The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Doug English
04.16.2002 | Football
Recently, Mack Brown-TexasFootball.com had the opportunity to catch up with former UT defensive tackle Doug English (1972-74). In his final season as a Longhorn, English earned All-America honors after helping lead UT to an 8-4 record, a second-place finish in the Southwest Conference (5-2) and a berth in the Gator Bowl against No. 6 Auburn. Following the year, he was named the Longhorns' Most Valuable Player. The Dallas native was then drafted in the second round of the 1975 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. English went on to have an illustrious 11-year professional career from 1975-85 in which he was a four-time Pro Bowl selection (1979, '82-84). These days, English resides in Austin with his wife and two children, runs his own business and is actively involved in all of UT's former letterwinners activities throughout the year. Two years ago, he helped create the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation, an organization that does spinal cord injury research. To view the organization's official Web site, click here.
Can you tell me a little about what the Letterman's Roundup means, not only to you, but to all the former Longhorns? Well, Coach Brown is a very smart man and he's done some really smart things beginning the second he got here. Maybe the smartest thing he's done has been reaching out to all the major traditions at Texas. One of those has been gathering all of us old has-beens together for this type of deal.
Can you give me a couple of you fondest memories from your playing days at UT? There are so many. It's hard, but a couple of memories jump out at me. I remember my first start of my sophomore year was against Oklahoma. We walked down that tunnel in the Cotton Bowl and it was like walking right into a solid wall of sound. I guess Coach Patterson knew me pretty well. He was waiting for it and knew it was going to happen to me. Maybe he saw me hesitate or maybe he was planning it all along, but he snuck up behind me and said while looking around up at the stands, 'Ain't no place for a timid man, is it?' He just kept walking and I was fine after that.
What does it mean to have the pride of a Longhorn? Well, pride is something that is so important because it's earned two ways. The institution in which you have pride has to earn that pride and has to do things that you are proud of. As an individual, you have to be true to that institution and yourself in order to justify that pride. Maybe that's what makes pride such an important commodity and what makes the pride of the Longhorns so special.
What does the UT program mean to you as a former player? When I was in Detroit, there were a handful of college teams that when we'd get a rookie from one of those teams, the veterans kind of wanted to get a look at the guy. The heads would turn when that guy walked in the locker room so to speak. The University of Texas was definitely one of those schools. There are other tremendously successful programs that don't have that personality, that aura about it. Texas is a very special place and it always bothers me when anyone treats it in a way other than that.
What has impressed you about the job Coach Brown has done in his four years at Texas? Well, Coach Brown turned the program around. We've had five stellar recruiting years as you know, and as a parent, when my son is 18 years old and if he chooses football as a career and somebody comes to my door to talk to him about molding him for the next four to five years, I want it to be a Coach Brown or a Coach Royal. I know that these parents, when they meet Coach Brown, don't have any question that their son is going to be guided, molded and led in a way that they'll be proud of. I think that's probably the biggest factor in the success he's had recruiting. Leadership has probably been the most subtle, but the most powerful, and that is his ability to bring the supporters, fans, alumni, lettermen, band, cheerleaders, training staff all together on one page. It's not a them or us situation anywhere down the line and that takes leadership and Coach Brown does that without even trying.
What are you up to these days? When I got out of football, I had the good fortune to open a Mexican food restaurant that turned into three restaurants (El Arroyo) with a friend of mine. I had those restaurants for eight-and-a-half years and that was a lot of fun. I later sold out of them. I think when I had kids, I got ready to do something else and got with another friend who happens to be a former NFL All-Pro defensive lineman with the Chargers and we started a company called Pro Line Warehouse and Distribution. What else would two old pro linemen name their trucking line? That's been quite a ride for us. We've been in business for six years and 98 percent of what we handle is high-tech components, most of it in bound for Dell, but some programs for other high tech companies in this area. We've had a lot of success and I've been very blessed my entire life with my football career and my business career afterwards.
What about your family? I have a little 6-year-old son and a 10-year old little girl. If you take football, my business and all of the wonderful things that have happened to me and wrap them up in one gigantic ball, it doesn't even compare to those two little ones. They're the most important things going on in my life right now. Rachel plays piano and makes straight As, does gymnastics, is a girl scout and really a great kid. She looks like my wife, fortunately for all of us. Blake likes sports and he just finished his first season in basketball. He tried soccer last year and just had his first T-ball game, so that's exciting. He loves watching sports on TV. He's a good kid, does well in school and is just a real joy to be around.
Can you tell us a little about Lone Star Paralysis Foundation, the organization you founded for spinal cord injury research? My foundation is quite an inspiration in itself. Kent (Waldrep) was a contemporary of mine at TCU and he broke his neck against Alabama in 1974. He really was one of the first people ever to look up from his chair at those doctors and say, 'No, you're wrong, I will walk again.' During the height of the Cold War, he went to Russia for a treatment that was illegal in the United States and regained use of part of his hands. Now he can drive his specially-equipped van, operate a computer and do a few other things. He basically has a little better quality of life.
My football career ended with a neck injury and Kent found out that there was a big difference between various types of treatment. With one treatment, you might walk again. With another, you might not walk again and that's not good. With my injury, I happened to have the very best medical treatment that money could buy because of the Ford family and the Detroit Lions, the location of Henry Ford Hospital and partially the luck of the draw. I got this neck operation that they're just now doing in the late '90s in 1985 and now I have this great neck and don't have a problem with it. I haven't had any residual pain or any sequential disk rupture. I'm in great shape Why? Because I had great treatment and that really opens your eyes that this is an area that needs funding and support, so these young active fun-loving people that hurt themselves diving into shallow water, riding horses, wrestling or falling off balance beams can get up and hug their kids and play with their families.
So the recovery from your neck injury opened your eyes and you knew that this was something that could be done? It got me very interested in spinal cord research. It hit pretty close to home. We've all lost loved ones to heart disease and cancer and those are ongoing battles that one day will be cured as well, but this is one that hit close to home to me, struck a nerve and I think it's a battle we can win.