Scatter shooting with Kirk Bohls- University of Texas Columnist/Reporter

Larry Carlson and Kirk Bohls.

Kirk says, "While wondering whatever happened to former Longhorn running back Chris Ogbonnaya, a seventh-round pick who played seven NFL seasons. Learned about Gary Keithley, the one-time Longhorn quarterback and punter on the Texas 1970 national champion. Friend Larry Carlson wrote a great story on the Texas Legacy Support Network of the all-state quarterback from Alvin who had one career completion at Texas playing behind James Street and Eddie Phillips before transferring to UTEP and getting drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. He played in the CFL before coaching at Cleburne and will be inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame on May 10."

THE PORTAL BEFORE THE PORTAL:
The Gary Keithley Story
by Larry Carlson https://texaslsn.org

Gary Keithley was the bluest of blue-chippers in the Lone Star state's football circles when he signed with Darrell Royal's Texas Longhorns in February '69. Today, not many Longhorn fans recall his name, or that he was the punter for UT's 1970 national champions. And maybe he was ahead of his time in one regard: Perhaps Keithley was the most highly-touted Longhorn to hit the portal and make it work.

The quarterbackin' phenom of long ago is now set for induction into the Texas High School Hall of Fame in May. When he graduated from Alvin High in 1969, he was keeping good company as the "almost most famous" AHS Yellowjacket in the sporting world. Only a rangy, heat-throwing 22-year-old pitcher with the New York Mets could overshadow him. That was Nolan Ryan.

Allow this writer a personal memory: As a more than avid Texas fan in high school, I was still the second most excited 'Horn fan on the campus of good ol' Robert E Lee High in San Antonio when Keithley signed his letter of intent with UT. My English teacher/yearbook advisor, Mrs. Bode, was a young grad of Alvin High and UT, and she was beyond exuberant all spring after Keithley signed to play for the Horns. She talked about him anytime and every time we chatted. Both of us were eager to see what Gary could do in Austin.

We were not alone. Everybody around the Forty Acres was fired up about Keithley's potential. He had size, 6-3, 200 pounds, making him bigger than Many Longhorn linemen on both sides of the ball. He had good speed, too. Mostly, he had that big right arm. The All-State QB led Alvin for three seasons and guided the 'Jackets to the semi-finals as a senior.

Keithley, like all freshmen in '69, bided his time and learned the ropes with reps, running the wishbone for the Shorthorns. The varsity was busy sculpting a perfect 11-0 national championship season, paced by a slick operator, James Street. He finished his football days with a remarkable 20-0 mark as UT's starter.

Come 1970, Eddie Phillips would be the Horns' bellcow. The junior from Mesquite had earned the QB spurs with substantial backup time in eight games for the champs. Quite a few Texas players and camp followers whispered that Eddie might be more talented than James.
Keithley? He would battle Donnie Wigginton for reps as understudy.

Turns out that Phillips was destined to be an elite "man under." He piloted the Horns to a second straight national title. Then he set a Cotton Bowl record for total offense with 363 yards, spread evenly between rushing and passing. Eddie was named Cotton Bowl MVP even in a loss that broke UT's 30-game winning streak.

The fact that Phillips would be back for another season in '71 was great cause for optimism in Austin. For Keithley, it apparently signaled a deadline for a business decision. The strong-armed soph had attempted but five passes as a soph, completing one. Two things were apparent. The wishbone was not really breeding ground for developing arms that might get noticed by NFL scouts. And nobody was going to beat Eddie Phillips out of his starting role.

The ace from Alvin chose to fold his cards at the Forty Acres, in quest of playing time and growth. Eight hundred miles from his hometown, Keithley got both at The University of Texas at El Paso. In his remaining two seasons of eligibility, he set school records for passing yardage and completion percentage while booming punts in the high, desert air. And he did it while earning All-Western Athletic Conference academic honors.

"He had an NFL-quality arm and could punt a football over the Franklin Mountains," one of UTEP teammates, offensive lineman Mark McDonald, recently recalled about Keithley. "He deserved a lot better blocking up front than I ever provided."

The National Football League scouts noticed Keithley's prowess. The guy with one career completion at UT went to the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round, the fourth quarterback and 45th player taken.
Keithley became the Cards' punter and saw limited action as QB Jim Hart's backup in '73. That was his only NFL season but he later played two years at British Columbia in the Canadian Football League.

