Calvin Murray , Betsy Mitchell, Morgan Copeland, Steve McMichael

Volume VII newsletter #4 2/17/2022

To the James family, many were kind and helped when they could raising $11,000 on GoFundMe!

There are some significant updates on James Lane’s celebration of life @

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/james-lane-19891992

Calvin Murray – It’s in the Genes.

Calvin is the younger brother of Kevin Murray who was a quarterback at Texas A & M from 1983 to 1986. He is the uncle of 2018 Heisman trophy winner Kyler Murray, and Longhorns Donovan and Devin Duvernay. In addition, Calvin’s brother Charles Murray played wide receiver at North Texas in the late 1970s, and Vince Murray played defensive back at Tulsa.

Pat Frost from Frost Bank sponsors Calvin’s oral history segment. As TLSN has done with the other 23 podcasts, Calvin’s story combines text, photos, and first-person comments to capture special moments for the Longhorn nation. The link to Calvin and Longhorn sports history is :

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/calviin-murray-19901992

TLSN needs individual sponsors to pay for these first-person oral history section. The podcast service is provided by an independent contractor -Fresh Media- for the TLSN website. The cost is $550 per episode, and the sponsor can choose the era and sport for the interview. I am williamdale@msn.com

From Bevo Beat

“Based on players’ college stats and accomplishments with consideration given to their positional fits as well as a batting order combining high batting average, speed, and power, here is Texas baseball’s all-time starting lineup.”

#1. Leftfield – Calvin Murray

Calvin Murray a Longhorn Olympian

Calvin was the batter at the plate in 2001 when Randy Johnson hit a dove with a pitch. The dove did not survive. Calvin shares this story in the podcast.

TLSN is a Longhorn sports historical website, not a current event site, yet an article that former Chairman of the Board of Regents UT system Gene Powell forwarded me is an exception to this rule. Sports Illustrated captures a story about NIL Collegiate sports that combines the past, present, and future in an article titled:

The Fight Over the Future of College Sports Is Here: ‘It Needs to Implode’

The article starts by saying “If anyone knows the issues within the NCAA, it’s Betsy Mitchell.”

“Betsy was an athlete at one of college athletics’ richest juggernauts, Texas, has been a coach at Division I’s lowest tier, and now is the athletic director of one of the NCAA’s smallest schools, Division III Caltech. She intimately understands the disparities between the NCAA’s 1,000 member schools. And she’s got a suggestion to fix it. She says “The commercial priorities of some members means they need to go do their own thing,” says Mitchell. “I kind of wish they would.”

Betsy Mitchell is a National Champion Longhorn swimmer and Olympian.

Betsy swam for Texas from 1985 to 1988. She won nine NCAA titles and was a member of the Longhorns NCAA national championship teams in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

Mitchell received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving 1987–88; She is a world record-holder, world champion, and Olympic gold and silver medalist. She was also a member of the United States’ 1994 Rowing World Championship team.

She set an American and world record in the 200-meter backstroke at the 1986 World Championship Trials (2:08.60). The world record stood for five years. Swimming World Magazine named her as its American Female Swimmer of the Year in 1986.

Betsy was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an “Honor Swimmer” in 1998 and was inducted into the Texas Longhorns Hall of Honor in 2000.

Here is the link to the article in Sports Illustrated https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/betsy-mitchell-and-sports-illustrated-jan2022

The Super Bowl is over and Professor Carlson shakes his head at some of the questions asked by professional sports interviewers. In Coach Akers days, Larry Carlson honed his interviewing skills , and he shares with the TLSN readers the secret to a good interview.

In his article titled “AVOID YES/NO QUESTIONS, PLEASE” he shares his thoughts about the Longhorn athletes he enjoyed interviewing the most. Starting with Morgan Copeland. The link is https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/avoidyesandno-questions-please-in-interviews

Morgan Copeland.

David Bales, the Former Chairman in Texas for Stem Cell Research, is shown in the photo above with Coach Akers attending Lam Jones’s celebration of life.

David says Steve ,” Mongo” McMichael used to tell how he was “short changed in his career. In the 78 Cotton Bowl all the players were given Seiko watches instead of the Rolexes teams were given in previous years. Shortchanged

The link to David’s comments and more are below.

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/steve-mcmichael