Top of the Queue Volume VII newsletter #15 7-7-2023
TLSN is not associated with the UT Athletic Department, or any organization closely aligned with UT.
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As a follow-up to the July 4th, 2023, Independence Day celebration, enjoy the inspirational music at https://youtu.be/9ETrr-XHBjE .
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IMPORTANT: Please click on the white letters shown above titled “VIEW IN BROWSER” to enlarge and enhance the photos and text on your cellphone. If you don’t, the text and photos will be very small and difficult to read.
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Sports writer and book publisher Mark McDonald in 2019 wrote the definitive book on the Texas -Arkansas 1969 Big Shoot-out.
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In his book, Mark manages to merge game highlights, political upheaval, racial tensions, and the Vietnam protest into a cacophony of America in 1969
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Mark played football for UTEP, while his son Turk was All-SWC at Texas under Coach Mackovic.
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Mark was the sportswriter for various Texas newspapers in his early years. TLSN asked him to write an article about his interviews with DKR. The article written for TLSN is both funny and profound.
But first a serious story made humorous by Mark’s writing style. Mark McDonald’s shares his interview with DKR in the locker room after Royals last game as head coach in his article titled:
“Royal”- Moments in Time
(The setting- Mark is in the Texas Longhorn locker room after the Arkansas game when his dialogue begins.)
Mark says “Little did I know, while I pestered Longhorn student-athletes for their worldview through the bars of a facemask, Royal held court for reporters. I missed it all. On the only day Darrell Royal would ever retire from coaching, I totally whiffed.
Normally, I would never have dreamed of intruding into the safe haven of the coach’s locker room. But DKR was retiring. Time was short, but this story was taller than a sequoia. I took the dive.
Beneath an empty stadium were scattered popcorn, pigeons, and me. I found the right door, knocked, and entered the inner sanctum. I saw a rather Spartan row of benches and the usual metal lockers you would see at your local YMCA. A lone remaining assistant brushed past me – Spike Dykes, whom I had known from our shared time in the cactus country – leaving me alone with Royal.
Royal kept the interview simple. He donated his time because he was fronted by a reporter he knew to be in a pickle. Sweating grateful bullets, I hustled back up to the press box, where I was the last writer to peck out yet another Pulitzer loser.
My deadline account would never make a ripple. It was a speck of sand in the desert. Certainly the high-profile Royal would never remember it from the hundreds, thousands, of interviews he had given. “
But there is much more to Mark’s story than the interview with DKR.
Mark says about DKR “Looking back, three intensely personal moments connect a remarkable man to a legacy that might never be duplicated.” Moments that occurred decades apart, tell us far more about the fabric of his character than his 167-47-5 won-lost-tied record ever will.”
The links to Mark’s introduction by TLSN and Mark’s detailed account of his memories of DKR are at:
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Three old West Texas football players share fellowship and memories. L to R Glen Halsell, Billy Dale, and Mark McDonald.
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Daniel Gibson is #37 in the top 50.
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Daniel Gibson (2004-06) 6’2” combo guard, Daniel Gibson was a competent passer (3.5 assists a night) and a lethal outside shot.His 101 three-pointers made as a sophomore are the highest season total for a Longhorn not named A.J. Abrams, and his 175 treys for his career are tied for seventh-best in program history.
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A.J. Abrams (2005-09) is #9.
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A.J. Abrams was a pure shooting guard. Undersized as he was, Abrams was the best three-point shooter in Texas history, with 389 treys (a school record by nearly 150) and 1,969 career points (third-best among Longhorns).
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Mack Brown says, “We are like pieces of clay, and each person who touches us makes an impression.” Mike Garcia made an impression on me!
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Two members of the TLSN Board had the privilege of meeting Mike Garcia in 2016, 11 years after his playing days.
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He was attending the Houston Touchdown Club dinner. (photo is Selvin Young, Mike Garcia, Daisy Garcia, and Vince Young .)
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Mike at work as a Longhorn.
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Mack Brown deserves credit for coaching a young boy into a man, but most of the credit after football goes to Mike’s work ethic, his wife’s influence, and his love for his children.
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Mike has his priorities in life in order- family first.
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Recently Mike Garcia continued his journey of influencing the souls of young athletes by accepting the job as Defensive Coordinator for the Dawson Eagles.
