Walter Fondren, R.I.P.

[J.R.69]

Walter Fondren has died, in Houston. Played for UT in mid-50s. All-Conference, great player.

 

[TexasTower]

Never heard of the man, but he's a Longhorn and has my respect.

RIP

 

[torre]

The Link


His Grandson, Robert, was on the UT Baseball team last year. A great Texas family.

 

[sandypoley]

Walter Fondren was the QB qt Texas when I was a freshman. He also was the punter. He was a star player for Texas way back then. RIP

 

[Olhorn]

I didn't know he had passed. Of course I knew of Walter Fondern. Great player and of course from a prominent Houston Family. Fondren Road. And of course the building(s) in the Medical Center named for Fondren.

 

[TexasStew]

Great story from Houston in the 50s:
Walter Fondren Jr (the old man) was shopping one evening when the sales clerk asked if he could help. Mr. Fondren said he was looking for a business shirt. The clerk said "how about these over here"? Mr. Fondren said they were too expensive. The sales clerk then replied "those are the shirts your son buys when he shops here". Mr. Fondren then said "There's a difference between me and my son. My son has a rich father".

 

[Bernard]

I was all set to attend Fondren Jr. High in Houston until they built Louis Welch.

In you like to fish, Fondren founded the GCCA, now called the CCA.

I believe the Columbe d'or Restaurant and Hotel is located in what used to be the Fondren mansion on Montrose Blvd.

Bernard

 

[RomaVicta]

 

[RC Horn]

In his book, DARRELL ROYAL TALKS FOOTBALL, Coach Royal once commented that his 1957 team would have never survived without Walter Fondren's quick kicking. Once hailed as the second coming of Doak Walker, Walter Fondren was more like Eric Metcalf(an above average player on a very bad team),

BTW, didn't the Fondrens donate a lot of money to build a library at a very prominent Houston university???

RIP

 

[longyak]

In reply to:

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[Mr. Fiesta]

His grandfather was one of the founders of the Humble Oil Company which became Exxon.

 

[hamhorn]

He was the first Longhorn I idolized. I was nine years old in 1956.

 

[Not that Bob]

Like hamhorn, Walt Fondren was my first childhood idol. Royal inherited a 1-9 team in 1957, and I believe that Fondren was a major reason that Darrell was able to turn things around. My memories are dim...I was only 10 that year, but we had only a few good players, and Fondren was one of them. We had a back, Rene Ramirez who was also a hero of mine. Twin brothers Will and Wes Wyman were "gangsta" 50 years before the term was coined. Those twins from McCallum High School in Austin made people hurt.

Guys like these, the few good players Royal inherited, played a major roll in bringing us back to the quality football that Texas had earlier enjoyed under D.X. Bible. Fondren is a major reason we are where we are today.

 

[drborange]

R.I.P.

 

[ghost]

I heard the news of Fondren's passing this past weekend from my Mom. My grandfather coached him at Lamar HS, which won the 1953 state championship. She ran into one of the other players from that team while we were at lunch on Saturday and that's when I found out about the death.

 

[yelladawgdem]

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[parkerco]

So he was the starting QB for Texas and a multi-millionaire? now that is a truly charmed life.

 

[Texas Rugby]