Wikipedia

Darrell Royal

Darrell K Royal(July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an Americangridiron footballplayer and coach. He served as the head football coach atMississippi State University(1954–1955), theUniversity of Washington(1956), and theUniversity of Texas(1957–1976), compiling a careercollege footballrecord of 184–60–5. In his 20 seasons at Texas, Royal's teams won threenational championships(1963, 1969, and 1970), 11Southwest Conferencetitles, and amassed a record of 167–47–5. He won more games than any other coach inTexas Longhorns footballhistory. Royal also coached theEdmonton Eskimosof theCanadian Football League(CFL) for one season in 1953. He never had a losing season as a head coach for his entire career. Royal was an All-American at theUniversity of Oklahoma,where he played football from 1946 to 1949. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fameas a coach in 1983.Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial StadiuminAustin, Texas,where the Longhorns play their home games, was renamed in his honor in 1996.

Darrell Royal
Royal in 1966
Biographical details
Born(1924-07-06)July 6, 1924
Hollis, Oklahoma,U.S.
DiedNovember 7, 2012(2012-11-07)(aged 88)
Austin, Texas,U.S.
Playing career
1946–1949Oklahoma
Position(s)Quarterback,defensive back
Coaching career (HCunless noted)
1950NC State(assistant)
1951Tulsa(assistant)
1952Mississippi State(off. backs)
1953Edmonton Eskimos
1954–1955Mississippi State
1956Washington
1957–1976Texas
Administrative career (ADunless noted)
1962–1980Texas
Head coaching record
Overall184–60–5 (college)
Bowls8–7–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
  • 3national(1963, 1969, 1970)
  • 11SWC(1959, 1961–1963, 1968–1973, 1975)
Awards
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1983 (profile)

Early life

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"K" was Royal's given middle name, not an abbreviation. He received it in honor of his mother, Katy, who died when he was an infant. She died ofcancer,but because of the stigma surrounding the disease at that time, Royal was led to believe until he was an adult that she had died giving birth to him.[1]

Playing career

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In 1942, duringWorld War II,Royal finishedHollis High School,where he had playedfootball.He joined theUnited States Army Air Corps,where he played football for the 3rd Air Force team during 1945 and was spotted and recruited by scouts for theUniversity of Oklahoma Sooners football program.[2]He playedquarterbackanddefensive backat theUniversity of Oklahomaunder his mentor, coachBud Wilkinson,from 1946 to 1949. While attending Oklahoma, he joined theDelta Upsilonfraternity.

Royal was most noted for his prowess as a defensive back, where his 18 career interceptions and his three interceptions in the 1947 game againstOklahoma A&M(nowOklahoma State) are still Sooner records.[3][4]

Royal's part-time contributions as quarterback had a similar impact, despite the fact that he shared time withJack Mitchelland Claude Arnold at the position. He threw a 43-yard pass againstNorth Carolinain the1949 Sugar Bowl.Royal holds the fourth-best winning percentage in school history (minimum 15 starts) with a 16–1 mark as a part-time quarterback starter. His 11–0 mark as astarterin 1949 ranks as one of the best seasons in school history.[3][4]

In 1992, Royal was inducted into theOklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.[5]

Coaching career

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Early positions

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Royal served as an assistant coach atNorth Carolina State,TulsaandMississippi State.He coached theEdmonton Eskimosof theCanadian Football League,and in1954,he returned to Mississippi State for his first collegiate head coaching job.[6]After two seasons, he left forWashingtonin thePacific Coast Conference,[7][8]but stayed inSeattlefor less than ten months.

University of Texas

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Royal took over as head coach at theUniversity of Texas(UT) on December 18, 1956.[9]The team went from a 1–9 record in1956,their worst record ever, to a 6–4–1 mark in1957and a berth in theSugar Bowl.Within two years, Royal had the Longhorns in theCotton Bowlas the number-four team in the country. In Royal's 20 years as head coach, Texas never had a losing season. Royal posted a 167–47–5 (.774) record at Texas, and his overall record was 184–60–5 (.749). Some of his most memorable games were against theArkansas Razorbacks,and fellow College Football Hall of Fame head coachFrank Broyles.

