For Real ....Herman “IS” Done!!!

[Joe Fan]

I grew up in Ft Worth, too, Joe and went to many TCU games as well.....

My grandfather designed your (or their) campus golf course - which I believe has long since been replaced by dorms

 

[Joe Fan]

.... Those were the days. TCU knew its place in the world, which was losing to us. Although the Cockroaches had our number a few times in the '60s.

I was too young for that one but can always recall the look on my dad's face about the '61 game and what it meant. He would always sort of form a slight smile and turn his head. He had a lot of colorful one liners about the frogs too -- but nothing off-color given the family connection

 

[BornOrange0855]

My grandfather designed your (or their) campus golf course - which I believe has long since been replaced by dorms

Are you talking about the course that was called Worth Hills? If so, yeah, dorms, tennis courts, baseball field, track use that real estate now.

 

[BornOrange0855]

I was too young for that one but can always recall the look on my dad's face about the '61 game and what it meant. He would always sort of form a slight smile and turn his head. He had a lot of colorful one liners about the frogs too -- but nothing off-color given the family connection

1961 game was my first real experience with heartache. I was six. My favorite all time Longhorn, Jimmy Saxton, was knocked out of the game 3 times. My dad was pissed. I cried. Royal said that was his best team ever. Effing cockroaches!!!!!

 

[Txreds]

I know about Major’s baggage with UT, but would we ever have him back as OC? His last UH team was doing well either undefeated or one loss until his QB went out for the year and one prima donna lineman threw a temper tantrum.

I don’t think as Co-OC he was able to do what he wanted.

 

[Horns11]

Major was handcuffed by Mack here, especially with recruiting decisions, but I wouldn't want him back. The Fiesta Bowl fiasco alone is enough to say adios, regardless of how good a coach he could develop into.

 

[Joe Fan]

1961 game was my first real experience with heartache. I was six. My favorite all time Longhorn, Jimmy Saxton, was knocked out of the game 3 times. My dad was pissed. I cried. Royal said that was his best team ever. Effing cockroaches!!!!!

They literally wear it
Biggest thing to ever happen to them since WWII was keeping us from another title

 

[WorsterMan]

1961 game was my first real experience with heartache. I was six. My favorite all time Longhorn, Jimmy Saxton, was knocked out of the game 3 times. My dad was pissed. I cried. Royal said that was his best team ever. Effing cockroaches!!!!!

My Dad attended that 1961 game (I was about age 6 so I did not go). That game gave my Dad painful memories the rest of his life... more than any other Horns loss.

He spoke of it often and he too remarked it was one of DKR's best teams.

IIRC, TCU was horrible... think they only won 2-3 games that season.

 

[Joe Fan]

My Dad attended that 1961 game (I was 5 or 6 so I did not). That game gave my Dad painful memories the rest of his life... more than any other Horns loss. He spoke of it often and he too remarked it was one of DKR's best teams. ....

Thats what I meant above, I can still see that look on my dad's face
DKR came so close to two or three more titles

 

[BornOrange0855]

Thats what I meant above, I can still see that look on my dad's face
DKR came so close to two or three more titles

I still remember the headline in the Sunday Star-Telegram (or might have been the old Ft. Worth Press): Frogs effort, won Abe--referring to TCU coach Abe Martin. 28 point under dogs, I think. I'm almost over it.

 

[Chop]

It was well before my time, but I think those old really good Frog teams (1950s, early 1960s) had some monster linemen and vicious hitters.

Patterson's Frogs typically beat us based on superior coaching, sound tackling, and team speed. We've got some fast guys on the team. Until we get consistently better coaching performance, we'll probably keep dropping games to Patterson.

(I'll give our staff, and team, some props for somewhat better tackling this year)

 

[Joe Fan]

.... Patterson's Frogs typically beat us based on superior coaching, sound tackling, and team speed.

They do tend to tackle well. I hate being jealous of that

 

[Chop]

"So Coach Campbell--would you want to coach in Austin for any amount of money?"

"Say Dabo, the Texas Longhorns think they can get you to leave Clemson to come coach for them."

"I just read that the Texas Longhorns think you will be their next coach."

"So coach, would you move to Austin if the Longhorns groveled before you and paid you double your salary?"

 

[Vino Bevo]

1961 game was my first real experience with heartache. I was six. My favorite all time Longhorn, Jimmy Saxton, was knocked out of the game 3 times. My dad was pissed. I cried. Royal said that was his best team ever. Effing cockroaches!!!!!

First time I cried over the Horns was actually BEFORE the kickoff of the 1984 Cotton Bowl. The significance of the game was not lost on this young lad and I was so upset my mother wouldn't let me stay home from school to watch (it was on Monday, January 2 that year) that I lost it. VCRs hadn't made their way to us yet, at least not in my house, so I was stuck with highlights on the news and the newspaper coverage the next day. Of course, the result of the game brought a tear to my eye as well.

