Hub Bechtol

By Roy A. Bechtol (son)

I wear his College Hall of Fame ring proudly and even though Dad went to Heaven 11 years ago his memories and love is felt by our family every day.

Hook em,

My father,  Hub Bechtol,  is the only 4 time All American in the history of football as he was Little All American at Texas Tech his freshman year when Tech was a two-year school in 1943.

Dad then transferred to The University of Texas with Y.A. Tittle, Bobby Lane, and Rooster Andrews  in 1944 (during the war when you didn’t loose eligibility with transfer) and earned consensus All American for the next three years 1944, 1945, 1946 and achieved many school and conference records including the most catches in the Cotton Bowl Game(12) which lasted for many years. LSU convinced My Godfather, Y.A. Tittle, he would never beat out Bobby Lane so he left Texas before he started his first class his freshman year. 

Dad was drafted in the first round by the NFL and after negotiating with the Pittsburg stealers for top draft choice and signing bonus of $1250 opted  for the Baltimore Colts as first round choice for a whopping $1500 signing bonus and top salary of $10000/year with free game tickets.

He played for four years in the National Football League with the Colts and his quarterback and roommate was Y.A. Title.

Coach Tom Landry signed with the Longhorns in 1946.

Dad broke his jaw his junior year and wore a leather helmet with a steel nose plate (which we have in our home) for 7 games with his jaw wired shut and was a consensus All American playing all those games with a broken jaw. That’s a testament to his toughness and tenacity.

 My father was enshrined in to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991 and I was proud to sit at the table with Dad, Bobby Bell,Pat Sullivan and Ed Mariano among others who were honored that year.

Statistical information about Hub Bechtol 

Bechtol was the first consensus All-American from UT.

He actually started his college career at Texas Tech, but he joined the Navy during the war and after the war decided to attend Texas. He is one of only 2 players in the History of Longhorn Football to be named an All-American three times.

• All-American and All-SWC from 1944-46

• Led UT with seven touchdowns in 1945

• Caught nine passes for 138 yards and was named Co-MVP in 1946 Cotton Bowl win vs. Missouri

• Formed great passing combination with quarterback Bobby Layne

• First-round draft pick of Pittsburgh Steelers

• Played for NFL Baltimore Colts from 1947-49

• Member of National Football Foundation Hall of Fame

• Founder of Austin’s little league baseball program

• Member of the College Football Hall of Fame

My Memories of Greg Ploetz and Mike Dean

By Tommy Lucas proud member of the 1959 football recruiting class

The Sherman Boys and the Cleburne boys are prototypical Royal football players-   Under 200 Pounds, quick, Instinctive, and Motivated to Win! 

After the football season of 1962, I was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 19th round as a prospective Tight End or Outside Linebacker. I attended their training camp at Thousand Oaks, California in July of 1963 where I survived several squad cuts but did not make their final team roster. Soon after returning to my hometown of Houston, Texas, I was hired as an assistant football coach at Abilene Cooper High School but my stay in Abilene was short lived because the Head Coach Clovis Riley was hired as the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at Sherman High School in Sherman, Texas.

Coach Riley asked me to go with him as the Defensive Coordinator even though I was 24 years old and just 2 years of experience.

Our first year at Sherman resulted in a 6-4 season and really not that bad because our team was young and the district that we were in was a tough one consisting of teams from Garland, Richardson, Mesquite, Carrolton, Highland Park, Denton, and Denison. The following year we began the season with a loss to an old rival Gainesville HS but the team responded with 8 straight wins, however, we lost our last district game to another old rival Denison HS. In those days only the district champion went to the playoffs so we were out and the Yellow jackets were in but it was still one of the best seasons that the Bearcats had in some time.

A large part of our success was due to a strong senior class that included two outstanding players by the name of Greg Ploetz and Mike Dean

On offense Greg was the right guard and Mike was the left guard and defensively Greg was the left inside linebacker and Mike was the right inside linebacker. We employed the same 6-2 defense that Coach Mike Campbell established at the University of Texas in the early 1960’s and as their position coach I was of the opinion that they could play at the next level. They were our leading tacklers making plays from side line to side line however; I became disappointed because only a few college coaches were somewhat interested in offering them a scholarship. (TCU and North Texas)

So I decided to give Coach Bill Ellington a call as he was the Freshman Coach and Assistant Athletic Director in order to possibly stir up some interest as I really wanted them to be a Longhorn. After our opening conversation in which I explained my reason for calling he asked about their size and I said well they are about 6 ft. and weigh about 185 lbs. but they play much bigger than their size. I said I think UT should take a look at them based on their play and not their size and Coach Ellington agreed.