With Royal at the helm, Texas won the school's first three national championships (1963,1969and1970), won or shared 11Southwest Conferencechampionships, and made 16bowlappearances. His 1963 and 1969 teams finished the season undefeated and untied—something no Longhorn team would do again until2005.

Royal's teams were known for being very run-oriented. The quote, "Three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad," is often attributed to Royal, but Royal himself attributed it to another run-first coach,Woody Hayes.[10]

Royal's coaching tactics were the subject of criticism in Gary Shaw's exposé of college football recruiting and coaching practices,Meat on the Hoof,which was published in 1972, six years after Shaw left the Texas football program.[11]

Beginning in 1962, Royal also served as Texas'athletic director.He retired from coaching in 1976 and remained director of athletics until 1980. He then served as special assistant to the university president on athletic programs.

During his tenure, Royal oversaw theintegration of African-Americansinto the UT athletics program. At that time, while UT began admitting black students in 1956 and opening the athletics program to them in 1963, there were no black student-athletes well into the late 1960s.

In a confidential University of Texas memo dated November 10, 1959 which related to how various coaches at the university felt about black players, it was stated that "Coach Royal has coached Negro students, but says they create problems. White players particularly resented Negro boys coming in their room and lounging on their beds. Darrell was quite pronounced in not wanting any Negroes on his team until other Southwest Conference teams admit them and until the housing problem is solved or conditions change."[12]

In 2005, Royal retrospectively noted that "things they are a-changing. But they weren't changing that quickly around here at the time."[13]He offered a scholarship toJulius Whittier(1950-2018) ofSan Antonioafter the last recipient dropped out due to poor academic performance, and Whittier became the first black student-athlete to play for theTexas Longhorns footballteam. Whittier went on to graduate from theLyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairsin 1976 with a master's degree and worked as a chief prosecutor with theDallasDistrict Attorney's Office.[14][15]

Royal also coachedFreddie Steinmark,who was a member of the 1969 Longhorns National Championship team and subsequently died from bone cancer. Steinmark has been the topic of several books and a 2015 movie,My All Americanwhere Royal was portrayed byAaron Eckhart.

In 1996, the University honored Royal by renaming Texas Memorial Stadium asDarrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.[16]Royal was elected to theCollege Football Hall of Famein 1983.[17]

Coach Royal was famous for the inspirationalRoyalismshe deployed as motivational tools. These sayings include:

  • "God gives talent, size, speed. But a guy can control how hard he tries."
  • "I want to be remembered as a winning coach, but I also want to be remembered as an honest and ethical coach."
  • "You've got to think lucky. If you fall into a mud hole, check your back pocket—you might have caught a fish."
  • "Punt returns will kill you quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper."
  • "Don't matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games."[18]

Late life and death

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Royal spent his retired years enjoying life with his wife, Edith, and close friends such as former presidentLyndon B. Johnson[citation needed]and noted musicianWillie Nelson.He enjoyed playing golf and spending time in nature. In 1991, Royal paid $117,350 for Willie Nelson'sPedernales Country Clubafter it was seized by theIRSdue to Nelson's tax debt.[19]He, along with professionalbaseballplayerPete Runnels,also helped found a co-ed summer camp, Camp Champions inMarble Falls, Texas,which is still in existence today.

Royal died on November 7, 2012, due to complications of Alzheimer's disease.[20][21]He is interred at theTexas State CemeteryinAustin, Texas.

Royal was survived by his wife Edith (b. 1925), whom he married on July 26, 1944. They have a son, Sammy Mack, and two predeceased children, Marian Royal Kazen (1945–73) and David Wade Royal (1952–82), both of whom died in automobile-related accidents.[21]