 

[caryhorn]

My grandfather designed your (or their) campus golf course - which I believe has long since been replaced by dorms

That’s a great connection to Ft Worth, and TCU lore, Joe.

My Dad played that course many times. It was indeed Worth Hills.
The great Dan Jenkins wrote a good book about football in Texas in which that course was referred to as Goat Hills.
It was never in very good shape due to the city of Ft Worth (who was in charge of maintenance) not fully funding it. So it wasn’t lush and green. The fairways had thorns ( we called them goat heads) and such in them. Thus “Goat Hills.”

I now live about 1/4 mile away. You’d never know a golf course had ever been there. That doesn’t keep me from thinking about it, though.

 

[Joe Fan]

...The great Dan Jenkins wrote a good book about football in Texas in which that course was referred to as Goat Hills....

I think I recall that name used by my dad! I was never clear on the meaning, other than the obvious suggestion

 

[Joe Fan]

First time I cried over the Horns was actually BEFORE the kickoff of the 1984 Cotton Bowl. The significance of the game was not lost on this young lad and I was so upset my mother wouldn't let me stay home from school to watch (it was on Monday, January 2 that year) that I lost it. VCRs hadn't made their way to us yet, at least not in my house, so I was stuck with highlights on the news and the newspaper coverage the next day. Of course, the result of the game brought a tear to my eye as well.

here is the whole game in one picture (edit - curry in the pile, fields trying to fall on the ball)

 

[erbutch]

1961 game was my first real experience with heartache. I was six. My favorite all time Longhorn, Jimmy Saxton, was knocked out of the game 3 times. My dad was pissed. I cried. Royal said that was his best team ever. Effing cockroaches!!!!!

Didnt see that game but listened to Kern Tips on the radio broadcast the game.I was 13.

 

[SabreHorn]

Butch,

How old were you before you knew his name was "Tommy Crutcher", not "Mista Crutcha"?

 

[Vino Bevo]

here is the whole game in one picture (that's craig curry to the right)

I'm not crying - YOU'RE crying

 

[Joe Fan]

I'm not crying - YOU'RE crying

I looked it up and misidentified the players
Curry is in the pile up, that is Jitter Fields trying to fall on the ball

 

[22Horn]

yep, tough loss!

 

[Joe Fan]

I looked it up and misidentified the players
Curry is in the pile up, that is Jitter Fields trying to fall on the ball

From an article Revisiting the last Texas-Georgia game - the '84 Cotton Bowl - and the muffed punt that haunted Craig Curry for 2 decades

HOUSTON - Twenty-one years later, the anguish on Craig Curry's face is fresh. His emotions are raw. His recall is painfully vivid.

He hears the thump of the punt. He sees the football spinning in slow motion, suspended against the chilly, overcast Dallas sky. He feels three Georgia Bulldogs closing in and hears Texas teammate Jitter Fields holler from behind.

"You, you, you!"
***
"I should have let Jitter catch that [expletive]," he mutters.
* * *

Texas' offense sputtered often, but the Longhorns maintained a No. 2 ranking all season with exceptional special teams and one of the most dominant defenses in college history.

In the regular-season finale at Texas A&M, rifle-armed McIvor came off the bench to spark a 45-13 comeback win. Still, it was a surprise to many when McIvor started the Cotton Bowl, amid swirling wind and a kickoff temperature of 38 degrees.

Despite an afternoon of blown scoring chances, Texas' 9-3 lead entering the final five minutes seemed ironclad.

When the Bulldogs lined up to punt on fourth-and-17 from their 34 with 4:44 left, they had 66 yards passing and had only twice crossed midfield.

"We did not think they were going to punt," Akers recalls. "So we called an 'unsure punt.'"

Texas kept its first-team defense on the field, inserting only Jitter Fields, the regular punt returner. Why Curry remained on the field, in what coaches called the searchlight, or center field, position, is somewhat of a mystery. Michael Feldt typically filled the role. Unlike Curry, he practiced fielding punts every week. McWilliams recalls that Feldt may have been hurt on the previous play.

Akers says he simply wanted his best defenders in the game to guard against a fake. "We didn't care if the ball hit the ground, but just in case it was a clean punt, Jitter Fields was there to catch it."

Curry remembers thinking that it might be the last play of his college career. "What I really wanted to do was go hit somebody. I figured it would be my last hit. "And I'll be doggone, the ball came to me."
* * *

Every Longhorns fan older than 30 remembers what happened next, at shortly before 4 p.m. on Jan. 2, 1984. Curry muffed the punt. Georgia recovered, punched across a late touchdown and stunned No. 2 Texas, 10-9, in the Cotton Bowl.
* * *

The punt was poor, traveling only 35 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Curry backed up a few steps, but at the last moment realized the ball was dropping to his right. By then, Georgia's Clarence Kay was two yards from Curry.

