Steve Ross 1982 football season (

Flying back from a football road game is not fun. Cramped quarters for large bodies – bodies that are sore from the game. It really isn’t fun when you were the #1 team in the nation, and you lost 42-11 to Arkansas.

That was the case on Oct. 17th, 1981. I was the field producer/host of Coach Fred Akers TV show. My good friend cameraman Gary Johnson and I were near the back of the plane with Robert Brewer, who had thrown for the only Horn TD of the day. Robert was a legacy walk-on (Dad Charlie was a QB at Texas in the early ‘50’s) and was contemplating giving up the game to concentrate on his studies. Visit the “walk-on” section of this website to read Robert Brewer’s story.

Still not starting, Brewer spent the week considering his options and with encouragement from teammates – especially WR Herkie Walls – he decided he loved the game and his teammates too much to quit.

Three weeks later, Texas trailed Houston 14-0 at halftime in the Astrodome. Starting QB Rick McIvor was banged up late in the first half. Akers went up to Brewer in the locker room and told him he would start the 2nd half. Herkie Walls was standing next to Robert and said, “You’re QB 1 now, so play like it.” He did. Robert rallied Texas to a 14-14 tie. Two months later he led the Horns to a Cotton Bowl victory over Bear Bryant and #3 Alabama. Best of all he would be back for the next season

I CHOSE TO WRITE ABOUT THE 1982 TEAM BECAUSE, IN MY OPINION, IT IS ONE OF THE UNDER-VALUED TEXAS TEAMS BY FANS. IT WAS ALSO A PURE JOY TO BE AROUND.

I have had the good fortune to be around UT football for over 50 years – as a young fan, student-reporter, broadcaster and associate SID. The memories flow and I want to thank Billy Dale for giving me a chance to write about a few of them.

By 1982 Coach Akers had established an elite program. In five years, Akers teams were 46-13-1. Two Top Ten finishes. Four top 20 rankings. His coaching staff was an outstanding blend of veteran teachers and young assistants who loved to recruit. There was also a culture of accountability – to your teammates and yourself.

1982 was seen as a “hammock” year. That Cotton Bowl win over Alabama boosted Texas to #2 in the final AP poll, just behind Clemson. There were graduation losses, but the underclass talent was obvious to everyone, even if they hadn’t had a chance to show it on the field. The feeling was 1983 would be the season the underclassmen would take over.

For me, what made that team click was the core of seniors who were determined to get the most out of their last season on the 40 Akers. They also understood their job as role models for the rest of the team. Robert Brewer, Herkie Walls, Kiki DeAyala, Darryl Clark, Brian Millard. They set the tone for the team on and off the field.

CROSSROADS

The season started with convincing wins over Utah, Missouri and Rice. Then came a dramatic 28-22 loss to OU in the Cotton Bowl. The next week #4 SMU was in Austin for the SWC game of the year. Texas trailed 10-0 early in the 4th when a Brewer TD pass and a Raul Allegre field goal tied it up with 9 minutes to play. The Texas defense, with the crowd in a frenzy, forced a 3rd and long deep in SMU territory. SMU quarterback Lance McIlhenny rolled out and fired a pass that Horn DB Jitter Fields had in his sights. The ball ricocheted off his shoulder pads into the waiting arms of Bobby Leach. The last 6 minutes of that game saw Texas fight desperately to make up for lost ground, but the Ponies prevailed 30-17.

That left Texas 3-2 and trying to cope with back-to-back heartbreaking losses. But in the locker room what you saw were the seniors stepping up showing how to handle adversity. When we interviewed them, they were calm. Disappointed, but upbeat. This is a good team, they said. We will not let this stop us from what we can do the rest of the way.

Recently Brewer went a little deeper into what the seniors did during the next week of practice. Robert said that before practice the following Tuesday the seniors gathered in the north end zone.

“I’m gonna give Kiki (DeAyala) some credit on that,” Brewer said. “He straightened all of us out. He said, ‘hey they’re watching us. This is what’s gonna make this season, the next two days, so we have to have the best practices of the year the next two days.’

Brewer added, “That really did kind of set the table for the rest of the season.”

The next week Texas traveled to Lubbock to face Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were coming off a 10-3 loss at #1 Washington, and they thought they were catching the Horns at a perfect time. Texas won 27-0.

That contest started a season-ending winning streak where Texas outscored its opponents by an average of 39-11. Brewer threw 12 touchdown passes, then a single-season school record. Darryl Clark rushed for over 1,000 yards. The defense shut down opponents, attacking them when they had to play from behind. It was a helluva 6-game run.

THE LOOK

Trust was a big word in 1982. Coaches trusting the players to perform under pressure. Teammates trusting each other. Offensively that trust was first established between Akers and Brewer. Coach trusted Robert to handle in-game situation at the line of scrimmage. He trusted him to change plays to get the ball into his play makers.

That offense had fun. Have halfback Darryl Clark throw a pass on the run inside his own 15-yard line? Sure. Run a Statue of Liberty? Why not?

Coach Akers coaching style was demanding, but positive as well. He believed in having his players to expect success and work towards that expectation. While Coach wasn’t much of a screamer, he has his ways to get his players attention. First and foremost was “the look.” Do something wrong more than once, you might feel those cobalt blue eyes of coach Akers burning a hole through you while deciding just exactly how he would explain the error of your ways.

That look wasn’t just saved for players.

Every Sunday morning after coach would arrive at the studio, we would sit down and watch the edited highlights. This weekend Texas had obliterated Texas A&M 53-16. As I said earlier trick plays were part of the fun. That game Darryl Clark hit Herkie Walls for an 87-yard score. As we are watching I casually mention to coach that the offense had done all sorts of tricks, except to have Herkie throw on the end around.

I got the look.

I’m sure it was only seconds, but it felt like minutes. Finally, coach broke the silence with, “well Steve, we do have one more game on the schedule.”

Next week against Arkansas, Herkie takes a reverse hand-off and hits Brent Duhon for a 37-yard game.

Speaking of Herkie. He is one of the most positive persons I have ever been around. He may also be the most under-appreciated player on that under-appreciated team. Herkie, a slight speedster from Garland, TX, lit up opponents in 1982. Walls had 25 receptions for 702 yards. That’s 28 yards a catch. Ten of his 25 catches went for touchdowns.

Like I said that was a fun team to watch.

I wish there was a happier ending to this team’s story. Unfortunately, Brewer broke his thumb during the morning practice just before they were to leave for El Paso and the Sun Bowl. Texas lost to North Carolina 26-10 in a snow storm to finish 9-3. That team set the table for the 1983 season and demonstrated time and again that football is a game that will knock you down, but if you trust in each other you can bounce back to fight another day.