The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
High Above the Game
02.04.2017 | Football
Longhorn Legend Tommy Nobis was the first-ever draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 1965.
The Texas Longhorn family lost one of its icons with the passing of Tommy Nobis.
The two-time All-America and three-time All-Southwest Conference offensive guard and linebacker proved pivotal to coach Darrell K Royal's first national championship team in 1963.
Nobis passed away on the morning of Wednesday, December 13, 2017.
Bill Little paid tribute to the Outland Trophy and Maxwell Award winner earlier this year.
There is something haunting about the sound of a solo saxophone, and as Texas Longhorn defensive lineman Don Talbert watched an artist named Mike Phillips play the National Anthem prior to the final NFL game ever in the Georgia Dome, it was the distant sight of a jersey on the television screen that got him. It was almost like a "God thing."
Perhaps few will remember, but there will be those who care that as Phillips held that signature note near the end of the song, the image Talbert saw over the musician's shoulder, hanging high in the rafters of the stadium, was a simple jersey:
"NOBIS," it said.
On Sunday, February 5, 2017, the Atlanta Falcons played in their second Super Bowl - long ago and far away from the day they drafted Tommy Nobis as the first overall pick in the 1966 NFL Draft, held on November 27, 1965. It is ironic that the Falcons will play the New England Patriots in Houston, because more than 50 years ago, Atlanta had won a battle with the Houston Oilers, who had chosen him first in the AFL draft before the two leagues merged. The Falcons were the new kids on the block, an expansion team of the NFL as pro football began to blossom in the country in the 1960s.
The ravages of time took their toll on Nobis, who set records and earned unmatched praise as one of the greatest linebackers the game had ever known.
In eleven professional seasons, he led the Falcons in tackles nine times, went to five Pro Bowls (one in 1972 after two knee surgeries), was named all-Pro twice and was chosen for the NFL's "All-Decade Team" for the 1960s despite playing on a team that won only 16 games in their first five years of existence, an average of just over three wins a year.
As it became painfully obvious that Tommy couldn't do it all by himself, he clearly was not only the "face" of the team, he WAS the team.
As the first member of the Atlanta Falcons, he gained the nickname of "Mr. Falcon." In his first season, he not only was chosen the NFL Rookie of the Year and was voted to the Pro Bowl, he amassed 294 combined tackles, which still stands as the team's all-time single-season record, and was unofficially the most tackles ever credited to one player in a season in NFL history, according to Wikipedia.
So impactful was Nobis to the Falcons that former head coach Norm Van Brocklin once pointed to Nobis' locker and said, "There's where our football team dresses." Larry Csonka, the great Miami Dolphin running back, once said "I'd rather play against Dick Butkus than Nobis."
Don Talbert was a Longhorn All-American in 1961, so his Texas career was ended by the time Nobis came on the scene at UT from San Antonio Jefferson. Yet that doesn't stop him from remembering today the prowess of his long-time friend.
"We knew he was a guy who would go sideline to sideline, and he never stopped." Talbert said.
At Texas, Nobis was an offensive guard and linebacker on the 1963 Longhorn team which claimed UT's first national championship. He went on to earn every honor available to a lineman during his next two seasons, even though a knee injury slowed him in 1965. He won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player and the Outland Trophy as the nation's best lineman. He is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame, the Longhorn Hall of Honor and the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame. His No. 60 jersey was the first retired by the Falcons, and he joins Earl Campbell, Bobby Layne, Ricky Williams, Vince Young and Colt McCoy as the only Longhorns to have their jerseys retired at Texas.
The same loyalty and solid principles that carried Tommy Nobis through his life may have actually cost him the one award that has eluded him all these years – induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Nobis signed with the Falcons, and played his entire career in Atlanta, where the struggles of the expansion team led to poor records and very little national exposure. Despite efforts by prominent former NFLers and media members, Nobis never got the call to come to the Pro Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
"There isn't much more one can say about Tommy Nobis," wrote the famed late sports columnist Furman Bisher. "In the glow of a winning team, where he would have been a star on the isolated camera, he would already have been residing in Canton. Here is a man who lives up to all the ideals I would establish for admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame."
Nobis' loyalty to the Falcons continued long after his playing career ended. For over 50 years, he remained "Mr. Falcon," first as a player and then working in the front office of the Falcons before retiring a few years ago.
His last appearance for The University came at the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, when he was asked to stand in to replace his old coach, Darrell Royal, as an honorary captain for Texas as a member of the NFF's College Football Hall of Fame at the coin toss of the game between the 'Horns and Ohio State. When Royal couldn't make the trip, he chose Nobis to fill the role.
It has been more than 50 years since Nobis stepped into Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta as a Falcon. The last game has been played in the Georgia Dome. It was demolished on November 20, 2017. They will find an appropriate place to display the Falcons' Ring of Honor in their new home.
But for Don Talbert, and the Longhorns who knew Tommy back in the day, the impact of this moment is not lost. The soulful sound of the solo saxophone will echo through the chambers of the mind, and the visual image of the distant jersey is seared on the heart, if not the soul.
The playing field is quiet now for Tommy Nobis, and now he will rest far away from the shouting and the tumult of gameday.
Those who saw him play will remember, and those who know him will care. The lady who came up with the Falcon as the name of the Atlanta mascot pretty well nailed it: "The Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight," she wrote. "It never drops its prey. It is deadly, and has a great sporting tradition."
And in that space, Nobis' jersey, lifted high, will hang in the mist of a distant past, where memories, and moments, never die.
Editor's note: This story has been updated from a version that appeared previously on TexasSports.com on Feb. 4, 2017.
