A condensed bullet point history of Texas Longhorn football during the Royal years follows. Please go to the “credit” section of this website to view books you can purchase from many fine book stores about Texas Longhorn Sports or please visit the official University of Texas Longhorn site Texassports.com.

In the biography of Darrell Royal, Jimmy Banks wrote, “It took some time for Royal to realize that success can breed failure. “

1965- 6-4 three-way tie for 4th in the swc

Royal says the 1965 season was the most disappointing. The team was was fat and out of shape. However, that point is more a reflection of Coach Royal losing site of the sacrifices needed to win. “When the locusts arrive, they devour everything” Royal noted.

Of the 67 man freshman class of 1965, only 15 survive to their senior year and only 6 letter. 

Royal tells this team, “I could put all kinds of diagrams on the blackboard, that that it would not help us a bit.” Marvin Kristynik continued, “He said it was just a matter of whether we wanted to win bad enough.

David Conway holds the season best punting average of the first 100 years of Longhorn football (43.3) .

By 1965 all prime time games were in color, and the TV viewers exploded. Royal built the Horns for this new medium. Since there were only 3 networks and severely restricted games, if the team was a winner like the Longhorns, creating a national reputation was simpler than now. In the early ’60s, Texas won 88% of there and on TV looked good doing it. From 1961 thru 1971, Texas was 24-7 on T.V. and 16-5 on the national contest.

Rule makers allowed unlimited substitution for the first time since 1952. Royal said I will play the best player on the team on offense and defense, and the best players at both positions are Bedrick, Elliott, Nobis, and Lammons.

Nobis and Harris suffered knee injuries in the Indiana game.

Ronnie Ehrig, Linus Baer Howard Goad, Jack Howe, and Tommy Nobis suffer injuries in the OU game. These replacement players do their best, but the slide of 1965 begins.

1965 is the only year since WWII that both OU and Texas do not attend a bowl game.

The team returned 12 lettermen that only lost one game by one point in 1964.  The sports media and the fans were anticipating another great year.  It starts as all expected with 4 victories, and then there was the loss to Arkansas, followed by losses to Rice and SMU, and TCU.  The only saving grace was defeating the Aggies on turkey day to salvage a 6-4 season.

Royal states that this is his most disappointing year at Texas.  The team losses to Arkansas again, and the wheels came off.  Royal said playing Arkansas in Fayetteville is “like parachuting into Russia.”

Prior to the Arkansas game a reporter noticed that Royal was not smiling and Broyles was smiling. Royal said “If anybody’s smiling on an occasion like this it’s because he’s nervous. After the game he confessed “I was as nervous as a pig in a packing plant.”

Texas entered the game #1 winning 25 of the last 26 games and Arkansas had a 16 game winning streak. The game was played in front of 40,000 fans. Texas was upset by Arkansas 27-24.

6 And 4 Seasons Are Not Good Enough Royal States ” Longhorn Fans Are Finding All Along: I Ain’t No Genius”. Jimmy Banks Writes In A Biography Of Coach Royal ” It Took Some Time For Royal To Realize That Success Can Breed Failure”. Royal Says ” A Coach Isn’t As Smart As They Say He Is When He Wins Or As Stupid When He Loses.”

Free substitution during possession changes finally passes, but Royal refuses to commit 100% to platoon football because he has players like Pete Lammons and John Elliott, who are the best in their position on offense and defense. 

The Valley Boys- Left to right bottom – Jim Helms from San Benito, Freddy Edwards from Donna, Gene Powell from Weslaco, and above Freddy Edward is Eddie Vaughan from Brownsville. 

Lammons sets a record with 3 touchdown catches in one game.

Dan Mauldin leaves the Longhorn football program early to pursue his education. He is a The Scholar-Athlete, All-Southwest Conference end, Academic All-American, and Phi Beta Kappa.  

George Sauer leaves Texas early to pursue professional football with the New York Jets.

Royal feeds film study charts through the UT computer center for Rapid tendency compilation and closed-circuit TV instant replays. Royal also started using closed-circuit TV instant replays to evaluate team performance. It does not help. This season starts a slide that will jeopardize Royal’s career.

Lammons, Bedrick, Howe, Talbert, and Nobis make the All-SWC team. Nobis was an All-American and winner of the Outland award and the Maxwell Trophy.

Chris Gilbert is MVP on the Texas team in 1966, 1967, and 1968.