The  next week Pat Patterson the recruiter for the Dallas area came by and asked to see some game film so I set him up with a projector and our last 4 games. After my last class of the day, I went by the stadium and Coach Patterson was still there. He quickly told me that he was impressed with Greg’s play and that he had heard about him from some of the coaches in our district but then he said I also like the Dean kid and I would like to talk to both of them about coming to Austin for an official visit to our campus. Pat then said, “l think we may have a scholarship for those two.”

Well as they say in the movies, the rest is history! Greg Ploetz became NOT an outstanding linebacker for the Longhorns but instead he became an outstanding defensive tackle in the Texas split 4 defenses going against much bigger offensive lineman but seldom losing one on one battles. He overcame a size disadvantage with his strength and fierce determination.

Mike Dean became a starting offensive guard and was according to many to be undersized for his position. He had to block defensive lineman that had a size advantage but he proved many times that determination plus strength and the will to win can overcome a lot of minuses. He is Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame member because of his outstanding performance versus an All American defensive tackle from Notre Dame and he is also a member of the Longhorn Hall of Honor.

Mike and Greg will always be very special to me and I am proud to say that I was one of their coaches. They exemplify my belief that lack of size can often be overcome by the will to succeed and having unrelenting determination.

BOBBY GAMBLIN SAYS:

“GROWING UP IN STAMFORD, TEXAS IF YOU GOT AN OFFER TO PLAY FOOTBALL, YOU WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA. BOB HARRISON, AN OU ALL AMERICAN AND MIKE MCCLELLAN WHO HAD A GOOD CAREER IN THE NFL WERE A COUPLE OF NAMES ONE MIGHT REMEMBER. BOB BLAIK, THE SON OF THE LEGENDARY ARMY’S COACH WAS AN ASSISTANT COACH AT OU AND RECRUITED ME. HE HAD MANY OF THE SAME QUALITIES OF HIS FATHER – RED BLAIK; THEREFORE, IT SEEMED SO NATURAL FOR ME TO FOLLOW THE STAMFORD EXODUS NORTH ACROSS THE RED RIVER.

ON JANUARY 1, 1960, WHILE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AND SITTING IN MY LIVING ROOM WATCHING THE COTTON BOWL, I WAS NOT AWARE DAVID KRISTYNIK WOULD BE SUCH A CONTRIBUTING INFLUENCE IN A 180º SWING MY LIFE WOULD TAKE.

SYRACUSE HAD COMPETED A PASS, BUT YOU GUYS STOPPED THE RECEIVER ONE YARD SHORT OF THE GOAL LINE. WHILE SYRACUSE WAS IN THE HUDDLE, THE TV CAMERA FOCUSED ON THE TEXAS DEFENSIVE LINE. ENVELOPED IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN WAS THIS “CENTER OF GRAVITY CHALLENGED” (SQUATTY BODY) TEXAS PLAYER MOVING UP AND DOWN THE TEXAS DEFENSIVE LINE EXTORTING HIS TEAM MATES TO HOLD SYRACUSE OUT OF THE END ZONE. YOU WERE AN AMALGAMATION OF A CHEERLEADER, AN EGYPTIAN SLAVE DRIVER, AND A GENERAL SHERMAN IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS MARCH TO THE SEA. YOU WERE AGITATED, ANIMATED, AFLAME – TO SAY THE LEAST.

FROM THE PHOTOGRAPH BELOW, IT APPEARS KRISTYNIK’S, DEMEANOR IS EVIDENT, CONSISTENT, AND UNIFORM – BEFORE, DURING, AND EVEN AFTER A PLAY.

                  David Kristynik gets angry and motivates the Longhorns

I HAD NEVER SEEN A HOTTER COMPETITIVE FIRE BURNING IN ANYONE’S GUT. MAN, I WANTED TO BE PART OF THAT PROGRAM. AT TIME, I DID NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT COACH ROYAL AND NOTHING ABOUT COACH CAMPBELL’S INFAMOUS HULL DRILL. EVEN IF I HAD KNOWN THE LENGTHS COACH ROYAL COULD PUSH A PLAYER; OR THE DEMANDS OF THE HULL DRILL, TEXAS HAD ME THE MOMENT YOU STEPPED IN FRONT OF YOUR TEAMMATES ON THAT ONE YARD LINE.

SO DAVID, CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS WELL-DESERVED HONOR AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR PASSIONATE COMPETITIVE DRIVE, YOUR LOVE OF THE LONGHORNS, AND YOUR LEADERSHIP BOTH ON AND OFF THE FIELD.

BOBBY GAMBLIN

1961, 1962, 1963