The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Bill Little commentary: The road to No. 1 (as told by Dan Jenkins)
08.07.2013 | Football, Bill Little Commentary
Following the Longhorns’ strong seasons of 1961 and 1962, Texas drew a lot of attention as the autumn of 1963 approached.
Bill Little's note: Following the Longhorns' strong seasons of 1961 and 1962, Texas drew a lot of attention as the autumn of 1963 approached. But while prognosticators across the country generally had UT among their top ten teams nationally, only one publication actually crawled out on a limb and picked Texas as No. 1 in the country in preseason.
In the early 1960s, arguably the greatest collection of sports writers ever assembled were coming out of Texas. Among the leaders was Dan Jenkins, a young TCU alum who had risen from the star-studded sports staff of the Fort Worth Press (which produced several of the top sports journalists in the business) to become the lead college football writer for Sports Illustrated -- the nation's premier sports magazine.
In the magazine's college football preseason issue in 1963, Jenkins tabbed the Longhorns as the eventual national champions.
Since that time, Jenkins has gone on to become one of the most famous sports authors in the country, publishing best-selling books and memorable newspaper and magazine articles. This coming January, Doubleday Books will publish Dan's latest book. We asked him to tell us a little about why he chose Texas No. 1, and this was his response.
Much of what you ask about the '63 Horns is in a chapter of my new book that will be out sometime after the first of the year. It's called "His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir." It's basically a journey through the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald, SI, Playboy, and Golf Digest.
But without giving much of it away, allow me to babble a moment.
When I got to SI in 1963 and was made the college football writer, the magazine had not done a pre-season forecast in three years. This was because Herman Hickman followed by Red Grange had never made a decent prediction -- ever. One example: In Hickman's last year he picked Baylor as a national contender and the Bears went 3-6-1 and SI had suffered much embarrassment.
Thus, my picking Texas had a lot on the line for me personally. When I called Darrell [Royal] to tell him I was picking him No. 1, he said, "Have you looked at our schedule?"
I said, "Of course."
He said, "Then you know we play Oklahoma and Arkansas back to back and on the road."
I said, "I noticed that."
He said, "Good. I was afraid you might have lost your eyesight."
He went on to say, "Everybody we play, their eyes are gonna be rolled up like BBs and they're gonna come at us like real angry people"
I said, "Coach, that's how your team plays, and it's why I'm picking you No. 1."
When I covered OU beating USC the second week of the season in Los Angeles, the Sooners' Joe Don Looney and Ralph Neely and others almost gave me a medical condition.
"What have I done?" I asked myself. But after suffering a lot of pregame ridicule from various colleagues, the Horns turned the OU game into a laugher, and I thought I might be home free.
My biggest sweat was the Baylor game later on. I'd made it even worse when I quoted Darrell in an earlier piece saying, "Baylor has no football tradition to brag about, and their fans are the kind of people who wear green socks."
So of course, 20,000 Baylor fans showed up in Memorial Stadium wearing green socks, and Don Trull and Larry Ellkins made Darrell's life -- and mine -- miserable for four quarters.
I stood with Jones Ramsey (Texas' Sports Information Director) in the press box when Baylor made that 78-yard drive in the last moments down to Texas 19-yard line, with the Horns holding dearly to a 7-0 lead.
Jones was a lot sharper in the moment of decision than I was. A few seconds after Duke Carlisle came from 12 or 15 yards away to make that leaping interception in front of Elkins in the end zone -- greatest interception in UT history -- Jones said, "Like Darrell says, three things can happen when you throw a pass, and two of 'em are bad."
I wasn't hoisted on shoulders and carried down the hall at SI for being a genius until the Horns beat Navy in the Cotton Bowl.
Obviously, that national championship wasn't as much fun for me as it was the UT players and coaches, but for a rookie prognosticator and lowly sportswriter, it was a season I'd always remember better than what I had for dinner last night.
--Dan Jenkins
