cleverusername
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(I know this has nothing to do with the Cowboys but I have to tell somone because the people I work with had no idea who he was)
I met Coach Royal last night at work. He was a really down to earth and classy guy. Roger Creager was playing and he came to see the show. (also he was with Paul Overstreet If anyone knows who that is) I grew up watching Texas football so it was a real honor for me. He has got to be one of the best college football coaches of all time.
http://www.darrellroyal.org/
In 1956 Coach Royal became head coach of the Texas Longhorns bringing his folksy sense of humor called "Royalisms" and an innovative style of football that produced almost instant success.
As an innovator, Royal is credited with two major changes in collegiate football, the "flip-flop" and the famed wishbone formation backfield.
Royal assumed the dual role of athletics director and head football coach in 1962, positions he held for 14 years. After retiring from football, Royal accepted his present position of special assistant to the president on athletic programs.
During his tenure as athletics director, the Longhorns won seven national titles – three in football, two in golf, one in baseball and one in basketball. He was the driving force in the upgrading of basketball and swimming by bringing in Abe Lemons and Eddie Reese as coaches.
A native of Southwest Oklahoma, Royal began his life in football as a high school star in the early 1940s. He was an all-American quarterback at the University of Oklahoma. He served as head coach at Mississippi State University and the University of Washington.
His coaching record during the 1960s earned him the honor of Coach of the Decade by ABC-TV.
He took Texas from a 1 – 9 season in 1956 to a 6-3-1 finish in 1957. A trip to the Sugar Bowl started the Longhorns on the first of 16 bowl appearances they would make over the next 20 years. Under Royal's leadership, Texas won three national championships and 11 Southwest Conference championships.
In his more than 20 years as head coach, Royal's Longhorns carried the best record in the nation over that period. They finished in the top 10 nationally 11 times, and he coached 77 all-Southwest Conference players and 26 all-Americans.
Born July 6, 1924, Darrell K. Royal has a middle initial but no middle name. The "K" is in honor of his mother, Katy, who died when he was an infant. She succumbed to cancer, but because of the taboo then surrounding the disease, Royal was led to believe until he was grown that she had died giving birth to him.
When Royal started as a tailback for his hometown high school in 1941, he weighed only 124 pounds.
Royal still holds records -- or the longest punt return (96 yards) and the most pass interceptions in four years (17) -- at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma.
During his first season at UT, he made an estimated $17,000 a year.
A native of Hollis, Oklahoma, Royal was made an honorary Texan by the Texas House of Representatives after his first UT season.
His friends call him Delbert, a code name devised during his heyday to keep his identity and location a secret from the media.
He never insisted on wearing a good-luck tie or adhering to a pre-game ritual. He also refused to pray before games, once commenting, "I think the Lord is neutral about these things."
Royal and his wife, Edith, regularly visited with LBJ and Lady Bird in the White House, on the Johnson Ranch, and in Acapulco.
In 1991, to help settle Willie Nelson's tax debt, Royal paid $117,350 for his friend's Pedernales Country Club after it was seized by the Internal Revenue Service and sold at public auction. He had often played golf there. Referring to his friendship with the singer, an avowed pot smoker, Royal once assured fans that that he had never touched marijuana himself: "Heck no -- never have, never will."
I met Coach Royal last night at work. He was a really down to earth and classy guy. Roger Creager was playing and he came to see the show. (also he was with Paul Overstreet If anyone knows who that is) I grew up watching Texas football so it was a real honor for me. He has got to be one of the best college football coaches of all time.
http://www.darrellroyal.org/
As an innovator, Royal is credited with two major changes in collegiate football, the "flip-flop" and the famed wishbone formation backfield.
Royal assumed the dual role of athletics director and head football coach in 1962, positions he held for 14 years. After retiring from football, Royal accepted his present position of special assistant to the president on athletic programs.
During his tenure as athletics director, the Longhorns won seven national titles – three in football, two in golf, one in baseball and one in basketball. He was the driving force in the upgrading of basketball and swimming by bringing in Abe Lemons and Eddie Reese as coaches.
A native of Southwest Oklahoma, Royal began his life in football as a high school star in the early 1940s. He was an all-American quarterback at the University of Oklahoma. He served as head coach at Mississippi State University and the University of Washington.
His coaching record during the 1960s earned him the honor of Coach of the Decade by ABC-TV.
He took Texas from a 1 – 9 season in 1956 to a 6-3-1 finish in 1957. A trip to the Sugar Bowl started the Longhorns on the first of 16 bowl appearances they would make over the next 20 years. Under Royal's leadership, Texas won three national championships and 11 Southwest Conference championships.
In his more than 20 years as head coach, Royal's Longhorns carried the best record in the nation over that period. They finished in the top 10 nationally 11 times, and he coached 77 all-Southwest Conference players and 26 all-Americans.
When Royal started as a tailback for his hometown high school in 1941, he weighed only 124 pounds.
Royal still holds records -- or the longest punt return (96 yards) and the most pass interceptions in four years (17) -- at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma.
During his first season at UT, he made an estimated $17,000 a year.
A native of Hollis, Oklahoma, Royal was made an honorary Texan by the Texas House of Representatives after his first UT season.
His friends call him Delbert, a code name devised during his heyday to keep his identity and location a secret from the media.
He never insisted on wearing a good-luck tie or adhering to a pre-game ritual. He also refused to pray before games, once commenting, "I think the Lord is neutral about these things."
Royal and his wife, Edith, regularly visited with LBJ and Lady Bird in the White House, on the Johnson Ranch, and in Acapulco.
In 1991, to help settle Willie Nelson's tax debt, Royal paid $117,350 for his friend's Pedernales Country Club after it was seized by the Internal Revenue Service and sold at public auction. He had often played golf there. Referring to his friendship with the singer, an avowed pot smoker, Royal once assured fans that that he had never touched marijuana himself: "Heck no -- never have, never will."
