Forgot to mention that Coach gave me one of his jackets.  Big TEXAS on back.  I like to tell folks that it is the one he was wearing in the '70 Cotton Bowl victory over Notre Dame.  Still have it.  Learned that it was neither waterproof nor warm at a very wet Baylor game in '80 on the sidelines with the team.  We lost. In the dressing room, Coach Akers said only this: "Pack up, let's get the hell out of here."  It was still raining as we boarded the busses.  And very quiet.  

Doc


On Nov 12, 2012, at 10:47 AM, Clayton Stromberger wrote:

I read that too, Terry -- Uncle Otis!  Sounds like something out of "Andy Griffith."  

The part that choked me up was when Edith talked about how he'd ask to talk to his son David and daughter Marion, who each died, by a terrible coincidence, in traffic accidents near the UT campus. You guys were around UT when Marion died, I think her car was hit by a UT bus, you might remember.  I read once that Royal's heartbreak over the death of Marion was a contributing factor in his loss of enjoyment in coaching and retirement a few years later.

The article I sent yesterday told how Willie Nelson came over that evening and could find no words of consolation but instead sang "The Healing Hands of Time" -- 



On Nov 12, 2012, at 9:35 AM, <tlgalloway@aol.com>

I just read a wonderful piece about Coach Royal in the Sunday Times written by Jim Dent, headed "Mind Faded but Wisdom and Humor Stayed intact."  

My little sister Tenley works with alzheimer patients and the way they described coach Royal in this article is much in the vein that Tenley describes the people she works with -- with deep affection and good humor.   

Here's the passage that made me laugh. " Three days before his death last week at 88,Darrell Royal told his wife, Edith;'We need to go back to Hollis."--in Oklahoma. "Uncle Otis died."Oh, Darrell, she said, "Uncle Otis didn't die." Royal chuckled and said, "Well, Uncle Otis will be glad to hear that."

Here's the passage that left me weeping."  "He looked at me and said, "Was I a college player in the 1960's?"  "No, Coach," I said, "But you were a great player for the Oklahoma Sooners in the late '40's. You quarterbacked Oklahoma to an 11-0 record and the Sooners' first national championship in 1949." He smiled and said, "Well, I'll be doggone."  

I had no idea he was such a sweetheart.  Or that he retired at 52, an age that now seems to me so young. 

Love, 
Terry


-----Original Message-----
From: Aubrey Carter <aubreycarter@sbcglobal.net>
To: Alice Gordon <alicegordon@earthlink.net>
Cc: Shakespeare at Winedale 1970-2000 alums <winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org>; Clayton Stromberger <cstromberger@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 9:18 am
Subject: Re: [Winedale-l] DKR

hey Alice...you were a Ram?...me too...7th grade
Aubrey

ACDO
1401 East 7th Street
Austin, Texas 78702
512-472-3393

On Nov 12, 2012, at 7:21 AM, Alice Gordon <alicegordon@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Dear Doc, 
> 
> Thank you, from the essentially game-detail-clueless but inescapably engaged
> former TH Rogers Jr High cheerleader and Longhorns fan, for such wonderful
> memories/stories of your legendary friend and your engagement with his game
> and life. You are a walking history book, and you've flipped open to a
> particularly poignant page here.
> 
> Love,
> Alice
> 
> 
>> From: James Ayres <jayres@cvctx.com>
>> Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2012 19:59:25 -0800
>> To: Clayton Stromberger <cstromberger@austin.utexas.edu>
>> Cc: Shakespeare at Winedale 1970-2000 alums <winedale-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Winedale-l] DKR
>> 
>> Way back when Cliff Grubbs (Prof Economics) and I decided to talk to
>> Coach about attempting variations of the wishbone.  So we made an
>> appointment to talk to him in his tiny office in Gregory Gym.  In '69
>> I think.  We had a super play in mind, a tailback pass.  He very
>> graciously welcomed us.  When we told him about our idea, he asked us
>> to draw it up on the chalkboard.  We did.  All Bertleson had to do
>> when he received the ball was fake his forward movement, drop two
>> steps and pass to an x standing alone in the end zone.  Simple.
>> 
>> He thanked us for the idea, then drew up his own chalked arrangement
>> to show us why that would not work, given the aggressive forward back
>> and blocking strategy of the triple option. He thanked us for our
>> ideas and said we were welcome to come back any time.
>> 
>> The following Saturday, Alabama ran our play---for a touchdown.  We
>> decided not to call Coach about that.
>> 
>> I next  encountered Coach in '78 when I was on the athletic council.
>> We had meetings every week  until '81 on athletic director matters.  I
>> discovered quickly (1) that he was not comfortable in  the position of
>> athletic director and (2) was very unhappy that the Regents did not
>> select Mike Campbell as his successor as coach but chose Fred Akers
>> instead.
>> He also did not like our choice of Deloss as athletic director. Deloss
>> is not your UT "good 'ole boy."
>> 
>> Later I had lunch with him and his driver, Louie Murrillo,  at Ciscos
>> a couple of times a month to talk about everything BUT football.
>> Coach introduced me to Willie on one Saturday bloody mary morning
>> before the Willie Nelson one mile run at the Terrace Motel grounds in
>> south Austin.  I ran in that race and would have beaten Willie at the
>> end but he had some of that tomato fuel I did not.  We were both 50
>> that day.
>> 
>> Doc
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 7, 2012, at 5:41 PM, Clayton Stromberger wrote:
>> 
>>> Doc --
>>> 
>>> Favorite memories of Coach Royal?
>>> 
>>> Right 53 Veer pass,
>>> 
>>> cs
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
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> 
> 
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