Longhorn legend dies

Darrell Royal, former University of Texas football giant and respected rival of the Arkansas Razorbacks, dead at 88


Arkansas Razorback coach Broyles and Darrell Royal
Arkansas Razorback coach Broyles and Darrell Royal

— Ken Hatfield and his Arkansas teammates were celebrating loudly in the visiting locker room at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, on the night of Oct. 17, 1964.

The No. 8 Razorbacks had upset defending national champion and No. 1 Texas 14-13 after Hatfield had an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown and Arkansas’ defense stopped the Longhorns’ two-point conversion attempt late in the game.

“I can remember the exhilaration of everybody celebrating in that little ol’ locker room underneath the stadium there, and then all of a sudden in the midst of all of that Darrell Royal walks in,” Hatfield recalled Wednesday. “It didn’t take long for everybody to get real quiet, where you could hear a pin drop.

“We’re all thinking, ‘Did Coach Royal get lost? Why’s he in our locker room?’ ”

Royal, who died Wednesday at 88 after suffering with Alzheimer’s disease, came to Arkansas’ locker room 48 years ago to congratulate the Razorbacks and offer a bit of motivation.

“I remember it just like it was yesterday,” Hatfield said. “He said, ‘Congratulations, and I want you to know that tonight you beat a great Texas team. Not a good Texas team, this is agreat Texas team.’

“Then he said, ‘We will not lose another game the rest of this season, and if you don’t keep your mind on what you’re supposed to do, if you slip up one bit, we’ll win the championship.’ Then he wished us good luck.

“We thought about what he said each and every week after that, and I think it really helped our preparation.”

The Razorbacks won the rest of their games to finish 11-0 and then won a share of the national championship when No. 5 Texas beat No. 1 Alabama 21-17 in the Orange Bowl a few hours after the No. 2 Razorbacks beat No. 6 Nebraska 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl on Jan 1.

“Everything was tied to Texas and Coach Royal that year, us beating them and then Texas beating Alabama to help us,” Hatfield said. “We’re indebted to Coach Royal.”

Hatfield, who coached for 37 seasons including a sixyear stint at Arkansas, said he never could recall an opposing coach other than Royal in 1964 coming into a winning locker room to congratulate one of his teams.

“I think it had a lot to do with his friendship with Coach [Frank] Broyles,” Hatfield said.

Broyles, who coached the Razorbacks for 19 seasons in 1958-1976, and Royal were Southwest Conference rivals but close friends off the field. Broyles, 87, was born in December 1924, five months after Royal, and he came to Arkansas the season after Royal left Washington to take the Texas job in 1957.

Broyles said in a statement Wednesday that he was “deeply saddened” by the passing of his longtime friend.

“Although our teams were rivals on the field, Darrell and I enjoyed a close friendship that carried far beyond football,” Broyles said. “Our families vacationed together in the offseason and we enjoyed many memorable moments together that I always treasure.”

Former Arkansas All-America defensive lineman Loyd Phillips, who won the Outland Trophy as a senior in 1966 and was a sophomore starter in 1964, said he’ll always have fond memories of Royal’s locker room visit.

“Coach Royal was a class, class act all the way,” Phillips said Wednesday. “He wassomeone that everyone at Arkansas always had the utmost respect for as an opponent.

“It didn’t get much bigger than the Arkansas-Texas rivalry, especially in the ’60s, but we could tell that Coach Royal and Coach Broyles loved each other like brothers.”

Broyles and Royal combined to win 18 outright or shared SWC championships - 11 for Royal and seven for Broyles - and their games often carried national title implications.

“Back in those days, you went 365 days from Texas game to the next, and that’s kind of how you viewed the calendar,” said Hatfield, a star defensive back and punt returner who was a senior in 1964. “So for Coach Broyles and Coach Royal to have the kind of friendship they did,it’s probably one of the most unique things in the history of sports.”

Broyles has said he and Royal rarely talked about football and never about their epic matchups, such as Arkansas’ victories over Texas in 1964 and 1965 - when the Longhorns also were ranked No. 1 - or the 1969 “Big Shootout” when the No. 1 Longhorns rallied to beat the No. 2 Razorbacks 15-14 in a game moved to the end of the regular season by ABC and attended by President Richard Nixon.

Broyles and Royal spent many hours together playing golf, including at a coaches’ tournament held in Bella Vista.

“Coach Broyles and Coach Royal had a unique relationship,” said Harold Horton, who competed against Royaland Texas as an Arkansas player and assistant coach. “It was a very competitive relationship when it came to playing, and very competitive in recruiting, too. But off the field, they were best of friends. They really enjoyed being around each other.

“I think their friendship was great for the coaching profession. It was two great gentlemen off the field and two competitors on the field.”

Broyles and Royal were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame class in 1983. They coached their final game against each other Dec. 4, 1976, when Texas beat Arkansas 29-12 in Austin. Each had announced his retirement from coaching prior to the game - and each was still his school’s athletic director- and both teams uncharacteristically finished 5-5-1.

“It was an unbelievable moment, and it was fitting they went out together that game,” said Horton, Arkansas’ linebackers coach at the time.“The admiration and respect that both of these men had from everyone was the type of thing you want the game to bring out in everyone.”

Royal, who began his head coaching career in the SEC at Mississippi State in 1954, had a 184-60-5 record in 23 seasons overall, including 167-47-5 in 20 seasons at Texas with national titles in 1963, 1969 and 1970.

“Darrell was one of the greatest football coaches our sport has known,” Broyles said. “His record and many accomplishments speak for themselves, but his influence on college football, the University of Texas and the impact he had in the lives of thousands of young men who played for him is impossible to fully measure.

“In the final years of his life, Darrell faced his battle with Alzheimer’s with the same courage and dignity he displayed throughout his career. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Edith, his family and the many friends and colleagues who have been a part of the extraordinary life and career of Darrell Royal.”

Texas installed the Wishbone offense in 1968 and went on a 30-game winning streak.

“When Texas started running the Wishbone, [Royal] didn’t have to do it, but he did it, and then after that a lot of other schools like Oklahoma and Alabama started running it and won national championships, too,” said Hatfield, who installed the Wishbone at Air Force and brought it to Arkansas. “Colorado won a national championship in 1991 running it, too, so you can say what Coach Royal did influenced football for about 40 years.

“It was monumental.”

Sports, Pages 25 on 11/08/2012

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