Darrell K. Royal died today

    It is not often an SMU man has anything good to say about the University of Texas, but today one of the great ones died after a long bout with Alzheimer's disease. Darrell Royal was one of us when you were born and raised in the Lone Star State...but even
that is not totally correct.
   Royal was born in Hollis, Oklahoma and was a standout high school player. Famed coach Bud Wilkinson of the University of Oklahoma came courting the Royal family and young Darrell was the one player he wanted that year. Royal played quarterback and defensive back for the Sooners and his 18 career interceptions for Oklahoma still stands as a school record. Football was everything
for Royal and after a couple of stints as an assistant coach he got his first Head Coaching position at Mississippi State and then the University of Washington. At the ripe old age of 32 he took over the Head Coaching job of the Texas Longhorns, who were coming off three consecutive losing seasons. Royal would put the Steers on a winning track for the next twenty years, winning 167 games, losing 47, and tying 5. Texas also picked up three National Championship trophies in that time, becoming top dog in 1963, 1969, and 1970.
   In the early sixties Royal and one of his assistant coaches, Emory Ballard, would devise the Wishbone Offense and the Longhorns
became almost unbeatable. The triple-option offense gave Texas rushing yardage in the 300-400 yards per game category and wide receivers became almost just another blocker. Royal heaped the praise on Ballard for the Wishbone and he became Head Coach at Texas A&M, but they remained best friends over the years.
   While most of the country drooled over Bo Schembeckler at Michigan, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, or Bear Bryant at Alabama, we Texans had DKR and his Longhorns to bring home the bacon.
In 1969 #1 Texas played #2 Arkansas in Fayetteville for all the marbles. In the last minute of the game the Hogs led the Horns and had Texas stopped at the Arkansas 46 yard line. Going for it on 4th down, quarterback James Street threw a 43 yard pass to tight end Randy Peschel, who was bumped out at the three yard line. Two plays later  Jim Bertelson bulled his way into the end zone for a 15-14 win for Texas. I wasn't there but I saw it all on the radio as Kerns Tipps called the game on the old Humble Network of the Southwest Conference.
   Royal may be the only person named to the Sports Hall of Fame in Oklahoma and Texas. Born in the dust bowl of Oklahoma in 1924, Royal never changed his personality. If he told you something, you could take it to the bank as gospel. Never favoring the passing game, where 'three things can happen and two of them are bad', Royal's teams rarely threw the ball. The coach was also

a family man, not only to his but to his players, who he kept in touch with over the years. A football coach to the end, but so much more..
Footnote: Last Saturday against Iowa State, the Longhorns first play against Iowa State saw them come out in the Wishbone formation as a tribute to former Coach Royal.