December 6, 1969, 50 years ago: One of college football's occasional "Games of the Century" is played.
NOTE: This was the same day as the disastrous Altamont concert outside San Francisco.
They seemed to be coming every year. 1966 saw Michigan State vs. Notre Dame, in the Big Ten region if not a Big Ten game in its own right. 1967 saw USC vs. UCLA, in the league now known as the Pac-12. Now, it was Texas vs. Arkansas, for the Championship of the Southwest Conference.
Darrell Royal had been a quarterback under Bud Wilkinson at the University of Oklahoma. He never played pro football, but went into coaching. His 1st head coaching job was with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League of 1953. He must have gotten tired of the cold, because he went to Mississippi State University in 1954, and the University of Washington in 1956.
In 1957, he was hired at the University of Texas, one of Oklahoma's main rivals. By 1963, he had made Texas National Champions. In 1967, he installed the wishbone offense, and made his team nearly unstoppable. They won or shared the SWC title in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1968.
They roared through the 1969 season, hanging 69 points on Texas Christian (TCU), 56 each on Navy and Baylor, 49 each on Texas A&M and Texas Tech, and 45 on Southern Methodist (SMU). But they only played 1 ranked team all season, beating Number 8 Oklahoma, 27-17 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. After beating A&M away on Thanksgiving Day, they were 9-0, and ranked Number 1 in the nation. They went into the game with an 18-game winning streak, their last loss to Texas Tech early in the 1968 season.
Frank Broyles had also been a college quarterback, at Georgia Tech, but not a pro one. He got his 1st head coaching job in 1957, at the University of Missouri. After just 1 year, the University of Arkansas was impressed enough to hire him away.
At the time, the Southwest Conference had 9 teams, and Arkansas, in Fayetteville, was the only 1 of them not in the State of Texas. The others were: Texas, in Austin; Texas A&M, in College Station; Texas Tech, in Lubbock; Texas Christian University (TCU), in Fort Worth; Southern Methodist University (SMU), in Dallas; Baylor, in Waco; and 2 schools in Houston, Rice University and the University of Houston.
But Broyles' Razorbacks held their own, winning the SWC title in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965 and 1968, and taking the National Championship in a split poll in 1964. (Alabama won the other poll.) Future Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson and owner Jerry Jones played on his '64 National Champions.
Arkansas also had a fabulous season in 1969. Its offense wasn't as high-powered, but they scored 55 points on the University of Tulsa, 52 on Wichita State, 39 on Oklahoma State, 35 on Texas A&M, 33 on Texas Tech, and 30 on Rice. After beating Texas Tech on Thanksgiving, they were 9-0, and ranked Number 2, behind only Texas. They went into the game with a 15-game winning streak, their last loss being to Texas the season before.
The 1969 season marked the 100th Anniversary of college football, with Rutgers having beaten Princeton in the first game in 1869. Beano Cook, then an executive with ABC Sports, suggested moving the Texas-Arkansas game, normally played in October, to the 1st weekend in December, a week after most other teams had finished playing. The teams agreed, because it meant the entire country would be focused on their game, not on another.
And moving the game turned out to be a lucky break. Because, on November 22, Ohio State, defending National Champions and ranked Number 1, were upset by their arch-rivals, Michigan, handing Michigan the Big 10 title. That moved Texas up to Number 1 and Arkansas up to Number 2, without either of them even playing. All each team had to do was win their respective game on Thanksgiving, which they did: The 'Horns beat A&M 49-12, and the Hogs beat Texas Tech 33-0.
And so, on Saturday, December 6, 47,500 people shoehorned themselves into Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. That was about 5,000 above normal capacity at the time, and later expansions have made it now a 76,000-seat facility.
Razorback Stadium, 1969. The practice fields in the upper left corner
are where Marine One landed, depositing Nixon.