Billy Graham once said, “a coach will impact more people in one year than the average person will in an entire lifetime.” Horns ???? for Mike Garcia
Mike has been added to the TLSN history of Latino Longhorn athletes at LATINO LONGHORNS (squarespace.com)
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Mike says on Facebook, “My life has been a big adventure, lots of highs & some lows, filled with great experiences & some not so good!”
“While my life has been a bit of a roller coaster, there has always been one constant in my life. My beautiful wife and my rock Daisy.”
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Vance Duncan- A Longhorn family name that came full circle from 1901 to 2023.
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This is the 1901 football team photo. . Vance Duncan is bottom row, far left. In 1902 he was the captain of the Texas team.
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In 1908 Bowie Duncan followed Vance as a Longhorn football player. Bowie Duncan is a inductee in the Longhorn Hall of Honor.
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Gardner Duncan was next in line as a Longhorn. This was Gardners first Texas football uniform. This uniform was followed by……. (see below)
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This Longhorn Uniform. This photo of Gardner Duncan was taken in the late 1920’s.
Gardner had a son and named him after the 1901 Vance Duncan. Vance Duncan circa 2023 is wearing the red shirt in the photo below.
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Photo attached is – Tom Ball, Jim Gideon, Vance Duncan, and Charlie Crenshaw.
Jim Gideon’s TLSN story is at:
Tom Ball’s TLSN story is at:
THE OTHER BROTHER
Many of you may not know that the great golfer Ben Crenshaw has a brother that is also part of Longhorn sports history.
Charlie Crenshaw played CF and RF for the Longhorn baseball team from ’70-‘73.
During a game with Baylor, their fans started screaming at Crenshaw “Hey!!! How come you’re not caddying for your brother Ben?!?!?!”
Even worse Crenshaw’s dad, a Baylor graduate, was at this game. His dad bet him $100.00 he could not hit a home run against “his” Baylor Bears.
On this fateful day in 1973, Crenshaw had the last laugh. He hit a home run, and as he ran the bases “saluting” the Bear fans with a profound universal gesture, and after the game, Charlie shook his dad’s hand that had a $100 bill tucked into the handclasp.
Charlie said years later that I guess that $100 “made me a pro for a day.”
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THE ENDURANCE OF KINDNESS
By Larry Carlson
(A story about both Ernie Koy Junior and Senior)
Hero worship is loosely defined as excessive admiration for someone.
Most of us, as kids, had heroes in sports or music or movies. Or all of those.
Nothing wrong with it.
I was a nine-year-old Texas football superfan in 1962, the third year my family trekked from San Antonio to Austin for UT football religious services at Memorial Stadium. Daddy had been a big fan of Ernie Koy Sr. when the swift, powerful athlete was a magnificent success in football and baseball at Texas, advancing to a career with the Brooklyn Dodgers and other teams while he was known in the 1930s as the fastest player in the majors.
So when Ernie, Jr made his Longhorn football debut for Texas, my Dad wanted me to revere the younger Koy in the manner in which he had marveled about Koy’s dad some thirty years earlier.
For the rest of Professor Carlson’s interaction with Ernie Koy Jr., including note writing between fan and player, please visit:
https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/professor-carlson-shares-his-boyhood-memories-of-ernie-koy
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Ernie Koy Senior – baseball star
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Football Co-Captain Ernie Koy Sr.
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Ernie Koy Jr. – Hero of the 1964 Orange Bowl victory over #1 Alabama
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The whole Koy family were brand builders for the Longhorns.
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TLSN is a 501 (c)(3) Longhorn Sports history educational website with a compassionate component.
The TLSN website and newsletter are free to access, delivering educational, historical, and insightful Longhorn sports history as told through the eyes of those who created it.
Fortunately, most former Longhorn student-athletes, coaches, and support staff personnel have successfully transitioned to the job market with health insurance and loss of income safety nets.
Still, help is needed for some, and TLSN donors have opened hearts and wallets to extend a helping hand. TLSN’s donors have assisted those who qualify with grants varying from $2000 to $25,000.
Please be one of those open hearts and donate to TLSN.
All of us associated with the TLSN Board and the advisor committee do so without compensation. It is our gift back to the Longhorn brand builders of our great university.
Join us by giving back. Donations assist qualifying former UT student-athlete, coach, support staff member, or their immediate family.
Here is the link to donate
???? DONATE (squarespace.com); and
Https://texaslsn.org
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