Football Texas Style by Kern Tips

[Phil C]

This book was published in 1964 and is about the SWC football from its' beginning to 1963. It has great insite in those years by a man whol lived it and was a regular radio broadcaster of those game for about 40 years. It is a book about all the teams and players in the SWC. I highly recomment you get it or read it by a library interloan. On page 204 there is a write up of SMU rb Johnny Roderick who played on the 1963 SMU team as a surprise. He was a track star that ran the 100 in about 9.4 but he played football to stay in shape. That year with his punt and kickoff returns as well as running for 146 personal yards was a big factor to SMU beating Navy during the regular season 32 to 28 for Navy's only loss during the regular season. It was a key win because had SMU not beat Navy the AP may have let them overtake Texas in the polls for No. 1 and then UT may not have proved they were really No. 1 in the Cotton Bowl which UT won 28 to 6 because Navy may have refused to play in a bowl game.
Pittsburgh wound up No. 3 in the country because Navy had beaten them during the regular season.

What was ironic was that after SMU took the lead in the game 32 to 28 Navy moved deep into SMU's territory lead by Navy QB Roger Stauback. On the last play of the game Stauback threw a pass to the endzone that was knocked down by an SMU defender preserving the win. Stauback was to lead the Dallas Cowboys to many last minute wins but he was not successful on this day against SMU.

[Phil C]

From 1917 to 1920 the Aggies had a great team during those 4 years with two perfect seasons with no points scored on them and only 2 losses and one tie. They were Coached By Dana X. Bible (who later coached at UT) and were lead mainly by a great 1916 freshman class. On page 24 there is an interesting tale of two football teams - one man.

In 1917 a sophomore named Kyle Elam helped preserve the Aggies long win streak against Baylor - a game the Aggies won 7 - 0. But on a pass play a Baylor receiver caught a ball and was running for a td with only Elam in front of him. Elam made a great flying tackle to stop the receiver and the defense held on for the win. Had he not done so Baylor would have got a td and may be a tie if they made the extra point.

Remember this was during the World War I years and transfers were not as strict and the rules were temporarily lax because of the war. In 1920 Kyle Elam is now a UT longhorn. In the game with A&M after the Aggies had another long non losing streak. UT was at the Aggie 11 yard line and Elam is credited with calling a pass to an eligible tackle that worked as UT got to the 4 yard line. After that UT scored and held on to win the game 7 to 0.

Ironic isn't it.

[carter08]

Great Information Phil :clap: :clap: :clap:

[dogdad]

I spent many hours listening to Kern Tips broadcast the SWC game of the week brought to you by the Humble Oil and Refining Co.
I also attended all the SMU home games in 1963 and watched Roderick play. SMU was fun to watch back in that era, because they had lesser athletes, but always had a scheme that gave fits to UT and the other powerhouse teams.
Hayden Fry was one of the most under-rated college coaches to ever pick up a whistle IMHO.