President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Texas Longhorns game at No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, a according to a White House official. Saturday's game at Neyland Stadium will be the ninth college football game he has seen as president.
The Longhorns have had a lot of presidents at their games, though probably the most famous presidential visit is possibly the most famous in college football history.
Sitting Presidents:
Richard Nixon - 1969
Richard Nixon was in the stands, not a luxury box, at the 1969 'Game of the Century' between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas. The "Game of the Century" was the final regular-season game of college football’s 100th season.
Exactly half of all television sets in America was tuned in to watch as Texas won 15-14, rallying from a 14-0 deficit
to win the national championship. Nixon controversially awarded the national title to Darrell K. Royal and the Longhorns in the locker room after the game. It was controversial because there was still the bowl games to be played. But Texas took care of business, beating Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl a few weeks later.
50 years ago today one of the most famous CFB games ever played took place between Arkansas & Texas in Fayetteville. "Game of the Century" drew a late-arriving President Nixon and saw Longhorns win 15-14. CFB's version of Ice Bowl in terms of # of people who say they watched it. pic.twitter.com/1CIe7I8DHI
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) December 6, 2019
Gerald Ford - 1976
President Gerald Ford attended the annual Texas-Oklahoma Red River Rivalry in Dallas during the final year of his presidency in 1976. Ford performed the ceremonial coin toss before the game. Ford was in the middle of the stretch run of the presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter. Ford made a stopover in Oklahoma on the trip and narrowly carried the state in the election, which he ultimately lost to Carter.
Non-sitting Presidents
Lyndon B. Johnson
After retiring from public office, LBJ attended several Texas Longhorns games in Austin. LBJ was a close friend of Royal's. Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson was a UT grad and the two were big fans of the program in their later years.
George H.W. Bush
The elder Bush was a congressman in 1969 when he accompanied Nixon as part of his entourage at the Texas-Arkansas game.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend Saturday's Texas-Tennessee showdown, adding even more intrigue to a top-15 matchup. https://t.co/4lMQbWX24v
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) September 23, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Which United States Presidents have attended a Texas Longhorns game?
