Tommy Lucas 1959-1964 The Resurgence of Texas Football
DKR and The “Resurgence” of Longhorn football- by Tommy Lucas
ROYAL IMMEDIATELY MAKES INROADS into Rebuilding a winning tradition by RECRUITING GREAT TEAM PLAYERS.
In the year 1956, the Ed Price era of UT football ends with a 1 win- 9 loss season and afterwards he is asked to step down as Head Football Coach but will remain employed as a teacher in the Physical Education Department. After interviewing several candidates for the Head Coaching job, the Board of Regents and Athletic Council hires a young coach that had played football at the University of Oklahoma whose name is Darrell Royal. He is currently the Head Football Coach at the University of Washington and had served 2 years as the Head Coach at Mississippi State prior to the Washington job.
After arriving on campus to formally accept the job as the new head coach, Royal began putting together a staff of assistant coaches that would have the task of “turning around” a program that had become mired in a losing culture. The staff of the early Royal years included some of the following : Mike Campbell- ends/linebackers- Coach Campbell had been successful in the Mississippi high school ranks and was a member of Royals staff at Washington.
T. Jones- Defensive back’s coach -Coach Jones was an outstanding quarterback at UT in the early 1950’s and was on the Ed Price staff.
Mike Campbell- ends/linebackers- Coach Campbell had been very successful in the Mississippi high school ranks and was on Royal’s staff at Washington.
Bob Schultze- Freshman coach. Coach Schultze was a successful recruiter from the Houston and Gulf Coast area that would produce an abundance of future UT players.
Jim Blaylock-Equipment Manager- Blaylock was retained as equipment manager and Juan Conde was hired to be his assistant.
Bill Ellington- Offensive backs -Coach Ellington had won championships at Amarillo Tascosa High School and Garland High School.
Russell Coffee-Center’s Coach and recruiting coordinator -Coach Coffee had numerous championships at Weatherford High School.
Lan Hewlitt-Athletic Counselor-Hewlitt supervised the scheduling of courses for student-athletes. He was also a liaison agent between the faculty members and the athletic department.
Jim Pittman- Offensive line coach-Coach Pittman played at Mississippi State and coached there and was also on the staff at Washington.
Charlie Schira- Defensive line coach. Schira a native Texan and West Point graduate was a member of Royal’s staff at Mississippi State.
Frank Medina-Head Trainer- Medina was retained from Price’s staff and was also in charge of disciplinary procedures that became known as “Medina Sessions.”
THE BEGINNING OF THE ROYAL ERA 1957
The Royal Era begins in 1957 and the first football season ends with a 6-3-1 record and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Texas loses to Georgia 35-7 and afterwards some of the players complained that the Bowl practices were like Spring Training practices.
1958- UT has a 7-3 season but no Bowl game as a majority of players say that they are not in favor of going to a Bowl game if practices are like the Sugar Bowl ones.
1959-In Coach Royal’s third season the “Turn Around” begins. UT ends the season 9-1 and is co-champions of the SWC receiving an invitation to the Cotton Bowl to play Syracuse University. This was the first time to play in the Cotton Bowl since 1953. Syracuse defeats Texas 23-14 and the 9-2 Horns finish 4th in the AP Coaches Poll.
1960-UT has a 7-3-1 season and finishes 2nd in the SWC as Arkansas kicks a game winning field goal late in the fourth quarter to win 24-23. Texas and Alabama square off in the Blue Bonnet Bowl with a matchup between Darrell Royal vs Bear Bryant teams. The conservative offensive game ends in a 3-3 tie with Texas missing a field goal in the fourth quarter that could have won the game.
1961-UT has a 10-1 season-Before the beginning of fall practices there is a sign installed over the dressing room door that states “Our greatest glory is not in never falling but it is rising every time we fall”. Coach Royal and his staff initiate a new offense and call it the “Flip-Flop” offense that switch sides of the strongside and weakside units of the offense in order to reduce the number of plays. After seven straight blowout wins that includes big scores over rivals Oklahoma 28-7 and Arkansas 35-7, Texas is now ranked number 1 in the AP and UPI polls and will now play pesky TCU the following week in Austin. The Texas offense has the ball inside the 20-yard line three times in the first quarter but does not score. TCU scores on a long pass play just before halftime but the extra point is blocked making it a 6-0 score. TCU does not cross the 50 yard line during the second half but does control the line of scrimmage and the final score is 6-0. Texas defeats Texas A&M in the last regular season game and is once again the SWC co-champion. The Cotton Bowl is next up and the opponent is number 2 ranked Ole Miss from the SEC. Texas earns a hard fought 12-7 victory with four pass interceptions and finishes the season #3 in the nation.
1962-UT has a 9-1-1 season. The horns end the regular season “undefeated” and is the first team of the Royal area to be an undefeated SWC champion. The only blemishes are a 14-14 tie with Rice and later a 13-0 loss to LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Horns finish 4th in the final UPI poll.
1963- UT has a 11-0 season and is the “undefeated” SWC champion as well as the Cotton Bowl champion defeating #1 ranked Navy 28-6. Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winner, was corralled by the Longhorn defense and the UT offense led by Duke Carlisle and Phil Harris scored 28 points on the Mid-shipman. Texas is now # 1 in the nation and wins the 1963 National Championship.
1964-UT has a 10-1 season and is 6-1 in SWC play losing only to Arkansas by 1 point. The Longhorns finish the season by defeating Alabama and Joe Namath in the Orange Bowl 21-17. Tommy Nobis and the Texas defense stopped Namath on fourth and inches to preserve the victory. Texas finishes 4th in the UPI Coaches Poll.
In summary the won-loss record for these 6 seasons total: 56 wins, 8 loses, 2 ties, 3 SWC Championships, 6 Bowl appearances, and 4 years of finishing in the top 10 final rankings of the AP and UPI polls.
I would like to mention one of my fondest memories about playing music for Coach Royal after the Jurazzic Cowboys band had played a gig at Barton Creek Country Club for a large group of pharmaceutical representatives. It was a regional group of about 300 people that former Longhorn Clayton Lacy headed up and had booked our band to play for their dance. After our last set he asked me to do him a favor and I said sure what can I do for you and he said Coach Royal wants to hear you guys play and I can pay you extra if you would do that! I said Clayton you don’t have pay us to play for Coach as it would be an honor for us to do so! We picked and sang for about hour with Coach as our audience and afterwards I asked him which team that he coached was his best team and he said it would be hard to single out just one team but he did say that the success of 1959 to 1964 teams was very important to establishing the foundation for future Longhorn success.
Recruits that turned the Longhorn Football program around
1959-Bobby Lackey, Don Allen, Monte Lee, Clair Branch, Maurice Doke, Mike Dowdle, Dickie Jones
1960-1961-Don Talbert, James Saxton, Mike Cotton, Jack Collins, Bobby Moses, Ed Padgett, David Kristynik
1962-Johnny Treadwell, Pat Culpepper, Ray Poage, Tommy Lucas, Marvin Kubin, John Genung
1963-Duke Carlisle, Tommy Wade, Scott Appelton, Tommy Ford, Ernie Koy, Charlie Talbert, Sandy Sands, Staley Faulkner, David McWilliams, George Brucks
1964-Jim Hudson, John Elliott, Fred Edwards, Frank Bedrick, Phil Harris, Clayton Lacey, Pete Lammons Tommy Nobis, Knox Nunnally, Olen Underwood, Harold Phillip, George Sauer, Joe Dixon, George Bass, Anthony King, Hix Green
