I just watched the ABC coverage of the 1969 Texas-Arkansas game. I was not alive in 1969 so I want to ask these questions and make some comments: 1. I was at the 2004 Texas-Arkansas game (in Fayetteville, AR)......what part of the field was the Street-to-Peshal play on (right 53 veer pass)....was it going towards where the Texas fans were sitting (in 2004)....or was it towards the visitor's lockeroom? 2. It looks like it was cold there that day....how cold was it in Fayetteville. To my knowledge that game was the only cold weather game the Horns played all year in 1969 (unless the 1970 Cotton Bowl was cold). 3. Why does the Chris Schenkel call James Street...Jimmy Steet ? 4. Plays of the game: Freddy's pass interference on a sure TD for the Razorbacks, Street TD and 2-pt. conversion, Right 53 Veer Pass, Danny Lester's INT (huge), Bertlesen's TD and Tom Campbell's INT to end the game. 5. Worst Call - That Arkie WR was OUT OF BOUNDS on their first TD. 6. How good were the Horns in 1969? The Horns committed 6 turnovers in this game and STILL WON!! 7. Just Curious, how many of you were at the '69 Texas-Arkansas game? It looked like an awesome game to be at in person. Razorback Stadium has changed a lot since 1969......it does not look like the same stadium that is is today.
My memory is hazy,but I will tell you what I can. I watched it on TV so that limits some answers to your questions, but as I remember it was a cold, dark day. The pass play you talked about was down the far sideline from the pressbox( I presume that is where the TV feed was from) The game was kind of dominated by Arky defense stopping our offense until the last quarter. You saw that. This was a very good FB team in the middle of a 30 game win streak. They were NC is 69 and 70, but lost the Cotton Bowl to ND in 1970. NC was declared before the game. The wishbone was new and as some have pointed out on another thread, James Street was a master at running it. He was 20-0 as a starter. The backs were 4 very good ones and the lines and defense excellent. Someone also pointed out on the other thread the difference in Texas wishbone and later OU ones was speed. OU's was built on speed. They integrated first and they used African Americans speed to the utmost. Texas' bone then was maybe a little less speed but more on raw power. Jim Bertlesen, Ted Koy and Steve Worster were big hard running backs. Bertlesen maybe a little faster and Koy and Worster were hammers. The only think I can off hand remember about others was that OG-Bobby Wuensch was one of the quickest lineman that I have ever seen. The defense was excellent and I will leave somebody else to fill in their stars and their memories. Most teams just physically couldn't match their strength.
I was there, and it was cold, about 42 degrees, misty, foggy, drizzly. And it started raining whisky bottles right after the final gun, tossed down upon the UT band and fans by the friendly local populace. The Street to Peshel pass was towards the side Texas sat on, the side where the UT band and the small section of UT fans sat, opposite the pressbox, opposite the side Nixon sat on. That was a bad call on the first Arkansas TD drive, the guy was out of bounds.
I have always thought that Lester's interception was was a vastly underrated play, and to a lesser extent so was Tom Campbell's after we scored. Good question about Schenkel calling James "Jimmy". No one else ever did that I know of. Where the heck did that come from?
underrated? = yes. they were huge. obviously the offensive plays were the eye-openers, but the defensive ones - think 4th and 2 at the 2006 Rose Bowl - were the game savers. Woo-Woo, where are you??? Hook'em!!!
I believe the catch happened on the side of the field that is closed in by fans, opposite from the giant scoreboard where the Razorbacks come out of their lockerroom. How loud was the stadium in '69? It was crazy loud in '04. I honestly think it was just as loud if not louder than the Shoe in '05.