The former schoolboy star eventually went full circle and returned to the high school game as a coach at San Antonio Holmes and later at Cleburne as an assistant, then head coach and finally, as athletic director.

Keithley possessed rare talent, obviously. And he evolved into the very rare player of his era: to transfer, become a star and take his talent to the NFL level. Now, close to a half-century since he last took off the shoulder pads, Keithley is headed for "Friday Night Lights" immortality.
When he's inducted into the Texas High School FootballHall of Fame in ceremonies set for May 10 in Waco, the all-time Alvin Yellowjacket QB will be going in alongside a couple of pretty fair country quarterbacks in the '25 class.
You've likely heard of 'em. There's Baylor's Heisman winner, Robert Griffin III of the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs, and a former Whitehouse Wildcat, dude named Patrick Mahomes.

Gary Keithley, a role player in The History of Longhorn Sports, is back up on the big stage again for a job well done. And Gary still has a knack for keeping good company. Damn good company.
Says a lot about a man.

(TLSN's Larry Carlson is a member of The Football Writers Association of America. He teaches sports media at Texas State University

David Lowery

SOUTHEAST TEXAS HIT MAN
David Lowery At Bat
by Larry Carlson https://texaslsn.org

Striking a stock-still golf ball off the tee, then off the fairway, putting out...all of it is pretty, pretty damn challenging. Try diagnosing what to do, though, with a 92-mile-per hour seamed,horesehide sphere directed your way from sixty feet, six inches away. Calls for quick decisions, uncanny instincts, unerring accuracy in execution. Daunting, to say the least.

The Texas Longhorns have produced and featured great hitters such as Brooks Kieschnick, Keith Moreland, David Chalk, David Denny, Scott Bryant and Ivan Melendez, to cite a few of the best.

But I don't know if any of those standouts ever hit .520 in a season, even as a peewee player.
Former Longhorn David Lowery did. In college.

Lowery grew up in the small southeast Texas town of Vidor, just a lofty fly ball east of Beaumont, where he excelled in baseball and football for the hometown Pirates. But coming out of high school he didn't earn a scholarship offer from UT's Cliff Gustafson. So he packed his bat for Panola College, 150 miles north in Carthage. There he barreled up on his skills with the Ponies and developed into a phenomenal hitter.
He demolished just about everything served up from the mound and compiled an unearthly .520 average in 1988.
When we at The History of Longhorn Sports did an interview with Lowery recently, I had to ask him if the pitches looked like beachballs that spring. David just chuckled, then allowed that, "Yeah, I was seeing the ball pretty well."
I'll say. Anybody who played LIttle League knows that the best player on your team never approached a .500 average.
To do it at a high level against excellent junior college competition is somewhat akin to, say, a football hotshot rushing for 500 yards per game in JUCO play. That kind of stuff just doesn't happen.
Well, it did once.

Lowery's off-the-charts prowess at Panola earned him an invitation from Coach Gus to move his swing to Disch-Falk. In '89, the second-sacker joined Scott Bryant, national player of the year and Dick Howser Trophy winner, to smoke opposing pitching and lead the Longhorns into a College World Series. He hit .356 that season, one of the better marks in UT record books. More than a few baseball types will tell you that Lowery's average was even more remarkable because he essentially "hit .356 with two strikes on him."
Taking pitches — many pitches --was a mandate for Gustafson's players. The Horns' legendary coach wasn't gambling. He knew most college pitchers could not consistently paint the plate's corners against dangerous hitters.

Lowery says now that Gustafson was way ahead of his time regarding "all the Billy Beane analytics stuff," referring to the now-renowned "Moneyball" story of the pioneering Oakland Athletics general manager. According to Lowery, Coach Gus kept meticulously detailed notes on every pitch in scrimmages, noting tendencies in each player during practices. When Gus would sometimes tab an obscure backup player to pinch hit in a pressure situation, and that player would "crush it" in the clutch, people wondered how Gus could get so lucky with intuition.
It was all in Gustafson's hand-jotted analytics, Lowery says.

