By RENE TORRES
Edinburg College opened its doors to students in 1927, the same year the college began competing in sports.
According to sources, the name of the mascot, “The Broncs” was chosen by one of the coaches that came from Southern Methodist University, known as the Mustangs. So, Broncs was an obvious choice.
The first Bronc team played other South Texas Jr. Colleges, and high schools in football, basketball and baseball. School yearbooks revealed that in 1929, two other sports were added — track and tennis.
A coach to remember
J. D. Foster came to Edinburg in 1927. Foster, with only a small squad, turned out to lead a successful team, defeating such teams as Schreiner, tying the powerful Centenary Fish and winning four, while tying three, and losing two out of nine games played. In his second season, he won five of seven games against such teams St. Mary’s, Kingsville Teachers, and Brownville Junior College.
As a coach, Foster was no bush leaguer. He graduated from the Knute Rockne Coaching School and was ranked as one of the best junior college coaches in Southwest Texas. It was once said that, “His success with his teams was paralleled only by his influence with the men he coached.”
A brief History of Bronc football
1927-1930: The first years of the EJC football program: during this span, the Broncs (or Bronchos or Broncos) won more than four games in a single season, that coming in their inaugural year in 1927.
1931-46: A significant lapse as the football program was inactive, largely due to WWII
1933: Edinburg College becomes Edinburg Jr. College.
1947: Football returns to the Valley as Edinburg Jr. College is introduced as a member of the new South Texas Junior College Conference. Bobby Cannon, regarded as the Dean of Valley Coaches by local media, was appointed in April of this year as, “Head Coach of the EJC Bronchos.” Conference members included Brownsville J.C., Edinburg J.C., Laredo J.C., Corpus Christi, Seguin Lutheran, Victoria, and perhaps Wharton J.C.
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