You just knew Woo - Woo Worster would respond to this thread... the game was a low scoring classic. I too watched it on TV, so my comments are limited to that source. Some have already commented so I won't repeat the same thing. Schenkel was a good announcer IMO and he sometimes called players by a version of their name... just something he sometimes did. Outside of the 2006 Rose Bowl this game had more pre-game build up / hype than any UT game I have ever been around. It was just unbelieveable - right Horn69 & accuratehorn? There was just so much riding on this one game. Yes Virginia, the Horns were very good and loaded in 1969. They were rolling over everyone that season ( I saw the ou, SMU, Baylor, TCU, Navy & Notre Dame games) but the hawgs & Broyles figured out a way to stop the wishbone most of that day. Give 'em credit - especially MLB Cliff Powell - he was a monster that game. Hawgs stacked the line and dared UT / Street to beat 'em with the pass. QB Montgomery and AA Chuck Dicus disected our D with good passing. Dicus had 10 catches that day if I recall. Don't really know if the 40 degree temps caused the Horns much trouble... it was just Arky that day plus 6 fumbles that nearly killed us... your team almost always loses when you commit 6 TO's! Cotton Speyrer had a huge fumble on a very promising drive into hawg territory in the second quarter that I still remember. I agree hawg WR was out of bounds - it was a bad call that helped the hawgs early on. Street to Peschel was one of the biggest plays in UT history - it took guts to call it and nerves for Street and Peschel to pull it off. Everything had to go right and the season was riding on the success of the play. Incomplete or INT and the game was very likely over.... Hawgs to CB to play ND for the NC. Horns were damn lucky to escape with the win that day IMO.... Street was the catalyst as he rallied the Horns with his scramble run for a TD & the 2 pt. conversion. THAT gave the team a huge lift that they had a chance and it may have made the hawgs begin to worry a little. Lester's INT and Steinmark's PI were just huge... hawgs score a TD or a FG and we probably lose that day and no NC. Campbell INT was huge and sealed the deal. I was emotionally and physically beat / stressed out after that game.... maybe more so than any UT game since
I had begged my dad for years to let me go with him and his buddys on a week long hunting trip down in South Texas. He told me not until I was 16. Well the year I turned 16, the hunting trip coincided with the game. It wasn't even close. It was the greatest game I'd ever seen until RB 06.
Jimmy Street has just made 8 points! ---sounds like my Mom calling the game Shorty Lawson....GGGRRRRR!!!!
I was there, too. Accuratehorn has it pretty nailed. Was cold, wet and miserable, especially in our LHB uniforms. Highest misery index of any of the 42 games I marched in my years at Texas. Peschal's catch was pretty much right in front of us, or as close as the 38 year-old memory allows. The fumbles were KILLING us. The field was new Astro Turf but it looked like they forgot to put in drains so the sidelines were almost lakes. Our cleats were ineffective and the ball must have been slicker 'n snot. We were playing Taps-and-Hold or Strong Eyes almost every play the last few minutes. But if you focus on LHB those last few game minutes, you'll see us turning around looking back up into the stands above us. We were starting to hear all the crap crashing down into the stands around us and inside our area -- bottles, cups full of drink or ice, seat cushions and folded seats -- anything the drunk a-holes could get their hands on. Event Staff held us in those temporary stands for at LEAST 15 minutes after the game to let the presidential party leave or some excuse. When they finally let us down onto the field (almost, because my brother caught a sailing seat cushion while we were out there and still has it today) out of range of the drunks, we formed up w the few girls in the middle holding all our hats. The flag's rolled the flags and held the 8' wooden poles around the outside, waist high as a barrier to anyone grabbing at us or our horns or stuff. They finally let us march out to the busses where one person put away their horn while another watched out for angry drunks. Never been so mad and scared to that point of my life. We piled onto the busses, totally blasted, most sleeping all the way to McAlister OK where we spent the night. If Arkie could bottle and sell hate, they'd all be rich! Most miserable and exciting game I've ever attended. m/ T E X A S !
1.) Most underrated play: the play after the Street-to-Peschel play to the 13-yard-line, Ted Koy took the hand-off and blasted down to the 2-yard-line, from where Bertelsen scored on the next play. I swear that Koy hammered every Arky on the field on that play. Some of them twice. 2.) Arkansas played a tricky, stunting defense that the Horns never figured out that day. The next year, '70, with both teams returning virtually everyone and Arkansas trying the same strategy, the Horns beat them like borrowed mules, 42-7. 3.) There are some good memories, etc., in the archives link on this game.