7-4 record -the sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes ugly 1966 season

For the second time in 4 years, O.U. offered DKR the head coaching job. At the same time, this was downtime for DKR with a 6 -4 record. O.U.’s record was 3-7. After a stressful week for the Horn administration, Royal finally declined the offer from O.U., receiving a $6000 raise to stay at Texas.

After declining the offer Coach Royal says, ” I have a deep affection for the University of Texas, and my roots and those of my family are mighty deep in the state of Texas.” For Coach Royal money is not his primary motivator.  He said, “I would be deathly afraid to take another assignment just for money and get up there and find out I’m unhappy. I could take that money and lay it out on the bed and look at it every night, and it would not make me happy. Damn, if I was miserable, I would know I was miserable.”

This was a disastrous year for the Horns on many fronts. Tommy Souders, Ken Gidney, Danny Abbott, Ron Ehrig, Bill Bradley, Howard Fest, Peter Gallagher, Scooter Monzingo, Ken Gidney, Linus Baer, Barney Giles, John Elliot, and Bill Sullivan are all injured in 1966. OU beats Texas, but the Horns play with 10 starters out of the line-up. Bill Bradley seriously hurts his knee in the Indiana game.  Andy White replaces him.

Coach Royal is concerned about the “character and commitment” of his players and writes the following poignant letters to them during the Summer of 1966. 

Coach Royal says:

“Have the courage to make the Longhorn image one of which we can all be proud -if not please be man enough to drop off the squad.”

“If winning is not important, why the hell keep score?” Defeat truly comes from within. I am far more concerned with what is inside of your heart than the figures that show on the scoreboard.”

1966 was also a year for many coaching changes at Texas. 9 significant assistant coach changes that had a major negative impact on the continuity of Longhorn football.

If that is not enough, he finally but reluctantly accepted full platoon football. Still, in 1966 he was on a learning curve trying to determine which newcomers to use and in what situations.

I am still not done with the horror scenario that played out this year with the change from the Wing-T to the I-formation with a split-end that only scored a total of 34 points in the 4 losses to USC, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and SMU.

For the first game against USC, there were 7 sophomores in the starting line-up.Before the season was over 7 more sophomore were starting.

For the only time in the history of the Arkansas-Texas series, the Razorbacks beat the Horns three years in a row. Texas fumbles 3 times and is intercepted twice to lose 12-7.  

The one aspect of the 1966 team that was great was defense and Chris Gilberts running.

The names for “weak” and “strong” sides are changed to “Tight” and “Quick” because Gene Bledsoe’s girlfriend does not understand why Gene is considered a “weak” tackle.

7 sophomores start the season, and 7 more are thrust into starting roles. 

Chris Gilbert is the catalyst for the offense. Coach Royal says, “watching Chris run is like looking at a filmstrip with several frames missing.” 

Chris Gilbert is the first Longhorn to rush for over a 1000 yards in a season; the first Longhorn to rush for 2000 yards; the first to 3000 yards; and he holds the record for the longest run from the line scrimmage. (96)

Texas wins the Bluebonnet Bowl game against Ole Miss. Chris Gilbert is the outstanding back, and Fred Edwards was the most valuable lineman. The win was ugly with Texas turning the ball over on fumbles and interceptions 7 times.

Royal states, “I’ve always said that if alumni at other schools are unhappy with their teams, they should just come and watch them play Texas.”  Royal changes the offense from the wing T to the I formation. Royal no longer chooses to play players two ways.

Royal tries to recruit Jerry Levias to Texas but fails.

Greg Lott is the only player in Longhorn history to return an opening kick-off for a touchdown.

1967-  varsity 6-4 record – the slogan for this year was “the year of the horns”- it was not!

University enrollment is 29,841

If Bill Bradley’s extensive knee surgery was a success, the season looked promising. However as a quarterback he was no longer Super Bill. He had lost a step, and his cutting ability was not as sharp as pre-injury. Royal said, “Bill isn’t the runner he was when he was a freshman.” In addition, “ he does not have as much quickness as he once had.”

Coach Mike Campbell is the only remaining coach from Royals original 1957 staff.

Emory Bellard is added to the Coaching Staff.

Bradley sets a career punting average of 41.6 yards for the first 100 years of Texas football.

Royal warns that “get rich football” from teams that live by the pass may end up poor if the passes are intercepted.

This season is a bust!  After beating Ole Miss in the Bluebonnet bowl with 16 sophomores, the 1967 team looked promising, but the failure of the 1964 recruiting class haunted the team. 

