy.
“The rivalry is over 100 years old because at the time there were only two high schools around,” one alumnus said. “So when they started playing football, they played.”
For generations of students, the buildup has traditionally lasted all week, with pep rallies, bands, cheerleaders, parades and school colors.
Ron and Patsy Stallworth, who graduated from Austin High School in 1971, share their connection with the tradition.
“It was just a very fun week of rivalry,” Patsy said.
“It was pep rallies. And even still now they have a parade around the neighborhood,” Ron said.
“We didn’t have a parade in our game, but now they literally go around the neighborhood honking again,” Patsy said.
From pep rallies to parades ‘Battle of the Claw’ fuels El Paso’s oldest football feud
By the way, if you happen to recognize Ron and Patsy’s names, that’s because Ron, a retired police officer, wrote the “BlacK Klansman,” a true-crime book that chronicled how he, an African-American detective, infiltrated the Colorado Springs Ku Klux Klan chapter. The book was subsequently adapted into an Academy Award-winning film with the same name.
The rivalry’s intensity extended well beyond the field, according to alumni.
“And that was it was a bitter rivalry in the two schools,” one alumnus said. “It was important to the band cheerleaders, the whole thing. It was it was intense. And that’s why they put it on radio just assemblies.”
In 1963, the schools did not play the rivalry game following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“1963. Remember, Kennedy was assassinated, so they didn’t play the game,” said Jim Paul, an El Paso High alum and longtime owner of the El Paso Diablos. “He was killed that morning. So what happened 20 years later? They got the team from both schools and they played the flag football game to see who’s going to win it.”
The original Claw was designed by an El Paso graduate, but it was later stolen, according to alumni, so it had to be replaced with the version used today.
“Yeah. Yeah. And whoever wins keeps the claw,” one supporter said. “And they did another claw that is similar to it. But yeah, it’s still the clock before alumni.”
As game night arrives again, alumni loyalties remain strong.
“If they don’t cheat, El Paso will win,” Paul said.
“Yeah. Golden Panthers. Let’s do it,” Patsy said. “I took out this blouse and ironed it just for this. So go Panthers!”
Whether it’s brown and gold or orange and black, the Battle of the Claw continues as a piece of El Paso history — a rivalry that has given generations something to cheer for, talk about and argue over.
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