Head coaching record

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College

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Mississippi State Bulldogs(Southeastern Conference)(1954–1955)
1954 Mississippi State 6–4 3–3 T–6th
1955 Mississippi State 6–4 4–4 6th
Mississippi State: 12–8 7–7
Washington Huskies(Pacific Coast Conference)(1956)
1956 Washington 5–5 4–4 T–4th
Washington: 5–5 4–4
Texas Longhorns(Southwest Conference)(1957–1976)
1957 Texas 6–4–1 4–1–1 2nd LSugar 11 11
1958 Texas 7–3 3–3 4th
1959 Texas 9–2 5–1 T–1st LCotton 4 4
1960 Texas 7–3–1 5–2 T–2nd TBluebonnet 17
1961 Texas 10–1 6–1 T–1st WCotton 4 3
1962 Texas 9–1–1 6–0–1 1st LCotton 4 4
1963 Texas 11–0 7–0 1st WCotton 1 1
1964 Texas 10–1 6–1 2nd WOrange 5 5
1965 Texas 6–4 3–4 T–4th
1966 Texas 7–4 5–2 2nd WBluebonnet
1967 Texas 6–4 4–3 T–3rd
1968 Texas 9–1–1 6–1 T–1st WCotton 5 3
1969 Texas 11–0 7–0 1st WCotton 1 1
1970 Texas 10–1 7–0 1st LCotton 1 3
1971 Texas 8–3 6–1 1st LCotton 12 18
1972 Texas 10–1 7–0 1st WCotton 5 3
1973 Texas 8–3 7–0 1st LCotton 8 14
1974 Texas 8–4 5–2 T–2nd LGator 17
1975 Texas 10–2 6–1 T–1st WAstro-Bluebonnet 7 6
1976 Texas 5–5–1 4–4 5th
Texas: 167–47–5 109–27–2
Total: 184–60–5
National championshipConference titleConference division title or championship game berth

Canadian football

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Team Year Regular season Postseason
Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
EDM 1953 12 4 0 .750 1st inWIFU 1 2 .333 Lost in WIFU Final 1–2
Total 12 4 0 .750 1 2 .333

See also

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References

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  1. ^Dingus, Anne (September 1996)."Darrell Royal".TexasMonthly.com.RetrievedJune 13,2006.
  2. ^"Darrell Royal".Horatio Alger Association.1996. Archived fromthe originalon April 15, 2013.
  3. ^ab"2006 Oklahoma Sooners Media Guide"(PDF).Soonersports.com.University of Oklahoma Athletic Department.p. 153. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on July 18, 2007.RetrievedAugust 22,2007.
  4. ^ab"Oklahoma Sooners Record Book".Soonerstats.com. 2007.
  5. ^"Royal, Darrell, Inducted 1992 – Football".Archived fromthe originalon April 15, 2013.RetrievedOctober 12,2012.
  6. ^"Season Results".CFDW. Archived fromthe originalon July 6, 2009.RetrievedSeptember 26,2009.
  7. ^"Royal hired as UW coach".Spokesman-Review.(Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 29, 1956. p. 21.
  8. ^"Royal gets 4-year contract; $17,000".Eugene Register-Guard.(Oregon). Associated Press. March 1, 1956. p. 3D.
  9. ^United Press, “Royal Named New Texas Coach,” The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 19 December 1956, Volume LXII, Number 94, page 24.
  10. ^Jones, Todd (September 9, 2006). "Royal took Longhorns from oblivion to No. 1".The Columbus Dispatch.
  11. ^Butts, Mike."Tarnished Legends".Austin Chronicle.RetrievedSeptember 30,2006.
  12. ^Price, Asher (August 30, 2021)."Memo Shows UT Coaches Wanted to Keep Black Players off Their Teams".Texas Monthly.
  13. ^Drape, Joe (December 23, 2005)."Changing the Face of Texas Football".The New York Times.
  14. ^"First African-American to Play UT Football, LBJ School Alum Julius Whittier Visits Longhorn Team; Shares Personal Story About Becoming an LBJ School Student".utexas.edu.December 1, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon October 13, 2014.
  15. ^"Changing the Field: Integrating Athletics at UT".utexas.edu.February 10, 2014.
  16. ^"Darrell K. Royal Renovates Memorial Stadium (1969)".Texas Archive of the Moving Image.RetrievedNovember 17,2019.
  17. ^"Darrell Royal".College Football Hall of Fame.Football Foundation.RetrievedOctober 12,2012.
  18. ^McEachern, Jenna Hays (2012).DKR: The Royal Scrapbook.Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 192.ISBN978-0-292-70493-0.
  19. ^Dingus, Anne (September 15, 1996). "Darrell Royal".Texas Monthly.
  20. ^Goldstein, Richard (November 7, 2012). "Darrell Royal, Texas Coach Who Pioneered Wishbone Offense, Dies at 88".The New York Times.
  21. ^ab"Darrell Royal meant more than wins".ESPN.November 7, 2012.
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