Bobby Layne- Myths, Folklore, truth, or EXAGGERATIONs – who knows -but the stories have survived the test of time.
Bobby Layne was a competitor. He was obsessed with being the best, from grocery shopping to sports. In less than a year, he was shooting in the 70s playing golf.
Doak Walker, who roomed with Bobby at one point, said that even when he went to the grocery store, he had to be the best shopper. A teammate of Bobby’s in Detroit commented that when Lane said block, you blocked, and when he said drink, you drank. Bobby Layne, on December 1st, 1986, died of cardiac arrest. He was only 59 years old.
Flashback
Bobby Lane was the star pitcher for the Texas Longhorns. Coach Falk said he was the best pitcher he ever coached, but he was “crazy as hell.” In 1946 Bobby pitched a no-hitter against Texas A&M, but Falk said, “he was liable to have been out playing 18 holes of golf that morning,” Coach Falk said. Layne likes to pitch games on his terms, and that was ok with Coach Falk. Bobby never lost a southwest Conference baseball game in 4 years.
Myths, Folklore, truth, or EXAGGERATIONs – who knows -but the stories have survived the test of time.
According to the book, Bibb Falk by William A. Cook during games, Coach Falk would sit on one end of the bench. Rooster Andrews, Bobby Layne’s roommate, who was a part-time player usually sat on the bench the whole game. So Bobby Lane asked Rooster Andrews one game to occupy the other end of the bench. Lane gave Rooster some money and told him to buy a six-pack of beer. Rooster did as instructed, and between each inning, Lane would slip behind the bench out of Coach Falk’s sight and chug a bottle of beer. At the start of the seventh inning, Bobby gave Rooster some more money to buy some more beer. Bobby Lane pitched a no-hitter that day.
Bobby Layne and Rooster Andrews have a car accident and Bobby hurts himself. Bobby Layne throws a no-hitter against Southwestern. The next week horsing around Bobby Layne sticks his foot through a window that requires stitches. The next day Bobby throws another no-hitter against the Aggies. Bobby was 19 years old.
Bobby’s overall record at Texas was 39 wins and seven losses, including 27 consecutive wins in Southwest conference play. In 1946 Bobby Lane pitched two no-hitters and had 84 strikeouts. A Southwest conference record that stood for 39 years. The most compelling story about Bobby Lane is that as a Texas Longhorn pitcher, he was never taken out of a game with his team behind.
Bobby Layne said that if I had been a good hitter, he might have chosen to professionally play baseball instead of football. “For me, pitching was too much work,” Layne said.
George Halas, the owner of the Chicago Bears, drafted Bobby Layne but then decided to trade Bobby him. George said “Bobby, I can’t afford to keep three quarterbacks, and I can’t make Sid retire. He is Jewish, which means more season tickets.” Also, “Johnny Lujack attended Notre Dame that also means more season tickets in Chicago than having a quarterback in Texas.”
Another Story about Bobby Layne in the late 1960s is from Barbara Wainscott whose husband, Loyd Wainscott, was a Longhorn All American during his participation in the Houston Oilers training camp in Kerrville, Texas.
Barbara shares one night the guys were all at a bar. Can’t remember if Rob Layne (Bobby’s son) was there or not. But Bobby came in and told the rookies sitting at the table to “build him a castle”. Layne bought beer all night and they stacked the cans up in layers all around the corner booth like five or six beer can floors high. Bobby took it all in stride but the rookies were hammered. Loyd called me later that night to tell me they were celebrating the first girl they’d seen in Kerrville without a scar on her face and he’d just danced with a girl they called “headlights.” Bobby stayed around to laugh at them the next day during the practice from hell.
