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Texas High School Football Hall of Fame: Bobby Wuensch ‘played with an obsession,’ put defenders on their backs

From the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023 series

• CHAD CONINE Special to the Tribune-Herald

• May 1, 2023

Bobby Wuensch starred as a two-way player at Houston Jones in the 1960s before going on to help the University of Texas win a pair of national championships.

• Texas Sports Hall of Fame

Former University of Texas tackle Bobby Wuensch (50) clears a path for halfack Jim Bertelsen (35) on a touchdown run against Oklahoma Oct. 10, 1970. The Longhorns beat the Sooners, 41-9.

One afternoon on a practice field in Houston, Bobby Wuensch and Bill Atessis got paired up for a drill and ended up being bonded for life.

Atessis was a sophomore offensive and defensive lineman who had just been called up to the Houston Jones varsity in 1964. He and Wuensch, a senior offensive lineman and linebacker, went one-on-one in the drill.

Who won?

“Well, it depends on who you ask,” Attessis said with a chuckle. “We’ve been close ever since.”

Wuensch and Atessis helped Houston Jones reach the Class 4A quarterfinals in 1964 before they lost to state finalist Galena Park. It was the first of their two seasons playing together in high school.

Following his senior year, Wuensch chose to go play for Darrell Royal at the University of Texas and Atessis followed him in 1967. They both started for the 1969 Longhorns that defeated Arkansas in the Game of the Century and then defeated Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl for the national championship.

’69 Shootout:   #1 Texas 15 – #2 Arkansas 14 // via trivinity on YouTube

Wuensch, an all-Houston and all-state performer at Jones, earned all-Southwest Conference in 1969 and 1970 and All-American honors in 1970.

This weekend, he’ll follow his former teammate into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Wuensch will represent the 1960s in the Class of 2023 that will be inducted on Saturday at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Atessis, a 1994 Texas High School Football Hall of Fame inductee, will be present with the Wuensch party. Bobby Wuensch might not be in attendance at the event as he currently is in assisted living memory care. But his achievements will be celebrated.

“Anyone you talk to about Bobby will say he was soft spoken and one of the sweetest guys you’d ever want to talk to,” Atessis said. “But when he got on the football field, it wasn’t that he got mean or anything, but he was very focused and very determined to succeed.”

Wuensch played offensive tackle at Texas, while Atessis found his spot on the Horns’ defensive line. At 6-foot-3, 205-pounds in high school and a little bigger in college, Wuensch had the ideal body type to fit into Royal’s wishbone offense as s run blocker.

After college, Wuensch was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, but a broken leg suffered on a special teams play cut short his pro football career. He found his calling working for the family business, Wuensch Sales, a maritime products distributor.

He and Atessis carried on as faithful members of an elite group of Texas players.

“(Playing for the 1969 Longhorns) has been a legacy,” Atessis said. “And the beauty of it is, those teammates, we still stay in touch.”

As for the recollections of Wuensch on the field, his old friend put him in lofty company.

“He played with almost an obsession like Dick Butkus or somebody,” Atessis said. “He tackled and blocked until he couldn’t. He wanted to put you on your back if he could.”