Jose told me he was very much under the weather that day. I think it was around finals time, too. He related to me that if it wasn't for UT Pres. Norman Hackerman (recently RIP) giving him coffee or aspirin or something along that line at a pregame party the cheerleaders attended with the Univ. VIP's that he wouldn't have made it through that cold December day (sorry I can't remember the exact details). I, too, get a kick out of seeing him on the broadcast. God bless Jose. What was the name of the head cheerleader who flipped down the sideline after the big 4th down conversion? Terry something? Maybe in today's environment, that would've been an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Texas bench. Did the game kick off at noon or 1? can't remember. I've heard some second-hand stories about the 1979 game in Little Rock. Tenth anniv. of the Big Shootout. Something about James Street and Frank Erwin being denied service at the concession stands because of Street. I bet Frank Erwin was pissed. Maybe Humble Glenn can answer this, but I'm pretty sure Bud Wilkinson came into the locker room afterward. Nixon Watergate right-hand man, I think it was H.R. Haldeman, one of them, anyway... I'm pretty sure he was in the locker room, too.
Humble Glenn and Bill in Sinton do you ever remember Kern Tips saying something like this about a LB, " he was reading the Froggies mail that time and he clicked Swinks' heals together for a 2 yd loss". The guy still has sayings that I remember to describe games. Great stuff everybody! This is legend and is a part Longhorn legend too (radio broadcasts)! I know we got off the original post some, but it is all good!
It was so hectic and crowded in the l,ocker room after the game, I'm not sure I.ll be much help. The President and his assistants got center stage, slong with Coach Royal and Rev. Billy Graham. There were several US Senators and congressmen. I remember Nixon saying..it was number one and number two oiut there and you won and number one is what you are".It pissed off Penn State but who cared? As for Kern Tips, it is so impressive that many of you remember the great expressions he used to describe action. As I said, he was my boss at the network and my friend until death cut his time short. I know I'm taking too much space and will enjoy your other comments. We havn't mentioned poor Freddie Steinmark and other important sidelights. Glenn
Glen One of my fondest memories as a kid was going to the neighborhood Enco station which was on Burnet Road north of 45th Street in the late summer and getting my SWC football schedule. I wish I still had some of those. I also remember sitting out in the front yard to listen to the broadcasts of Kern Tips on the car radio. We did not have any good radios in the house just the small transistor type. Besides we would mimic the plays from the radio in the yard while the game was on. Great memories.
Jose did get knocked out, but briefly, when his cheerleading partner, Carla, threw a wicked Hook 'Em skyward, catching Jose on the chin. He laughed about that for years. After the game, we went down in front of the dressing room, and Nixon et. al. strolled in, we could hear the shouting in there as the presentation was made, but not the words spoken. Driving back to Austin, there was a small amount of snow on the ground in some park (national forest?) that we drove through, and we stopped and made a UT #1 snow sculpture on the ground. Great to remember that epic contest. I grew up listening to Kern Tips do the UT broadcasts over the Humble Oil and Refining Company radio network. Everybody loved him. It wasn't just the memorable country expressions that he tossed into the mix, it was the lost art of describing the play just as it happened, the instant it happened. Today, if you hear a radio broadcast, you hear the crowd react to a big play, while you get madder and madder awaiting the announcer to decide to say something, like er, 20 yard gain on the pass to Jones, no it was Smith, no he dropped it, punter on. Kern Tips relayed the snap, the direction the qb went in, who opened the hole at the line, and the runner cutting through, how many yards he got, who tackled him, all right as the crowd reacted in real time. It truly was almost like being there. Great memories.
M, my old fraternity brother Terry Parker was the cheerleader who flipped down the sideline after Peschel caught the pass.
I wish our AD Frank Broyles would watch the tape so he could move on. A part of JFB died that day and I truly believe he's never gotten over it. It was 14-8 and the Hogs were driving in the Red Zone not sure of the down but believe it was 3rd when he called for a pass play instead of running to the middle of the field to set up the automatic kicker in Bill McClard. I know he's Monday morning QB'd it a million times of how 17-8 would have given us a better chance to win. Oh well I wasn't born yet but have watched it 1000 times and it just wasn't meant to be. Did you know that there were 4 Presidents in attendance that day? Nixon, Sr., Jr., and Slick. Johnny Cash was there and can't remember if Elvis was there or not that day. Broyles gets so worked up playing Texas just like the fans but in the 2000 Cotton Bowl while watching the parade that day when he heard the Texas Fight is when he had to be rushed to the emergency room for chest pains. It was the first time he’d heard it live since SEC and the emotion and flashbacks were getting to him. In 2003 in Austin just right after the coin toss with his good friend DKR standing at the 50 when JFB left the stadium and went for a walk around Austin (he’s never done this before) instead of staying and watching it.