Houston Chronicle sportswriter Kirk Bohls has been a keen observer of Texas hardball for more than a half-century, and has great respect for Lowery, who averaged better than .320 at UT and earned All-College World Series honors. "David Lowery was one of the best hitters at Texas, with a short, compact stroke and the ability to use the entire field," he said. Bohls, who has covered the Longhorns in more than twenty CWS trips to Omaha, appreciated Lowery's consistent diamond excellence.
"He hit at every level from junior college to major college and established himself as a great hitter in college baseball."

In our TLSN podcast with Lowery, David fondly recalled teammates — many of whom he still keeps up with — such as Bryant, all-time workhorse pitcher Kirk Dressendorfer, Clay King, Brian Dare, Arthur Butcher and David Tollison. And Lowery, a longtime regular at Longhorn baseball games, spoke excitedly about the current team and coach Jim Schlossnagle. His enthusiam extends to a variety of topics, from football to crabbing as a kid from Vidor, to savoring the barbecue crabs at the classic Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange Golden Triangle eateries such as Sartin's.

David Lowery is a deserving all-star in The History of Longhorn Sports. Listen in as TLSN's Larry Carlson and Lowery chop it up for a free-wheeling half-hour podcast, as the man who batted .520 touches all the bases and takes a robust cut at all the questions, foregoing the "take" sign.

-- 30 --

TLSN David Lowery's oral history, podcast, and article follows

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1atKAFxgrRXFqg4PRkFONQEU4upAsu8MW/view?usp=drive_web

and https://texaslsn.org/david-lowery-has-joined-the-tlsn-board-of-directors/

Randy Braband is #63

TEXAS LB NAMED TO HALL OF FAME
by Larry Carlson https://texaslsn.org
Randy Braband has been recognized for a half-century as one of the stalwart defenders in the History of Longhorn Sports. The 6-0, 230-pound linebacker of the Texas teams from 1970-72 left his mark on hundreds of ballcarriers for three straight Southwest Conference championship teams. And this week he was immortalized, named to the 2025 Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame class, along with seven others who will be honored next spring in ceremonies at AT&T Stadium.
When I visited with the Cotton Bowl's longtime Historian, Charlie Fiss, at SEC Media Days in July, he asked me about my thoughts and recollections of Braband, the Defensive MVP when Texas upset Alabama, 17-13, in the '73 Cotton Bowl. I told him I thought Randy was a real wrecking ball, one of the absolute best linebackers of the DKR era that produced so many. Charlie, himself honored this week as one of the upcoming inductees for his many decades of work, was high on Braband's chances of moving from the ballot to the hall. We chatted about ol' number 63's astounding 19 tackles against Bama and his 14 in the previous year's Cotton Bowl versus Penn State. Voters cast our ballots the next week and I was proud for the opportunity to check Braband's name.
He came out of Spring Woods High in Spring Branch in the '69 signing class, played freshman ball and then immediately made big contributions as a varsity soph. The teenaged Braband was third in total tackles – behind only Scott Henderson and Ray Dowdy – for the '70 Longhorns, winners of their second consecutive national title.
Braband would only get better. Check the stat books.
He racked up more than 200 tackles combined for his junior and senior seasons. The '71 team overcame a long list of injuries that kept Texas sputtering early, en route to a 3-2 start. But they won their final five and earned UT's fourth SWC title in a row. Braband had six games with tackles in double digits.
The '72 team, paced offensively by the one-two punch of QB Alan Lowry and FB Roosevelt Leaks, was paced on defense by its standout All-SWC players, Braband, Glen Gaspard and Malcolm Minnick. Their unit yielded on 24 points in the last five games of the title stretch run.
Jay Arnold, a star defensive end who would move – incredibly – to defensive back and make All-SWC in '73, reminisced about Braband, his old buddy and teammate, when I once asked about him.
Jay said Braband was a guy who was steady in his excellence but rose even higher in the biggest moments.
That's exactly how it played out in Braband's last game in burnt orange. Darrell Royal's 9-1 Longhorns were underdogs against Bear Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide for the Cotton Bowl of Jan. 1, 1973. The Tide's offense featured dangerous Wilbur Jackson, an All-America runner.
Texas overcame a 13-3 halftime deficit with two TD runs by Lowry, and held a slim 17-13 edge as Bama drove into UT territory with under two minutes to go. A fourth-and-one for Bama looked like it would make or break UT's chances at victory.
Again, listen to Jay Arnold: "I always hoped teams would run right at Randy in those situations," Jay told me. Then he paused, recalling the moment of truth that bright January day in Dallas.
"Because I knew the opposing team wouldn't make it," he continued. "Just like when he stuffed Wilbur Jackson."
That's the way it happened. And now Randy Braband is a member of the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.
(TLSN's Larry Carlson is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. He teaches sports media at Texas State University and lives in San Antonio.)