Ahhh yes.....I remember it well. The hogs were angry that day my friend....like an old man sending back soup at a deli... It was my freshman year before I transfered to The University. Lots of hype......The Big Shootout.....#1 vs #2.....tricky Dick, Chris Schenkel, sword blade Wilkerson, not one full set of teeth in the arky crowd!..........we rode into Fayetteville the best team in College Football but the hogs had a plan and they were sky high. It did'nt help that the Horns turned it over on the opening drive deep in our own territory.....fumbled pitch or hand-off to Ted Koy. Arky scored but there was no doubt the hog's wr did'nt get his foot down. Should not have been a catch...after that it was an uphill struggle. It was cold with a constant drizzle all day. It was loud but that was way before they expanded their stadium....I think it only held around 45,000.........we fumbled 6 times but the two things I remember most was that James Street was a man who was not going to be denied (a la Vince). He scored 8 quick points at the begining of the 4th and here came the stampeding Horns. Obviously he later threw the greatest pass in U.T. history to Randy Peschel (a back-up TE playing due to an injury to the starter earlier in the season) which led to the winning TD by Bertlesen... .......however, the other thing that really stands out is that after Freddie Steinmark held Dicus the hogs had a first down on about the 7. They got greedy and tried to throw a couple of times for the score (also stopping the clock) and Lester picked one off at the goal line and ran it out to the 20..........had they ran the ball into the middle of the hash marks and kicked a field goal (Bill McClard was one of the best kickers in the country) it might have or probably changed the history of Texas Football forever. Regardless that is how it happened on a rainy day in Fayetteville Arkansas, December 5th, 1969........National Champs!
Wyhorn- just a few things I have thought of since my first post. Arky was one fine team ranked No.2. The next year they come to Austin and win 14-13 and go on to win the NC themselves. Texas kind of dominated the series then. Royal was 15-5 against Arky and 14-5 against Frank Broyles, but most of the games were close and several were classics. Like some have pointed out here already Arky would rather lose their left n_t than lose to Texas. To go in there and win in that environment was amazing! You saw the game, but a little extra about some of the players. Some here have already talked of the play of little safety Fred Steinmark in that game and his contribution to the 30 game streak. I will never forget in 1970 late in the year he was diagnosed with bone cancer in a leg. He stood on the sidelines on crutches with a leg amputated just below the knee and watched as his team lost in the Cotton Bowl to Norte Dame and lose the 30 game win streak. A few months later he was dead and instantly endeared himself to Longhorn legend and fans everywhere. Glen Halsell was the middle LB and I believe a 1st team AA in '69. He was the captain at Collie Station that year that told the ref after we won the toss and the ref asked him his choice said, "It ain't going to make a damn"! They were a great, great bunch most NC teams have that kind of character, swagger and love for the game and each other.
Its funny how you remember weird things. I just remember that my Dad and I were looking forward to watching the game on TV. Back in those days not many games were on TV. Right before the game started some unexpected company dropped in and the TV was in the living room where company was entertained. Fortunately my parents had put a TV in their bedroom not long before and I watched the game by myself in my folks bedroom. My poor Dad wanted to see the game so bad but had to be a good host. He kept making up flimsy excuses to go back into the bedroom and " look for something" so he could keep tabs on the score. They finally left just in time for him us to watch the climatic moments together. Funny how I remember who the people were that dropped in and the fact that they had a moronic 4 year old who kept saying football is stupid and I want to watch cartoons. I told him you touch that channel selector - you die. Of course he ran and told his parents what I said, but that was OK because it gave my Dad an excuse to come back in the bedroom and "straighten me out" which, of couse meant coming back there and catching a few plays. I am rambling, but what a great day. It must have been an unforgettable experience to be there in person
Skyranger43, Some of your facts are misstated. Texas did not lose to Arkansas the next year following the Big Shootout. Texas clobbered Arkansas 42-7. The 14 - 13 score you reference comes from the 1964 Texas-Arkansas game. Also, it is true that within a week of the 1969 game with Arkansas, Freddie Steinmark's leg was amputated. He watched the game against Notre Dame on the sidelines. However, Texas did NOT lose that game. Texas beat ND 21 -17. The next year Texas lost to ND, bringing the 30 game win streak to an end.
NebLHAB, did you know the clarinetist who the ABC cameras zoomed in on before and after the Street-to-Peschel play? I've always wondered if she knew she was part of UT history. Her reactions were priceless. They told the entire story of the emotion surrounding that play, for my money still the greatest and most important single play in UT history.