A new rule promotes the punt return. Offensive linemen are held at the line of scrimmage until the punt is kicked.

For the first time since 1938, the Longhorns lost their first two games. 

Coach Mike Campbell says about Chris Gilberts fumbling in 1967. “His problem is momentum,” says Campbell. “When he makes a move, it’s so fast the ball doesn’t always get the message.”

DKR has a word for TCU, and in 1967 they lived up to their DKR name.  Losing to A & M   made the season worse. A season that started with promise ended in disappointment. 

Top of the charts 1967

Howard Fest emerges at tackle and has a brilliant year. 

Coach Campbell says that Corby Robertson plays with total disregard for his body.   

The Longhorn Football Teams In The Early 60’S Won With Class, Talent, Hard Work, Character, Attitude, Grit, Backbone, Fortitude, Moxie, And A Little Luck.  For Young Boys Across Texas The Longhorn Helmet became The Symbol Of Winning The Longhorn Way.  These young boys dreamed of playing for the University Of Texas and many of these dreamers form the nucleus Of The 1967 football recruiting class. 

  Gilbert, Wainscott and Abbott, and Roberson made the All-SWC team. Corby is a Football Writers Association All-American. 

Click on the link below

http://collegefootballcrazy.com/chris-gilbert-and-bill-bradley-texas-legends/

 In 1967 Texas lost to Texas A&M for the first time in 10 years. It was Royal’s first loss to the Aggies. It was also the 3rd year in a row that the Horns record was 6-4. 

The UT administration, donor class, and power players were not happy with the state of UT football. However, Royal was determined to stop the 6-4 seasons at three. So during spring training in 1968, he decided to eliminate anyone who was not committed to winning football games. 

Royal used a mixture of fear and respect to reconstruct the team in 1968, choosing to destroy and reassemble the football team no matter how painful it might be by implementing the new wishbone offense.  

   As a player for Royal during this period, I don’t know anyone who was not afraid of him. Every time Royal walked toward me, I changed my path to avoid him. Linebacker Scott Henderson said some people thought he was ruthless, and others thought he was unfair. According to author J. Brent Clark in Texas Caesar, 30 players quit that year, and 30 more were injured in drills. I cannot confirm those numbers, but I knew many quit and were injured.  

Trainer Frank Medina was the go-to guy the year of the purge. Franks’s reputation received extraordinary notoriety during Royal’s tenure at Texas. Coach Royal and Frank Medina believed that football was not a sport for the weak-spirited. DKR tells Medina to get the players in shape. It was Frank who was in charge of the off-season conditioning drills. These drills happened in a windowless concrete block room underneath the stadium, where the temperature reached 120 degrees. The workouts were brutal. Medina said he would find out who was tough and who was not. Franks’s job was to weed out the weak. Frank loved his job, but none of the players loved him doing his job. He drove the players hard during the infamous “Medina Sessions.” 

 The ’67 class participates in all 30 games of the 5th longest national winning streak since 1950 and the 12th Longest winning streak in football history. The 1967 recruiting class in 4 years only lost two games with a record of 35-2-1, including 3 SWC championships and 2 National Championships.

The Longhorns were so strong during this period that Craig Byrd of The Daily Texan said that “Beat The Hell Out Of TU” became a prayer at A & M, a threat at Texas Tech, and a religious duty at Arkansas.

      The Wishbone

In 1967 Coach Royal decided that instead of getting mad at three 6-4 seasons, he would get a new offense, and the Wishbone is born. Royal immediately understands the potential of the Wishbone Option Offense designed By Emory Bellard.  

According To The Book The Darrell Royal Story  By Jimmy Banks, Coach Royal Said The Wishbone “Is Just A Souped-Up Version Of The Split T” that Royal ran as the OU quarterback. Royal says that as the OU Quarterback, he struggled to master the read-option offense, but once he mastered the option, Royal said, “I used to like to suck them in on me so I could pitch out because that’s where the big gainers were.” 

Emory Bellard conceived the Wishbone, but Royal, from the very beginning of the Wishbone, was involved in helping the Texas Quarterbacks learn to read the opposing defenses and choose the correct option.  

Positive things are about to occur for Longhorn football.

Steve Worster signs with Texas. He is heralded as the first National recruit in football history. Thirteen of the state’s top 22 football recruits followed suit and signed with Texas, including 3 of the four best backs. As a result, the press tagged the Longhorn 1967 recruiting class as the “Worster Bunch.” The Worster bunch would earn 3 SWC championships, two national championships, and win 30 games in a row.