TLSN Board of Directors

top to bottom- John Carsey, Beth Coblentz, Ben Adams, Rodney Page

Top to bottom - Jim Kay, Sherryl Hauglum, David Lowery, and Billy Dale with TLSN chairman emeritus Benny Pace.

On September 15, 2025, the TLSN Board of Directors unanimously voted 8-0 to leverage the TLSN 501(c)(3) status to raise funds through a golf tournament at Great Hills. This initiative is designed to support qualifying former Longhorn student-athletes who have faced tragedies through no fault of their own. LSG, an organization established to assist former DKR players, served as the precursor to TLSN, which was founded by T-ring recipients Jim Kay, Benny Pace, and Billy Dale in 2017. These two organizations have provided gifts or grants ranging from $1,000 to $45,000 to 19 former Longhorn student-athletes.

TLSN Board Member Sherryl Hauglum with Tyres Dickson who is one of many that TLSN has qualified for financial help.

When Tragedy Strikes

I hope this message finds you well. My name is Sherryl Hauglum, and I have the honor of serving on the board of the Texas Legacy Support Network (TLSN), a 501(C) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the proud tradition and history of Longhorn athletics and supporting those who helped build it.

I am reaching out with deep respect for your continued commitment to the Longhorn community and to invite you to partner with TLSN as a sponsor for the TLSN Longhorn Legends Golf Classic, which will take place on Monday, September 15th, 2025.

The Texas Legacy Support Network exists to celebrate the history of Longhorn sports and, perhaps more importantly, to provide support for former qualifying Longhorn student-athletes, coaches, trainers, and team personnel who have encountered unexpected tragedies and need help. Thanks to our donors' generosity, TLSN has provided financial grants ranging from $2000 to $45,000, offering vital relief to those facing a catastrophic event in their lives. These individuals once poured their hearts into Burnt Orange, and we believe it is our turn to give back.

The TLSN Longhorn golf classic is more than a fundraiser; it is a heartfelt celebration of community resilience and the enduring Longhorn spirit. It brings together alumni, fans, and friends who understand that stories of sacrifice, perseverance, and humanity are behind every game, season, and victory.

We would be honored to welcome you as a sponsor and valued partner in this meaningful mission. Sponsorships include prominent recognition opportunities on event signage, digital and print materials, and throughout the tournament day. More importantly, our support will make a direct and lasting difference in the lives of those we serve. Your presence will send a message that their stories matter and that the Longhorn family never forgets its own.

It has been said that helping one person may not change the world, but it will change the world for one person. With your help, we can continue changing lives and honoring the legacy of those who helped shape ours. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. I'd be happy to connect at your convenience to explore this opportunity.

With Gratitude,

TLN Board Member Sherryl Hauglum

Augy50@hotmail.com Sherryl Hauglum

jim@jgkay.com Jim Kay

Jcarsey@mbfc.com John Carsey

adamsbenjamin79@gmail.com Ben Adams

dlowery@ssturf.com David Lowery

beth.coblentz@yahoo.com Beth Coblentz

Williamdale@msn.com Billy Dale

https://texaslsn.org/donations/givewp-donation-form-2/

Scatter shooting with Kirk Bohls- University of Texas Columnist/Reporter

David Lowery

TLSN David Lowery's oral history, podcast, and article followshttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1atKAFxgrRXFqg4PRkFONQEU4upAsu8MW/view?usp=drive_weband https://texaslsn.org/david-lowery-has-joined-the-tlsn-board-of-directors/

TLSN Board of Directors

TLSN David Lowery's oral history, podcast, and article follows

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1atKAFxgrRXFqg4PRkFONQEU4upAsu8MW/view?usp=drive_web

and https://texaslsn.org/david-lowery-has-joined-the-tlsn-board-of-directors/

5/02/2025- TLSN newsletter #9