Skyranger; Halsell played last in 1968. Bill Bradley was the one who uttered the, "it don't make a ****" quote. If anyone is ever out around Ft. Davis, go see Halsel's fort/castle. Something out of the middle ages.
borna horn -- I knew who she was but neither me nor Mrs can recall her name. We don't think she comes to Alumni Band so that doesn't help. As I remember the story, the reason she wasn't playing her clarinet after that play, other than emotion, was she BROKE her clarinet at the middle joint. When the camera pans the LHB, you can see me playing next to the 6'5" baritone player w the handlebar mustache (my brother) right after an ad. I'm the 5'10" guy wearing BCG's, but I was THERE! To this day I usually get goose bumps when I think about that game. m/
I was 19 at the time was lucky enough to attend the game. I had a close friend who was an Arkansas alumnus and a couple fo weeks before he asked if I wanted a free ticket, a free ride there, and a free place to stay. DUH!!!!!! It was cold and damp. As I recall it even started raining a bit toward the end of the game. It snowed in Fayetteville that night. I stayed with my friends parents. Big Hog fans. They had a party planned after the game. Everyone was really very gracious. I don't know if I could have been so gracious of we had not won. I still have the program to the game. There was a mistake in the program. Cotton Speyer was listed as number 85, not 88. I was then forturnate enough to find a ticket at 7:30 pm Dec 31, 1969 in the classified ads of the Sherman Democrat for two Cotton Bowl Ticket at their $7.00 face value. Upper deck seats. I called and they were still available!!!!! What a lucky guy i was that day.
found some clips on Youtube nixon The Link street to peschelThe Link post gameThe Link game clip The Link
Re-visiting this thread this morning motivates me to pull out my video I recorded off ESPN Classics and watch it today... always inspiring. I just wish the quality of the video was better - being 38 years ago technology, overcast and dreary didn't help. BTW, that girl clarinet player in the band was exhibiting the emotions of me and thousands and thousands of UT fans watching the game that day... the hawgs were playing well, the Horns poorly and it looked like for so long the Horns might lose the game but then lightning struck... the Horns & DKR so dramatically pulled it out in the 4th quarter. It was just overwhelming emotionally for many of us. I will never forget that game, that day or how I felt after the game.
PJ.....I'm pretty sure Glen Halsell (Odessa Permian) played in the '69 game....# 67 I believe......actually I'm sure of it. FYI
I second the recommendation of "Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming" - really excellent book on the game and the times
Great, great comments. I was 14 and watched it on TV in Central Texas, where it was also drizzly and 40ish. Just miserable weather. We, the family, roasted peanuts, and I, even at 14, was allowed a beer or two (HEY, we're German/Czech blood!). My memory was of great anticipation starting, and a feeling of being gut punched for 3 quarters. The Hogs played a Hell of a game. And then, well... What most yung uns don't have a good grasp on was this --- today we begin watching college football in August, and see games on TV Thursdays and Saturdays, probably during season's peak about 4 to 6 complete game watching opportunities per week. Back then, in the stone age, usually on black and white TVs, we were lucky to see a couple of games on Saturdays. Fortunately for Horns fans, because UT was kind of a national darling due to DKR and 1963, we'd get to see maybe 1 or 2 Texas games on TV (e.g., OU and aggy, maybe piggy). And on December 5, 1969, I don't think there had been a college game broadcast for a week or two, and there wouldn't be another until December 31st (Bluebonnet Bowl, Gator Bowl?). Or the like. Not sure of the details, but the point is that ALL college football eyes were on the December 5, 1969 game of: Number 1 Texas with the wishbone, DKR, and a long winning streak Number 2 piggy, Broyles, also a 60s power ABC's national broadcast A team The President of the United States in attendance, arriving with fanfare on Marine 1 (the helicopter), big, big deal at the time Just so many bigger than life backdrops that set the stage. The only thing close, maybe bigger, was the UT-USC Rose Bowl, for me and most Longhorn fans. Ginger, MaryAnn? Who cares? Hook 'em
Not to get picky, but the game was played on Dec. 6th 1969. Clarification on the 1969 season: # 67 Glen Halsell was from Odessa Permian and was one of 2 starting inside LB's along with # 61 Scott Henderson who was from a Dallas HS . Halsell was like 6' and 205 or 210 and Henderson was about 6'1" and 220, both small by today's standards. Hook 'Em
