Tommy Nobis

Desperado

Desperado

1,000+ Posts
Article on ESPN.com reveals that Tommy Nobis had the most severe form of CTE. Sad to think a sport this great to watch can be so damaging to those that play it. Families suffer right along with them.

I was talking with a Longhorn fan at an OU game a few years ago. He was a bit older than me and we discussed Texas football through the years. Turns out he was Tommy Nobis' brother-in-law. He said at the time Tommy was not doing well. Wasn't long after that I heard he had passed away.

'Mr. Falcon' Nobis had most severe form of CTE
 
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Desperado said:
Article on ESPN.com reveals that Tommy Nobis had the most severe form of CTE. Sad to think a sport this great to watch can be so damaging to those that play it. Families suffer right along with them. I was talking with a Longhorn fan at an OU game a few years ago. He was a bit older than me and we discussed Texas football through the years. Turns out he was Tommy Nobis' brother-in-law. He said at the time Tommy was not doing well. Wasn't long after that I heard he had passed away.

'Mr. Falcon' Nobis had most severe form of CTE
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Nobis moment for me: I was a student in the early 60s. At that time only an activity ID got you into basketball games at Gregory and there were no seat assignments. A bunch of us went to the A&M game, arriving early for the freshman game and sat one row up from the floor. After the varsity game (a win iirc) a melee ensued, but we followed Tommy out of the gym. Awesome!
 
:hookem:

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DrRad said:
Nobis moment for me: I was a student in the early 60s. At that time only an activity ID got you into basketball games at Gregory and there were no seat assignments. A bunch of us went to the A&M game, arriving early for the freshman game and sat one row up from the floor. After the varsity game (a win iirc) a melee ensued, but we followed Tommy out of the gym. Awesome!
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I remember an overhead picture of Gregory Gym during that brawl. The court was covered with people. I heard at the time that Royal had learned of Aggie plans for trouble and had his football players up front. Never knew if that was true.

Sorry Vince, Ricky and Earl, but Nobis was my favorite all time UT football player. And, I think he was the best to ever put on the burnt orange. He excelled on both sides of the ball, but as a linebacker he was one of the all time greats. Every bit as good as Butkus. Playing on a bad NFL team kept him out of the Hall of Fame. If he played for Pittsburg, he gets in. Shameful.

And when he was not destroying the other team on the field, he was a gentleman.
 
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The 2005 season I was having a happy hour drink at my local watering hole; sitting next to me was Sonny, a bar acquaintance.

We were talking about whether, finally, Texas was going to get that MNC after 30+ years, and Vince came up as "one of those" who just stood above others.

I noted that when at UT I felt lucky to see not only Earl play a number of games in person, but also John McEnroe in the Erwin Center (he was No.1 singles player, from Stanford, his only collegiate year, playing Gary Plock in singles and then Plock and Curren in doubles) and John Elway with the Stanford baseball team at Disch-Falk.

I said for Earl, McEnroe, and Elway you could just see in an instant how these guys were special, bigger, faster, stronger, more intense, just overall better than everyone else next to them.

Then I said I was too young to have had the opportunity to see Nobis play, but understood that he had that same aura.

Sonny said that he was a contemporary of Nobis in San Antonio in high school. It was Spring; UIL track and field meet.

He and his teammates and a couple of others from competing schools were warming up at the shot put ring and took a few practice puts. In a bit they saw in the corner of their eyes this massive, red headed, freckled guy come over; they knew it was Nobis. He warmed up a bit and did a practice put --- it was just way beyond what they hoped to do.

He said they just all dropped their heads down, like they were whipped before they even did their events. He was just so much better than all of them and they knew it.
 
My dad grew up with Tommy Nobis and his brother Joe at Jefferson HS in San Antonio. He was a great guy, not to mention FB player.
 
He's the reason I'm a Longhorn fan. My dad drove me up from San Antonio in 64 to see the Baylor game ... went to see Tommy and got "Hooked" on UT football for life.
 
Wikepedia:

College years:

Nobis is one of college football's all-time greatest linebackers.

In his tenure with the Texas Longhorns (1963–1965) he averaged nearly 20 tackles a game and, as the only sophomore starter, was an important participant on the Longhorns' 1963 national championship team, which defeated #2 Navy led by Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach in the Cotton Bowl. Nobis was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity at the university.

Nobis was a two-time All-American and made the All-Southwest Conference team three times. As a junior in the 1965 Orange Bowl, he made one of the most famous tackles in the game's history. On fourth-and-inches, and clinging to a 21–17 lead, Nobis led his teammates to a game-saving halt of top-ranked Alabama’s QB Joe Namath. Nobis was an iron man, playing (and starting) on both defense and offense for his entire college career. Aside from being an All-American linebacker, he also played guard on the offensive side of the ball and was often the primary blocker on touchdown runs.[1]

Famed Texas head coach Darrell Royal called him "the finest two-way player I have ever seen." A knee injury slowed him during the latter part of his senior season, but he still was able to perform at a high level and won a number of major individual awards including the Knute Rockne Award, best lineman, the Outland Trophy, best interior lineman, and the Maxwell Award for college football’s best player. Nobis also finished seventh in the Heisman voting to USC's Mike Garrett. He appeared on the covers of LIFE, Sports Illustrated and TIME magazines.
 
nashhorn said:
For some reason my thoughts went to how different that 'drive up' would have been in 64.
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The San Marcos Airport was beside the highway and you could tell when you went through each town. Now the airport is off the highway (ironically on the way to 130) and it is one big town between SA and Austin.
 
WorsterMan said:
Wikepedia:

College years:

Nobis is one of college football's all-time greatest linebackers.

In his tenure with the Texas Longhorns (1963–1965) he averaged nearly 20 tackles a game and, as the only sophomore starter, was an important participant on the Longhorns' 1963 national championship team, which defeated #2 Navy led by Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach in the Cotton Bowl. Nobis was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity at the university.

Nobis was a two-time All-American and made the All-Southwest Conference team three times. As a junior in the 1965 Orange Bowl, he made one of the most famous tackles in the game's history. On fourth-and-inches, and clinging to a 21–17 lead, Nobis led his teammates to a game-saving halt of top-ranked Alabama’s QB Joe Namath. Nobis was an iron man, playing (and starting) on both defense and offense for his entire college career. Aside from being an All-American linebacker, he also played guard on the offensive side of the ball and was often the primary blocker on touchdown runs.[1]

Famed Texas head coach Darrell Royal called him "the finest two-way player I have ever seen." A knee injury slowed him during the latter part of his senior season, but he still was able to perform at a high level and won a number of major individual awards including the Knute Rockne Award, best lineman, the Outland Trophy, best interior lineman, and the Maxwell Award for college football’s best player. Nobis also finished seventh in the Heisman voting to USC's Mike Garrett. He appeared on the covers of LIFE, Sports Illustrated and TIME magazines.
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Because of Nobis even players like F Edwards could see the field.
 
Family, Deer Hunting, Aggie bashing, Tommy Nobis, politics are the subjects my Dad and I talk about most. Vince and Ricky, Earl too. But Nobis is his favorite!
 
AC said:
Family, Deer Hunting, Aggie bashing, Tommy Nobis, politics are the subjects my Dad and I talk about most. Vince and Ricky, Earl too. But Nobis is his favorite!
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Sometimes I think some of our fanbase and even some of us older dudes that saw him play, have forgotten / don't truly appreciate how truly GREAT Nobis was. Focused, fierce, intense on every play with a incredible desire to succeed to win.

There is a good reason #60 is a special number, not only worn by Nobis, but also worn by a handful of other UT greats :hookem::hookem:
 
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