Among those 47,500 fans, his Marine One helicopter landing on an adjacent practice field a few minutes before the scheduled kickoff, was the nation's Number 1 football fan, a former offensive lineman at Whittier College outside Los Angeles, the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. He had said that week that he would give a plaque to the winning coach, declaring them the National Champions. Of course, this was before the New Year's Day bowl games could have messed that up.
Also among the fans was the Rev. Billy Graham, who delivered a pregame prayer over the public address system. Graham had a degree from Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, hometown of football legend Red Grange, although Grange went to the University of Illinois.
Not among the fans was Bill Clinton, then 23 years old, himself a future President, and a future Governor of Arkansas. At some point during his political career, a rumor got out that he had watched the game for free from a tree. The rumor grew, until it involved him flashing Nixon, or holding up an antiwar sign in front of Nixon. But he was then a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University in England, left to listen to the game on the Armed Forces Radio Network.
One time, while he was Governor, a man asked him if it was true he had heckled Nixon that day. Clinton was forced to deny it, and, disappointed, the man said, "That's one of the reasons I voted for you!"
At the time, both schools had racially integrated student bodies, but all-white football team rosters, all-white bands, and all-white cheerleading corps. How many black fans were in the stands is unknown, but the number probably wasn't very large. In 2002, Terry Frei, who has written many books about football, published one about this game, fittingly titled Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming: Texas vs. Arkansas in Dixie's Last Stand, pointing out that, the last month of the 1960s, this was the last major all-white sporting event in America.
It was only 38 degrees at kickoff, and there was still some fog after an early morning rain when the game kicked off at 12:00 noon Central Time (1:00 PM Eastern Time). The game had to be held that early, because Razorback Stadium didn't yet have lights.
Broyles offered to move the game to War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, which was a secondary home for the Razorbacks, did have lights, was a larger stadium, was in the central part of the State and thus closer to most people in Arkansas, and was closer to Austin, thus making it an easier roadtrip for the Texas fans. But ABC rejected this idea, dismissing that stadium's lights as not bright enough.
Arkansas, in red, kicked off, and benefited from Texas, wearing white, fumbling the ball away on their 2nd play from scrimmage. The Razorbacks converted that into a touchdown run by Bill Burnett. Their 7-0 lead held through halftime.
(If you get a chance to see this game, on a nostalgia network or online, you'll miss the 1st Arkansas touchdown: ABC only managed to save the last 3 quarters of their broadcast. The full game should be available on film.)
The Hogs started the 2nd half by driving through the Longhorn defense, resulting in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Bill Montgomery to Chuck Dicus. With 9:06 left in the 3rd quarter, it was Arkansas 14, Texas 0. And the Longhorns hadn't yet looked like scoring on the afternoon. This "Game of the Century" was not yet living up to the hype.
On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, Texas quarterback James Street made a 42-yard dash for a touchdown. Now, it was 14-6 Razorbacks. Royal, remembering the 1966 "Game of the Century" between Michigan State and Notre Dame that ended in a 10-10 tie, chose to go for a 2-point conversion. Street got over the goal line, to make it 14-8.
The Hogs were not fazed. On their next drive, Montgomery took them down to the Texas 7-yard line. But on 3rd and goal, his pass was intercepted in the end zone by Danny Lester. Had it merely been incomplete, a chip-shot field goal would have made it 17-8, a 2-score game, and probably cinched it for Arkansas.
Instead, it was still 14-8, and, with 4:47 left, Royal rolled the dice again, going for it on 4th and 3 from his own 43. Street threw to Randy Peschel, who caught it and took it deep, to the Arkansas 13. Two plays later, Jim Bertelsen scored a touchdown. The extra point by James "Happy" Feller gave the Longhorns a 15-14 lead. Now, with 3:58 left, the game was living up to the hype.
Arkansas refused to fold. They got to the Texas 40, and Campbell let a pass loose, but it was intercepted by Tom Campbell on the Texas 21 with under a minute to go. The Longhorns ran out the clock, and were 15-14 victors.
In the Longhorn locker room, ABC cameras captured Nixon's presentation of his National Championship plaque to Royal. But the bowl games were still left to play. Texas still had to beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to truly be National Champions. They did, coming back from 10-0 down to win 21-17.