These posts about Kern Tips took me down memory lane... as a 10 year old kid, I first started listening to Tips do his Humble Oil & Refining Co. radio network broadcasts of the Horns games in 1964-65 with my Dad. In those days usually only 1 or 2 games were on TV during the regular season, so radio was your only choice unelsss you could go to the game. Kern Tips was just a delight to listen too. I remember my Dad really like him too. He was the best As for Broyles, there have been rumors he has had trouble dealing with that loss. I am not surprised by that as I cannot imagine how painful that would have been if UT had lost that day... it to would have lingered over DKR and the program for a long, long time.
Without a doubt that's JFB's worse loss in his 50 year tenure at Arkansas. He will take that game to the grave. I can't believe after all this time he hasn't watched a replay of the Big Shootout. I mean the first 3 quarters are fun to watch if you're a Hog fan. Just turn it off before the first play of the 4th. I saw a clip on sports one night where JFB and DKR were talking about old times and the guy asked Frank if he had ever discussed the Big Shootout with Darrell before. Frank said no we don’t talk about anything like that and Darrell said that’s like I don’t question him about the 64, 65, and the 66 game. They’re all too painful. Off the record you know they’ve talked about it amongst themselves.
hogs25, I don't know if you've read the book that was mentioned above or not. It devotes about 8 pages to that critical 3rd down play down near the Texas end zone. The way the book describes it, Don Breaux called the pass, and most everyone else up in the box wanted a run play to the center of the field. Coffey, the defensive coach, was pretty pissed at the time, he said. Breaux relayed the call and Merv Johnson sent it in. He said he thought it was sort of odd, but he had no time to really analze it because he had to get the call to the QB. Broyles, obviously, would not comment on it. The author speculates (after hearing from various players) that Broyles was haunted by a similar situation against Baylor a few years earlier in which he played conservatively and it bit him. Anyways, Broyles did not call the play, but he did not overrule it either. You're probably right, we'll never know what Broyles was really thinking on that play.
I don't see why Broyles would be more worked up over that loss than DKR was about the '64 loss to Arkansas. That one ended UT's win streak, and kept us from repeating as MNC (Texas won the rest of the games taht year, including the bowl game over #1 Bama). The game was in Austin, and the key play was a Ken Hatfield punt return. You think there are a bunch of guys soul-searching over how they didn't cover the punt better?
Another old timer here who listened to many of the old radio broadcasts of Kern Tips and many others. The golden age of CFB radio broadcasts. Of course, its better now that nearly every game is in TV, but those were great memories.
TaylorT, I also remember that the original Big Shootout was in Fayetteville in my freshman year of 1965 when the Number One Horns overcame a 20-0 Arkansas lead only to lose on a long Hog drive at the end of the game. Although UT lost the next two games to make it moot, I remember thinking that it would be impossible for a loss to be more painful. I would know four years later just how much more painful it would have been if Texas had lost again in Fayetteville. A lot more painful.
Great memories. I remember reading Peschel's account of the 53 veer. After seeing the ball come to him just over the outstretched hands of the Piggie defenders, and seeing the cheerleader flip by, he was slapped on the back by Bob McKay. Bob's comment - "Nice catch, Payskull".
Are any recordings of Kern Tips still available? Sure would like to here his voice again. He was the greatest.
"""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"! """ It was Bill Bradley and he said, "It don't make a ****" It was in 1968 at Austin the year after tthe aggys defeated us.. Bill has told me the story
Right 53 Veer Pass may be the ballsiest big game call in the history of football. This was a team that did not throw the ball much, and had to complete that pass with precise execution. There absolutely no margin for error given the coverage on Peschel, and where and how he was pinned against the sideline. Given the magnitude of the game, the point in the game at which it occurred and the play that was called, I challenge anyone to come up with a play the required more balls.
Remembering this game is why it's so annoying when ESPN claims there's a "Game of the Century" every season.
