he was one of my first football heroes along with Bad Bob Lilly and Nobis..............such a shame his life was such a mess after his college days at the 40 Acres.
While Scott did have a really rough patch, but I thought once he started his stretch with Dairy Queen that he turned his life around. I liked Bud Adams, but I always wondered how different Scott's life might have been if he'd signed with the NFL rather than the Oilers.
Consensus All American and I believe Outland Trophy winner, Heisman candidate his Sr. year. He was a dominate force on the field and a key part of the Defense on that team that won the 1963 NC.
In 1963, there wasn't an ESPN to tell us what we were seeing, then replay it a hundred times, each time explaining to us what we had just seen, as if no one watching had enough intelligence to know that Scott Appleton, leader of the Texas defense, had just knocked the ever living **** out of Don Trull. For those too young to remember, the Baylor Bears rolled into Austin to face the #1 ranked Horns. Baylor featured QB Don Trull and WR Lawrence Elkins. This is the game that featured the legendary interception by Duke Carlisle. Earlier, however, Elkins turned either Joe Dixon or Hix Green or both inside out and was running wide open on a deep post pattern. Trull cranked to throw, and just as Carlisle did on the INT, Appleton came from nowhere to bury Trull in the middle of Memorial Stadium, while the ball settled gently as an incomplete pass. I believe the final score was 7-0. Later in life, I was golfing with some friends and business associates, and the Baylor part of our 8-some included Trull. I asked him if he remembered that play, and his answer was, "it's a miracle I remember anything after Scott hit me. I was looking out the earhole of my helmet". Everyone remembers Carlisle's INT that saved the game. Not many remember Appleton saving the game earlier. Thanks for the memories, Scott. A great Longhorn