Curry reached out but the ball dropped through his arms.

"I've played this a million times in my mind," Curry says. "Honestly, as I see this ball, I don't know if the wind shifted ... I have no earthly idea."

Before Texas fans could let out a gasp, it seemed Curry would be spared goat status. The ball bounced at the Texas 29 and straight to Fields. He fell on it, but it squirted out to Georgia's Gary Moss, who recovered it at the 23.

"We still had an opportunity to do what we did best with that team, and that's play defense," Akers says.

Two plays later, Georgia faced third-and-4 from the 17. At that point, it had converted one of 13 third-down opportunities. Quarterback John Lastinger ran an option to the right. Bulldogs blockers sealed off two Texas linebackers, leaving Curry in a one-on-two against Lastinger and the pitchman.

Lastinger ran untouched until Gray hit him as he dived for the pylon and the winning touchdown with 3:22 left.

Minutes later, Georgia players carried coach Vince Dooley off the field while the Longhorns and their fans stared in shock.​

 

[Joe Fan]

"In 1999, Curry's drop topped the Austin American-Statesman's list of 25 most heart-wrenching moments in a century of Texas sports, ahead of Houston's loss to North Carolina State in the 1983 NCAA basketball final and the Cowboys' 1967 Ice Bowl loss to Green Bay."

 

[SabreHorn]

We were sitting on Row 1 on the east side upper deck, directly behind the CBS Sports banner. When Craig missed the ball, my little girl started crying, she cried through the end of the game, out of the Cotton Bowl, across Parry to Joe's lot next to his plumbing supply place, down Exposition, through Deep Elum, to the hotel.

As always. I was using my binoculars and saw the UGA guard flat on his belly reach out and tackle Ty Allert on their TD. NO CALL!

Fortunately, my daughter got some "revenge" seeing the Rose Bowl live and then The Sugar Bowl live a couple of years ago, but that January day can never be healed.

 

[Clean]

I attended the '69 TCU game in person. We were 7-0 going in and favored by who knows how many points, yet every one was nervous as hell. Every one remembered '61 and the other cockroach losses. We beat 'em 69-7. Dead Cockroaches everywhere.

 

[MajorRules00]

It's hard to determine sarcasm from genuine question.

Fenves was all of 5'7", but did enough damage to The University to be Andre the Giant. Of course, it doesn't count because it was done under the cloak of darkness without consultation with anyone associated with The University.

Berzerkley strikes again. Berdohl, Powers, Fenves - all from Berzerkley

Thankfully he was flushed out of the University system and floated somewhere else.

 

[MajorRules00]

Local sports radio seems to think that CDC will not hitch his UT legacy wagon to Tom Herman. I tend to agree with their argument. Hermie wasn't his hire and another year at UT would be terrible since Hermie has probably already emotionally checked out of here.

CDC strikes me as the type of person who makes very well thought-out decisions. So...methinks he's biding his time with the current coach. The giveaway is his assisting with recruiting. Reminds me of a boss "helping out" a struggling employee...before that employee gets the boot.

 

[SabreHorn]

Clean,

The 1968 TCU game was outstanding in so many ways. Chris Gilbert ran wild on the Frogs. We had tied Third Ward (thank you Mike for the fumble) and lost to Tech in Lubbock, so Tech was heading to The Cotton Bowl as SWC Champions. The week after we lost to Tech, I told people, Arkansas will roll into Lubbock the last week and beat Tech, we just need someone else to do it.

While we were in Amon Carter, Tech was at Floyd Casey against (I believe) the winless Bears. Visitors shared the east side of Amon Carter with the TCU students. Up in the stands, behind our bench, there were two portable radios amongst the Texas crowd. By the fourth quarter, DKR was not happy because almost every player not on the field had his back to the field looking up into the stands, because lowly BAYLOR WAS BEATING TECH! TCU got a first down, and the Texas crowd roared because Baylor scored again. Baylor beat Tech; then the Hogs rolled into Lubbock the following Saturday and steamrolled Tech, and the Horns were off to witness Bill Bradley's most memorable quote and then beat Tennessee in The Cotton Bowl

I have posted often that I sincerely hope that maid in McLennan County never had to work another day the rest of her life.

 

[WorsterMan]

Thats what I meant above, I can still see that look on my dad's face
DKR came so close to two or three more titles

Yes, like 1964... lost 1 game by 1 point to Arky 14-13. IIRC, Horns scored late to make 13, went for 2 points but Marvin Kristynik pass to Hix Green was underthrown. Despite that Horns finsihed 9-1 went to Orange Bowl and beat Namath & # 1 ranked 'Bama 21-17 - IIRC. Finished 1964 ranked #2.