The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2018
- Class:
- 2018
A four-year letterwinner at linebacker, Bill Hamilton played on Darrell K Royal's last four teams at Texas, tutored by Royal's legendary defensive coach Mike Campbell. Hamilton came to Texas from Las Cruces, New Mexico as a quarterback, but a broken bone in his hand his freshman year initiated his highly successful move to linebacker. His 23 tackles versus Houston in 1976 tied a UT single-game record and still stands as the fifth-most tackles in a game in Longhorns history. Hamilton's 154 tackles that year rank fifth on the UT all-time list for most tackles in a season. He set a single-season record for forced fumbles with seven in 1975 and that record stood for 20 years before Derrick Johnson broke it in 2004. He ranked third on the team in tackles (123), recovered three fumbles and had two interceptions in addition to his record-setting seven forced fumbles for the 10-2 Longhorns in 1975. That team was Southwest Conference co-champions with a 6-1 record and knocked off No. 10 Colorado, 38-21, in the Bluebonnet Bowl to finish the year ranked sixth nationally. He had 13 tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception in the bowl game. Following his time as a student-athlete at Texas, Hamilton went on to become one of the most successful orthopedic surgeons in the state and is now among the chief surgeons at the highly respected Scott and White Hospital in Temple. Specializing in sports medicine, Hamilton graduated from Texas in the spring of 1977 and went on to earn his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1981.
