He is and will always be the Texas football coaching icon and the first name people think of when they think Texas Longhorn football. Thoughts and prayers for DKR and his family.
I know a former player who takes Coach out for Mexican food about every six weeks. Isn't that awesome? Prayers for Coach and Edith as they make this difficult journey. And for all whose lives are forever changed by this awful disease.
Alzheimer's is a horrible condition that robs people of their dignity and independence, but nothing will ever rob Coach Royal of his legacy at UT and elsewhere. If the initiative announced yesterday in his name contributes in even a small part to eventually finding a treatment for Alzheimer's, it will be Coach Royal's greatest victory. My thoughts and prayers are with Coach, his family, and his many thousands of friends. He will always be the standard by which all coaches at UT are measured.
This one hits close to home because my Father has Alzheimers. It is very difficult for everyone. I wrote a few things about it icluding this one: Leave My Father Alone You Bastard Alzheimer's What kind of name is that? Like some kind of aristocrat Yeah I'm talking to you Leave him alone You bastard You attacked his mind Then his dreams Finally his lover You won't let her sleep No You won't That's how you win Fatigue is your weapon You take their days And their nights You coward You know they are tired And old And demoralized And worried About help She calls With a tension filled voice Wondering what I will say Wondering if our next conversation Will destroy our relationship So What do you want? Why don't you just kill him? Well? Why don't you? But no You're too cruel for that That would be too easy You bastard You prefer to torture Silently And with no warning A man who lived A beautiful life All you do is destroy Everything you touch Not all at once But piece by piece Drip by drip So you may live A long time Because a parasite Needs its host To feed on a helpless mind Sucking the marrow Of consciousness While he suffers As do those who love him It's not good enough to kill him You want to kill us too You want us to abandon him To put him away Helplessly alone So you can finish the job Of carving the canyon Of fear And darkness Into his mind So he cannot walk Or talk Or sleep Or love Or know Who loves him Or needs him Yes You want all that To vanish From his life And then You want us next To fight And lose each other And him Because this disease Offers no answers Only pain Yes You bastard You want all of us Well f**k you That's right f**k YOU You won't win You may take his mind But you will not destroy his family His dignity Our compassion Or our love For him And for each other That's right You heard me And I know who's next That's why we're talking Because I'm ready for you C'mon You bastard
There are multiple forms of dementia and Alzheimer's dementia is the most common. Currently 1 in 8 older Americans, or 13.9% of Americans aged 71 or older have dementia. 43% of those 85 or older have AD. Coach Royal is 87 and this places him in the 43% category. I hope the best for Coach Royal and glad to know that he has such strong support from his family, friends, and community. This is a disease that we will continue to hear more and more about.
I had a great aunt who went through it. It's like the person died, but the body lives. It sucks the life out of the patient as well as the family. When she died, it was sad, but it was more of a relief.
Coach Royal was and is a real gentleman. My regards to his family. Bystander, same drill for my dad, age 87, formerly a mathematical genius and now a person who doesn't even read the newspaper. The disease is insidious and a source of extreme frustration and grief for the family.
I remember the coach I first met 45 years ago. It's sad that a life like his comes to this. God bless you Coach.
The story written in today's DMN is absolutely heartbreaking. Specifically the part where, after leaving a Texas function a few years ago, DKR asked his wife "Did I have something to do with that football team in the past?" DKR
Coach Royal is an all round great human being. Great and easy to talk to, takes time to speak with fans young or old. As already posted, he defined Texas football and is an icon in this state. Pratyers for him his family and eery family that this disease touches.
also, f**k espn. They're currently running a series on the Big XII blog where they're going to report on DKR Stadium, bringing in hits via DKR's namesake. Yet not a single story on this, on either the main page nor the Big XII blog. I wrote Ubben earlier today asking where the story on this news was. Not even an update on the blog. But you bet your *** ESPN would be tripping over themselves to report on this had it been something horrible about DKR's legacy.
The Texas Longhorn Family needs to make a statement by contributing to this fund. How or what is the address on the fund? Let's show them Texas Fight!
My parents chatted with him a little over a year ago. He stated then that he was nice to everyone because he didn't remember if they had met. Says something about him
I believe this is the fund set up in Darrel K Royal's name: Link Please, do your due diligence before donating though, I'm just providing a link. I looked into the DKR fund yesterday which is how I found that link, but I don't know how the money is going to be used, or if they even have an idea of how they want it to be used yet. My wife's father has early onset dementia (what Pat Summit has), so this cause is near and dear to our hearts. As others have said this disease is harder on the loved ones in many ways, my heart goes out to his wife and the rest of his family.
I have wondered for some years when Miss Edith would choose to make Coach's illness public. I was around Coach Royal on a regular basis back before 2005. He was quite lucid during most all that time. He talked regularly with an elderly friend of mine and me. He would often talk about how similar their childhoods and upbringings were. But he would talk about current Texas football at that time too. He did call me one time (in 2004 or 2005) to ask about if my friend (who had the same name as one of his former players) was that same person. I knew at that point that the coach's memory was starting to fail him. I've seen Coach at the Austin Longhorn Club frequently since then and, although it wasn't talked about other than among select friends there at the luncheons (out of respect for the coach and his family), it was obvious that the coach was progressively going downhill. It's such a terrible disease and so cruel to such a great man.
