The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorn Hall of Honor: Lance Gunn
11.15.2011 | Texas Athletics
Nov. 15, 2011
Natalie England, TexasSports.com
For much of former Texas Longhorns safety Lance Gunn's life, football was his guiding force. It guided him to the Forty Acres and the Texas Longhorns, where he grew into an All-American safety and later was
drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League.
Somewhere along the way, though, family intervened.
Gunn played with the Bengals, New Orleans Saints and the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe, and then his father became ill in the summer of 1996. Gunn made the decision to donate a kidney to his father in the spring of 1997, thus ending his football playing career.
"I felt very fortunate to be able to add that quality to my dad's life, the person who gave me life," Gunn said. "It was a no-brainer decision."
That decision also allowed Gunn to employ the marketing degree he earned from UT in 1993. He's now a sales director for Frito-Lay in central Texas. He still spends his weekends on the playing field, only now as a supportive father and coach for his children's teams. Gunn met his wife, Tracey, while at UT, and they have two children. Daughter Taegen, is 10, and son Tynan, 8.
They'll be as excited as any to go onto the field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium when Gunn is honored during the Kansas State game for his induction into the Longhorn Men's Hall of Honor.
"I'm looking forward to that because I think they're just now starting to piece some of that together. We've shown them some tape of when I was playing," Gunn said. "But especially now since they're both involved with sports -- volleyball and basketball, and football. So I think they're starting to say, 'Hey wait a minute. You played?' So that's pretty cool. So this comes at a good time because they're old enough to have a better understanding. My son's thrilled about getting a chance to go on the field."
Gunn was an athletic and dynamic defender during his day with the Longhorns. An All-American in 1992, Gunn is also one of the few three-time All-Southwest Conference selections of the modern era.
As a sophomore in 1990, Gunn was one of the leaders on the team that won the SWC and finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the country. He led the Longhorns in interceptions with five in 1991 and tied for the lead in blocked kicks in 1992.
Through his four-year career, Gunn totaled 298 tackles, 188 of them solo, six sacks, and 15 quarterback pressures. He also had a career-high 16 tackles against Texas A&M as a senior in 1992.
The Longhorns also recorded four-straight victories against rival Oklahoma during Gunn's Texas tenure.
"That game was a lot of fun. The big crowd, the excitement associated with that," Gunn said. "I really played on some pretty good defenses. There were a few years where we were just about as good as anybody in the country. So the bond you have with those guys, even now, we see each other. That's nice. There's no doubt about that."
Gunn was selected in the seventh round by Cincinnati in 1993, and he played a season with the Bengals. After stints in New Orleans and playing in Europe for the Frankfurt Galaxy, Gunn was considering playing football in Canada to earn his way back to the NFL. Then his father became ill.
"The timing obviously was right. Everybody wants to play as long as they can, and certainly I had the chance to go and do some things, or bounce back," Gunn said. "When we started talking and then we were talking about donors and all that stuff, I was like, 'Why don't I get tested?' And he was like, 'No, you don't need to do that. You're still trying to play.' And I said, 'Dad, maybe it's time to go do something else.'"
Gunn has found, however, that his ties to The University have followed him to the NFL, to Europe and now in his sales career.
"You're connected to it. It's part of you," Gunn said. "That's the way it is."
