Mike Cotten, high school Horns, brand builders- track, softball, and golf

6/7/2024 TLSN Newsletter #12 Volume VIII

IMPORTANT: Please click on the black 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 pictures will be small and difficult to read.

Hello Billy,

Herb Griffith here. I am sad to learn of Mike Cotten’s passing. My grandmother was Ms. JM Griffith’s longtime housemother at Moore-Hill. I found a picture of her from The American Statesman with Mike. It was taken before the Baylor game in ‘61.

You may only walk-on to play an NCAA qualifying sport at U.T. if you are accepted academically and enrolled at Texas.

A recent national media source wrote an article suggesting that the era of walk-ons may be ending. It is disheartening to hear this. TLSN has spent years capturing and documenting the inspirational history of Longhorn sports through the eyes of walk-ons—young men and women who are dreamers and choose to try out despite slim odds of making the team.

I agree with A&M Coach Elko and Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin comments about walk-ons.

Coach Elko says,

“I’m strongly against” a team with no walk-ons, “ I think it’s absolutely against what college football stands for, what it’s about……, It’s something that’s really bad for the sport.”

Land Kiffin says “Horrible Idea”: Slamming 85-Roster Cap Eliminating Walk-ons Under Newly Proposed Rule.

Many who have played scholarship collegiate sports support the spirit of Walk-ons, athletes who embody the last vestiges of collegiate sports’ purity. In 2024, they are the closest semblance to a pure amateur college athlete—a student who chooses to try out and play without financial compensation.

Cort Jaquess played linebacker for San Antonio Churchill and, at multiple points his senior year, led 6A Texas in tackles. He had a few offers to other smaller schools, but his dream was to play at Texas like his dad, Jay Jaquess, did in the 80s. His preferred walk-on status gave him that chance.

Below is the “You’re on Scholarship” surprise video for Cort. He was on a leadership committee and thought he was giving a talk to the guys when he was surprised with a scholarship.

Cort represents the spirit of many young men and women who dream of earning a Longhorn scholarship. The video captures the pure emotions of a walk-on and his teammates after he earns his well-deserved scholarship. The video is a reminder that in sports, respect is earned, not given, and on this day, there is a lot of respect in the room for Cort Jaquess’s contributions to the team.

Below is the celebration ceremony for Cort.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/urXNP4t4xK4Re33b/?mibextid=xCPwDs (outlook.com)

Super Drum Memoir

by Larry Carlson for texaslsn.org

Okay, just being honest here. I don’t recall any details from the Texas Longhorns’ basketball debut in the spanking-new Superdrum back in late November 1977. Second-year coach Abe Lemons would pilot the burnt orange to a magical 26-5 season. Texas was unbeaten in 13 games at their new home. Abe’s first team on the Forty Acres played in venerable, cozy Gregory Gym and went 13-13, with an equally equal 8-8 mark in Southwest Conference play.

Nobody raved about Lemons’s second volume as the season approached, but Texas was returning its top three scorers, Jim Krivacs, Ron Baxter, and Johnny Moore, and its top two rebounders, Baxter and Gary Goodner, the center who stood only 6-7. All that experience and it was still a young team. Among the starters, only Goodner was a senior.

But on Tuesday, Nov. 29, the hoops team opened up the sprawling new Special Events Center, as proper academic types wished for the arena to be called. It was the Superdrum or just the Drum to Texas fans and media. Whatever it was, it had three times the seating capacity of Gregory, was loaded with burnt orange seats, and even sported a Texas-sized scoreboard that loomed large, high above mid-court. At least as far as furnishings went, UT had joined the basketball big-time.

The Horns’ opener in their new digs was a beating of hated Oklahoma. And the winning didn’t stop. The sardonic Lemons, resplendent in western-flaired leisure suits, prowled the sidelines while a smallish and hardly stylish team just continued to pick on – and beat – teams that looked much prettier in warmups. The Horns would tie third-ranked Arkansas for the SWC title. Left out of the NCAA tourney that then fielded just 32 teams, the Lemons crew made lemonade and went on the then-prestigious National Invitation Tournament in high style, wowing Madison Square Garden fans while Lemons’ entertaining person bewitched the Gotham City media. It remains, to this day, one of the greatest Texas seasons.

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-super-drum

Longhorn High School Factories

by Larry Carlson for https://texaslsn.org

Ever wonder which cities and high schools have produced the most notable Longhorn footballers over the years? I have. Growing up on Texas football in the ’60s, I pored over the game programs, memorized the 3-deep roster in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, and listened intently as lords of the radio, such as Kern Tips, regularly provided shoutouts to hometowns of heroes in burnt orange.

Cleburne

One small Texas town, Cleburne, stood out for producing Longhorn stalwarts in the Darrell Royal regime.

Five former Yellow Jackets starred for Royal.  Fiery LB Pat Culpepper was All-Southwest Conference in ’62, David McWilliams stood out as a center and LB for the ’63 national champs and served UT as head coach from 1987-91, leading Texas to the SWC title.  Another linebacker, Tim Doerr, was a key contributor for the ’63 champs and helped Tommy Nobis anchor the ’64 defense that won the Orange Bowl. Howard Goad was an all-SWC guard in ’66 and DB Fred Sarchet was a key defender for Royal’s ’75 team that shared the SWC crown.  Remarkably, all but Goad were captains for the Longhorns.

Photos below Pat Culpepper, Tim Doerr, David McWilliams , and Howard Goad

TEXAS CITY

The biggest burnt orange football factory is in Texas City.  The Stingarees have cranked out Longhorns like Texas City produces petrochemicals.  It started early in the Royal years, with tackles Eddie Padgett and All-American Don Talbert, followed by talented guard Marvin Kubin and versatile end Charlie Talbert, the second of the fearsome Talbert boys.  He was a key player on both sides of the ball for UT’s first national title in ’63.

Clayton Lacy was another Texas City rock on that title team and then came the “baby” of the Talbert clan, Diron.  He was a ’66 cover boy for Texas Football magazine and had an illustrious NFL career, first with the Rams, then the Redskins. 

The photos below are of Charlie, Don, and Diron Talbert.

Then, in 1978, defensive lineman Mark Weber made his mark as a Longhorn. He played from 1978 to 1981 and was an integral part of the defense that helped UT to the Cotton Bowl championship in his senior year.

 It was more than three decades before Texas City again cranked up the football factory with a pipeline to Austin.  Mack Brown’s first signing class in ’98 featured “the Texas City four,” Everick Rawls, Tyrone Jones, Ervis Hill, and Jermain Anderson.  The quartet had led the Stings to a state title, and each one made his mark as a starter while on the Forty Acres.  The most decorated Texas City hero is D’Onta Foreman, Doak Walker Award winner as the nation’s top running back in 2016.  Foreman rambled for more than 2000 yards in his final season at UT and averaged 6.4 yards a carry for Charlie Strong’s three teams before heading to a successful NFL career that is still churning.

Here is the link to the list of the eight other Longhorn High School factories.

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/longhorn-football-factories-

A TRIBUTE TO LONGHORN BRAND BUILDERS

The TLSN website captures powerful and insightful Longhorn comments from the minds of great authors, visuals from videos, professional media brochures, research facilities, website photos, newspaper articles, shelter magazines, and, most importantly, from Longhorn student-athletes who created the history of Longhorn sports. HORNS UP!!!