Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football

The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football team represents Arkansas Tech University in college football at the NCAA Division II level. The Wonder Boys are members of the Great American Conference (GAC), fielding its team in the GAC since 2011. The Wonder Boys play their home games at Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium in Russellville, Arkansas.

Their head coach is Kyle Shipp, who took over the position for the 2019 season.

John Tucker is ultimately responsible for the idiosyncratic nickname "Wonder Boys" for Arkansas Tech University. On November 15, 1919, Tucker, as a 17-year-old freshman, scored two touchdowns and kicked two extra points to lead the Second District Agricultural School Aggies to a 14–0 upset win over Jonesboro. In newspaper accounts following the game, Tucker and his teammates were referred to as "Wonder Boys," and the nickname remains to this day. Tucker was labeled as "The Original Wonder Boy" and was associated with the school for the rest of his life. He went on to play on the University of Alabama's Rose Bowl team in 1931 and served Arkansas Tech in a variety of roles – including coach, athletic director and chemistry professor – between 1925 and 1972. Two buildings on the Tech campus – Tucker Coliseum and Tucker Hall – are named in his honor.^[3]

Originally the Second District Agricultural School when formed in 1909, Arkansas Tech has made five appearances in football national playoffs (1971, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). Led by All-American receiver Rick Thone, the 1971 Wonder Boys (12–1–0) made it to the national championship game of the NAIA playoffs, losing to Livingston State (now University of West Alabama) in the title game, 14–12, played in Birmingham, AL. In 1994, Tech lost in the first round of the NAIA playoffs to Langston (OK), 56–42, after capturing the final Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) football crown earlier that season. Firman W. Bynum, long-time Dean of Men at Tech, was the school's first All-American football player in 1939.

Tech won AIC football championships in 1931, 1935, 1939, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1994.

Arkansas Tech left the NAIA after the AIC disbanded following the 1994–95 academic year. Tech joined NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference at that time. Since then, Tech's football program has made appearances in the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 1999, 2004 and 2009. The 1999 team was the first from Arkansas to win the GSC football championship outright, while the 2004 Wonder Boys were the first team from Arkansas to host or win an NCAA Division II Playoffs game. Tech earned that honor by defeating Catawba College (N.C.) 24–20 on November 13, 2004. The Wonder Boys returned to the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 2009 and defeated the University of North Carolina at Pembroke 41–13 in the first round before falling to University of North Alabama 41–28 in the region semifinals.

• Independent (1911–1927)
• Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (1928–1955)
• Independent (1956–1957)
• Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (1958–1994)
• Gulf South Conference (1995–2010)
• Great American Conference (2011–present)

• Official website