Cecil Morgan has passed away; Blaylock; and the TLSN Article archive

God rest his soul, Jim Blaylock was a unique character who was the head supervisor for equipment procurement and distribution. He dutifully administered Coach Royal’s directive to Cross-examine all players who wanted to replace a piece of sports equipment.

He made DKR proud. From Jim’s fortified cage, he would dare anyone to ask for anything on his side of the cell. His tactics worked. Billy Schott said, “I once summoned up the nerve and asked Mr. Jim for a “new” pair of socks because I could read a newspaper through the heels of the ones I had been issued a couple of seasons before. Jim made some sort of growling, guttural sound, held the socks up to the light, threw one back to me and grabbed another from a box below the window, and shoved it toward me. It was worse than the one he kept. I had to pay a visit to Rooster and stock up on a few new pairs….????”

The photo below is Jim behind his riot proof cage dispensing one-ply toilet paper-thin towels. The Photographer asks Jim for a big smile. He obliged.

For a jockstrap story (adults only) and a few other Blaylock testimonials, visit https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/jim-blaylock

There has been a significant restructuring of the TLSN historical website. Over the last five years, TLSN has added original content from 19 professional authors and 32 articles by non-professional authors. Tommy Lucas, Byrd Baggett, and yours truly fall into this latter classification.

Tommy Lucas played for DKR in the early 1960s and, after a short professional career playing for the Dallas Cowboys, he entered coaching at the high school level in Sherman, Texas. He shares his thoughts on the Longhorn recruiting process for Sherman football players Mike Dean and Greg Ploetz. Tommy’s story is at https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/mike-dean-and-greg-ploetz

Byrd Baggett is another Longhorn who, as an amateur author, wrote a great story about his Longhorn track coach at the link below. 

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/coach-price-by-byrd-baggett

One of the most recent additions to the professional collection is Larry Carlson. Larry saw his first orange tower after a victory in 1960 and has been following Longhorn football ever since. He hosted the Fred Akers Pre-game Show and the Longhorn Locker Room for Austin’s KVET Radio. He co-hosted Longhorn Pipeline on San Antonio’s ESPN Radio affiliate during Mack Brown’s tenure.

Larry recently retired after teaching broadcast journalism for 35 years at Texas State University. Larry is at lc13@txstate.edu.

13 of his articles are now part of the archives on the TLSN website. He recently wrote an article for TLSN titled “The ABC’s for Sark” Always Be Closing! The link is  https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/larry-carlson-alwaysbeclosing

From Larry’s archived articles is an excellent story about Abe Lemons at the link https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/larry-carlson-abe-lemons

The photo below is Larry Carlson as a young man interviewing Coach Akers for KVET.

Cecil Morgan has passed away

During Mack Brown’s early years as Longhorn’s head football coach, my dad’s health started to fail. Knowing that I started searching for venues where we could enjoy quality time as father and son. I found one! Ironically on a trip with my 6-year-old son Brad to a Texas football game.

After parking the car on game day, my son and I started the hike to the football stadium, choosing to walk along the south side of Meyer Stadium when someone called out my name.

It was Billy Schott, a Longhorn field goal and placekicker in the early 1970s. After sharing a few minutes of fellowship, Billy invited me to join his tailgate group. I accepted and loved it!!

The following week, I extended an invitation to my father to join his son and grandson for tailgating and football, and he agreed. During one of my dad’s visits, tailgater Bob Morgan’s father, Cecil Morgan, joined the tailgate group. Bob and my dad were about the same age, so as members of the “greatest generation,” they bonded immediately.

Dad’s failing health caused by congestive heart failure was always in my thoughts during these football excursions. He tired quickly, but for a son worried about losing his father, tailgating became therapeutic.

I reveled at the young spirit that resided inside my father on game day. Sad eyes caused by health issues changed to eyes full of joy and a smile as expansive as a Cheshire cat.

Dad passed away in 2004. His old tailgate buddy, Cecil Morgan, passed away recently. It saddened my heart to read the news of Mr. Morgan’s passing, but memories of the friendship forged between my father and Cecil Morgan left me with a permanent smile that I still carry in my heart. The photo below is of my dad and Cecil Morgan sharing tailgate fellowship.

Cecil was a Longhorn basketball player during the 1950s who became a huge UT Longhorn Brand builder after graduating from Texas.

In honor of Sports Illustrated’s 60th anniversary, SI.com republished an article written on November 11th, 1963, called “The Disciples Of St. Darrell On A Wild Weekend.” Dan returns to his home state and tags along with some die-hard fans engaged in a weekend of partying and pigskin in this piece. Cecil Morgan was one of the DKR disciples in Dan Jenkins’s story. Both are now gone, but their legacy lives on.

The article is very long, so for those who don’t want to read it all, I have denoted in blue font sections that refer to Cecil. Many will identify with this story of youth interacting with alcohol, parties, and Longhorn pride. For a moment, I was able to live vicariously through Cecil’s adventure and share a weekend journey that captured the exciting fresh feel of football in 1963.

 https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/cecil-morgan-basketball

1963 was a very good year for Sports Writer Dan Jenkins, his friend Cecil Morgan, and the University of Texas.

In an article for Texassports.com, Bill Little says about Dan Jenkins, “In the early 1960s, arguably the greatest collection of sportswriters ever assembled were coming out of Texas. “Among the leaders was Dan Jenkins, a young TCU alum who had risen from the star-studded sports staff of the Fort Worth Press (which produced several of the top sports journalists in the business) to become the lead college football writer for Sports Illustrated — the nation’s premier sports magazine.”

Dan says, “when I got to SI in 1963 and was made the college football writer, the magazine had not done a pre-season forecast in three years. This was because Herman Hickman, followed by Red Grange, had never made a decent prediction — ever. One example: In Hickman’s last year, he picked Baylor as a national contender, and the Bears went 3-6-1, and SI had suffered much embarrassment.”

In the magazine’s college football pre-season issue in 1963, Jenkins tabbed the Longhorns as the eventual national champions. Thus, my picking Texas had a lot on the line for me personally. When I called Darrell [Royal] to tell him I was picking him No. 1, he said, “Have you looked at our schedule?”

I said, “Of course.”

He said, “Then you know we play Oklahoma and Arkansas back to back and on the road.”

I said, “I noticed that.”

The link to the rest of Dan Jenkins Longhorn story is at

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/dan-jenkins

TLSN is an independent organization celebrating Longhorn Sports History and assisting qualifying Horns who need temporary financial assistance.

The TLSN website and newsletter are free, educational, historical, and insightful sharing Longhorn sports history through the eyes of those who created it.

TLSN is not associated with the UT Athletics Department or any organization closely aligned with UT.

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