1950’s Football T-Ring Reflections – Dillon, Ramirez, Morris, Ferguson

1950’s T-Ring Reflections

Bobby Dillon, Rene’ Ramirez, Brett, and Drew Morris

In sports and far beyond, Longhorn’s heritage has shaped the present and empowers the future.

Bob Dillon loses his left eye when he is 10 but that did not stop him from having a great college and professional career. In 2020 he was inducted into the NFL Hall of fame as a “senior”- one who played more than 25 years ago.

Bob Dillon holds the Texas season record for yards gained per punt return of 22.3 yards and a career record of 17.7 yards per return.

Quarterback T-Jones said anytime he was out of the game we were in trouble. “He was a phenomenal athlete and it was unbelievable what he could do under his vision handicap.”

At Texas, Dillon was an All-American safety, finishing his college career with 13 interceptions. Dillon was a co-captain on the 1951 Southwest Conference (SWC)-champion Longhorns team which reached a ranking of no. 3 in the country before losing the 1951 Cotton Bowl to the Tennessee Volunteers.

Dillon’s 190 interception return yards was a Texas school record until 1995.

Despite his handicap, he would go on to become one of the most successful defensive backs of his era. He was a four-time Associated Press All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler. In recognition of his football achievements, Dillon was elected to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1974 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

In addition to playing safety in college, Dillon also played several games at halfback and returned kicks. In Dillon’s college debut, against Texas Tech, he returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown and also scored a 20-yard rushing touchdown in the same game. In his career at Texas, Dillon had 47 returns for 830 yards.In the 1950 season alone, Dillon had 15 punt returns for 334 yards, including a game-winning 84-yard punt return for a touchdown against Baylor University.[13]

At Texas, Dillon also participated in track and field as a sprinter. Dillon was a member of two SWC-champion track and field teams while at Texas.

Brett Morris and Kenneth Ferguson a special bond

By Brett Morris

Well, look what showed up due to a job change by my daughter Linda Lotz leaving Austin. Cleaning drawers & closets out can reveal all kinds of surprises. Thanks to her, I can honor a great friend & football player Ken Ferguson, almost on his birthday of April 18, 1941. Ken passed away 6 years ago on July 5, 2012, but not before he touched many lives and was a strong role model for young men as their coach. I have many memories of him on the football practice field & ingame conditions but the one memory that sticks out was in the summer of 1959.

The University of Texas got us jobs with the Southern Union Gas Company but it was in Farmington, New Mexico. We packed up & headed West.

Upon arrival, we were given a large truck loaded with 7-foot poles/pipe with instructions to mark each mile on this gas line between Farmington & Albuquerque, N.Mex with the pole buried 3 feet in the ground & paint on the pole what mile it was on the gas line and drive to the next location The company only paid for 40 hour weeks, no overtime, so that summer our days were long getting to & from our next pole marking that we usually had Thursday & Friday off. We “ventured” together all over that part of New Mexico & Colorado and one long weekend we drove to Midland, Texas to visit with MY girlfriend, Ann Massey. Her parents moved there right after Ann graduated. Ken Ferguson was a saint, never losing his temper, unlike his “mile marker mate,” always level-headed and the main reason I survived that summer job. RIP Ken Ferguson and thanks for the memories. If any of my WHS/UT friends have fond memories of Ken, please share below.

Hook’em Horns

– Ken

Rene’ Ramirez