Nixon gives Royal the plaque. Number 24 is tailback Ted Koy.
Number 16 is quarterback James Street.
Arkansas went to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and lost again, to Mississippi, 27-22. USC, undefeated at 9-0-1, beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. Undefeated and untied Penn State rose to Number 2 after Arkansas' loss to Texas, and won the Orange Bowl in Miami, 10-3 over Missouri, the Big 8 Champions and previously undefeated and untied.
Being undefeated, but with a tie, USC did not claim to be National Champions over Texas. Undefeated and untied Penn State did, and felt robbed when both the AP and UPI published final polls listing Texas at Number 1 and Penn State at Number 2.
Penn State have no case. They had their chance. The Cotton Bowl committee invited Penn State, hoping to set up a Number 1 vs. Number 2 matchup with the SWC Champion, regardless of whether it turned out to be Texas or Arkansas. But Joe Paterno figured it wouldn't be Number 1 vs. Number 2, because Ohio State were still Number 1, and turned them down.
Paterno later said, "I've wondered how President Nixon could know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969." Nixon died in 1994, before everyone found out that Joe Paterno was a lesser human being, and presided over more felonies, than Tricky Dick.
James Street was also a pitcher on the Longhorn baseball team, and pitched a perfect game. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians, but got hurt, and never played in the major leagues, nor in professional football. He became a successful settlement planner. He died in 2013, having lived to see his son, Huston Street, become a star major league reliever.
Happy Feller kicked in the NFL for Philadelphia in 1971 and New Orleans in 1972 and '73. As of December 6, 2019, he is still alive.
In 1970, Julius Whittier became the 1st black football player at the University of Texas. In 1972, the Longhorns had 1 touchdown pass all season long. Whittier caught it, in their Thanksgiving win over Texas A&M. He became a lawyer, and died in 2018.
Darrell Brown had tried to be the 1st black player at Arkansas, and played for their freshman team in 1965, but broke his ankle, and was unable to play a varsity down. Like Whittier, he became a lawyer, and died in 2015.
Due to Brown's injury, Arkansas didn't integrate until 1974, after every other school in the SWC and the Southeastern Conference had already done so. Leotis Harris was a guard, and played for their 1977 team that nearly won the National Championship. He played 6 seasons for the Green Bay Packers, and is still alive.
"A lot of other coaches from other schools used to talk about that Coach Broyles wouldn't have a black player on his team," Harris said. He found otherwise: "He was a fair guy. Some people said some things about him, about the black-white thing, but he was just a great man."
Broyles and Royal both retired as head coach after the 1976 season. Royal remained the Longhorns' athletic director until 1980, and lived until 2012. Broyles remained the Razorbacks' athletic director until 2007, and lived until 2017.
And that plaque that Nixon gave Royal? Well, it turns out, Nixon only posed with Royal and the plaque. He didn't give it to Royal. He said he would take it back to Washington, and have "TEXAS LONGHORNS" engraved above the words "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS."
After that, it disappeared. No one knows where it is. The UT athletic department denies that it has possession. No player on the 1969 Longhorn team claims to have it, either. Nor does Royal's widow, Edith. Nor does the Nixon Presidential Library. Nor does the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, which was then being built across from Texas' Memorial Stadium. Nor does the White House. Nor does the National Archives. Nor does the Smithsonian Institution. Nor does the College Football Hall of Fame. Nor does the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Bill Little, the Texas football program's official historian, said on the game's 50th Anniversary in 2019, "No one's seen it in 50 years." Cotton Speyrer, a receiver on that Texas team, suggested, "Some Penn State fan had probably gotten the plaque and thrown it into Lake Erie." (Hayden Fox and Jack Geller, noted throwers of football-related things into lakes, couldn't be reached for comment.)
In 2019, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the game, a replica of the plaque was made, and put on display at the Longhorn Hall of Fame, in the north end zone of what's now named Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
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