Chicago Tribune reporting Steve "Bam Bam" McMichael diagnosed with ALS (Link Added)

Disagree, not 100%, but I think backup LB Mark Magiano - sorry for incorrect spelling - filled in for starting LB Lance Taylor vs ND. Irish ate him alive as I recall.

Taylor hurt a shoulder vs. aggy last game if season IIRC.

I too think Horns had a much better chance to slow Irish offense in that Jan. 1, 1978 NC game and possibly win if Taylor had played. He was that good.

I thought it was Sendlein. If I'm wrong I apologize. My memory has been gettin' a bit tricky these last couple of years. :brickwall:
 
In fact, one of the greatest hits in all Texas history was Robin Sendlein on Eric Dickerson in Texas Stadium. That game was hard hitting and very close. The SMU band would crank up their fight song as soon as they snapped the ball. Dickerson took the pitch to head around right end (going what I considered South to north).

Robin had him one on one and pulverized Dickerson. Bill Began from Houston was the referee, and not a friend of Texas but big buddies with Percy Penn, principal of Kimball HS. Began threw his flag and penalized us 15 yards for a personal foul, giving SMU a first down instead of 4th. The noise in Texas Stadium was so loud, no one heard the whistle, least of all the players directly in front of the SMU band.

I was so angry that the teeth on the zipper of my Wranglers separated. Good news is we won (thank you Rodney Tate) and that play and that call helped "retire" Began.
 
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In fact, one of the greatest hits in all Texas history was Robin Sendlein on Eric Dickerson in Texas Stadium. That game was hard hitting and very close. The SMU band would crank up hteir fight song as soon as they snapped the ball. Dickerson took the pitch to head around right end (going what I considered South to north).

Robin had him one on one and pulverized Dickerson. Bill Began from Houston was the referee, and not a friend of Texas but big buddies with Percy Penn, principal of Kimball HS. Began threw his flag and penalized us 15 yards for a personal foul, giving SMU a first down instead of 4th. The noise in Texas Stadium was so loud, no one heard the whistle, least of all the players directly in front of the SMU band.

I was so angry that the teeth on the zipper of my Wranglers separated. Good news is we won (thank you Rodney Tate) and that play and that call helped "retire" Began.

Sabre,

IIRC, that SMU game was 1981 @ Texas Stadium... I was there with a GF that was a UT grad. It was a slugfest the Horns won like 15 -13 or something. I was exhausted after watching that win.
 
Sendlein was on that 83 defense
My memory tells me different. Seindline was a true freshman who replaced Taylor against ND. The player Worster is referring to is I believe Mark Martinogni. Don't know about the hit on Dickerson. Could have Leiding, Shankle, or even Bruce Scholz.
 
I was down in the locker room after the game. I asked Rodney Tate how in the world he got that ball back. He looked at me and said, "I knew if I didn't get it back, I was hitchhiking back to Tulsa rather than going back to Austin with the team".

For those that never saw it, We had the ball near on SMU's goal, and Rodney went right and pretty much untouched into the South endzone. Unfortunately, he left the ball on the 2. Wild flesh pile for the ball, but Rodney dove back into that pile and came out with the ball.

When you have a real S&C coach, you can get RBs who weigh 190, run a 4.4 and bench 325 without the "Nebraska boost".
 
Scholz was the quiet unsung LB on that team that made plays and was always in position. I bet he used to go his beer garten a lot.
 
DKR 1969 - DL Greg Ploetz from Sherman TX was a warrior, undersized player that raised his game. DKR made him a starter. He shined. Unfortunately, head injuries caught up with him and he died far too early a few years ago.
 
Mark Hamilton, younger brother of UT's great linebacker Bill Hamilton, replaced Lance Taylor in the 1978 Cotton Bowl. ND ran between the tackles all day and we had no answer for the much bigger Irish team. While the 77 defense was tremendous, nothing will ever top the 83 defense. I believe that team ended up having 20+ players drafted /signed in the NFL. The loss to Georgia cost that team a national championship and was the beginning of a very long slide to mediocrity for the Horns.
 
This is terrible news!

STEVE McMICHAEL is a Longhorn Legend!

He was one of the most intense and hardest hitting UT defensive players I ever saw. I frequently focused my binoculars on him when he played D for the Horns. I am SO sad to learn of this diagnosis for him and his family.

On a personal note, a former Manager of mine at 3 different companies and good friend over 40 years died rather suddenly of ALS at 70 in 2020.

Tom lived far away and we talked on the phone x1 or x2 a year in recent times... he was enjoying retirement.

His wife called me in June out of the blue to tell me he had just died. He died within about 6-7 months of his diagnosis. It honestly crushed my soul.

He was such a great and quality person... and my friend.

No doubt he was a Legend. Did an awesome job at Texas. Then brcomes the Defensive Tackle on Buddy Ryans legendary 46 Defense. And wins the Super Bowl in 1985, after blowing my Cowboys out by 44 points, OUCH!
It's possible that he is one of the five best DT's Texas every produced.
McMichael, Hampton, Rogers, Miller, Brown etc.
I will be praying for him.
 

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