Donnie Wigginton’s interview is at

DONNIE WIGGINTON INTERVIEW (squarespace.com)

Thoughts from the Webmaster and Professor Carlson about Donnie Wigginton.

Billy dale says:

Less than a handful of “boys turning to men” can say they received a pitch-out from the first four quarterbacks in the productive history of the Wishbone. Yours truly is one of them.

Bill Bradley, James Street, and Eddie Phillips had a soft pitch with a usually slow arch delivery. Donnie Wigginton did not! Donnie’s pitch was quicker than a striking snake with such velocity that the football had no arch. The pitchman’s eyes could never lose contact with Donnie for a millisecond waiting on Donnie’s option to keep or pitch.

So my brief comments about the first four wishbone quarterbacks follow:

• Royal says about Donnie’s 1971 football season, “I think, Donnie Wigginton should Be Given Consideration For The Most Valuable Player In The Conference." “He Leads The Conference With 84 Points.”

Those stats should be worth a Camp Longhorn motto, “ATTAWAYTOGO” from a grateful Longhorn Nation, but that never occurred the way it should. Perhaps it is because many thought he was a traitor when he joined former Longhorn Coach Bellard’s staff as an Aggie coach. Recognizing Donnie’s accomplishments by Longhorn fans became even more problematic with his success in turning Texas A & M football 🏈 into an SWC powerhouse. Challenging Texas for supremacy.

From my perspective, there is irony in two Longhorns (Bellard and Wigginton) teaching “little brother” how to play football again. 

Professor Larry Carlson

TLSN writer Larry Carlson was one of the fans who followed QB Donnie Wigginton. Carlson, then a freshman at SWT, bought Wigginton's # 18 jersey at Rooster Andrews when game jerseys went on sale after the season.  He still has it.

Larry met and sat next to Donnie at the Houston Touchdown Club luncheon last May, visited with him again in September at the unveiling of the National Championship QB busts at the stadium.  He requested a TLSN interview and Donnie complied.

Larry also wrote an article for the 1971 season at the following link:

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/1971-a-team-thathas-paid-the-ultimate-pricefor-victory

 THE DONNIE WIGGINTON ODYSSEY:

HE'S BEEN EVERYWHERE, MAN

by Larry Carlson  ( lc13@txstate.edu )

At a height listed generously as 5-8 during his playing days (1969-1971) for the Texas Longhorns, Donnie Wigginton was never a big guy.  But he always played big.

Now, on the shady side of 70, he's even growing. 

According to Donnie, that growth spurt comes courtesy of his four grandsons, ranging in age from five to twenty-three.  "They teach me something new every time we're together," the proud grandpa says.

Wigginton was never a stranger to growth and new experiences.  Part of the 1967 signing class known as "The Worster Bunch," the carrot-topped QB had taken his Spring Branch High football team to the state title game -- they lost narrowly to Emory Bellard’s San Angelo Bobcats -- and then was part of an unbeaten freshman team at UT.

In the interview session that follows, Wigginton discusses the learning experience of young players not then permitted to play varsity ball.  He had to be more patient than most of his classmates because he redshirted in 1968 when the Horns closed the year with nine straight wins, a SWC title and Cotton Bowl win.

When the time to play at last kicked in, Wigginton quickly contributed on special teams as the holder for placekicks.  Because of that he would play a key role in UT's national championship as a sophomore.  Donnie continued to learn and his contributions grew as backup to QB Eddie Phillips in 1970's repeat national crown.  He was getting plenty of reps as a wishbone operator, in the offense so reliant upon repetition as the ticket to proper handling.

The Longhorn football program would reap the benefits of Wigginton's maturity as a senior in 1971,  Not only was number 18 one of the few fifth-year seniors, he was a married man, with a first child on the way as fall drills opened in August.  Donnie's name would be called at Texas.  He would be ready.

Fellow quarterback Eddie Phillips was the reigning Cotton Bowl MVP and expected to again excel but injuries quickly stifled him.  And Phillips wasn't alone with the injury bug.  By the time game number four -- the OU battle -- arrived, Texas had more than a dozen starters missing time or already sidelined for the season.   Phillips, limited by nasty, bothersome hamstring and toe injuries, would play in only six regular season games.  

Oklahoma, sniffing blood in the water, pounded Texas for only the second time since 1957, Darrell Royal's first season.  And Wigginton was now banged up, too, with only a week to prepare for Arkansas on the road.

It was ugly in Little Rock, The 31-7 Hog victory amid downpours was the meteorological sign that there truly was no joy in Mudville, aka Austin.  The Horns, three-time defending SWC champs, were suddenly 3-2, blown out in two of the worst beatings in the Darrell Royal era.  The Razorbacks, led by All-America QB Joe Ferguson, a passing whiz, were the team to beat.  Texas, according to most in the media, would now be playing for second place, if that.

Wigginton, on the mend, led Texas to a 39-10 win over Rice the next week, rambling for 120 yards on keepers.  But, hey, it was just Rice.

Donnie Dub and the wounded Horns were steadily getting well, though, on both sides of the ball.  Senior RB Jim Bertelsen was still the quiet, solid star he had been since arriving in Austin from Hudson, Wisconsin.

The defense was suffocating teams again.  Texas, dead in Little Rock's water-drenched War Memorial Stadium in mid-October, reeled off five straight comfortable wins.  Arkansas went to sleep in late October and was upset by lowly A&M.  A week later, the Hogs tied Rice.  Yep, that Rice.  The one with five losses going into November.

Life was blooming for Wigginton, big time, as the season ended.  Now he was a UT graduate, and one day after the Cotton Bowl, he would start working as a college coach in an unlikely locale, just as his wife would soon give birth to the couple's first child.  Ultimately, work outside the gridiron would provide Donnie with more travels than Rand McNally.

Perhaps Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere" should be dedicated to the Longhorn who personified accountability and excellence when it most mattered, resulting in a gritty, unlikely title run by his team.

In this TLSN interview, the personable and engaging man who was a vital cog in three SWC crowns and two national championships, discusses the magical leadership of James Street, shares vivid memories of The Big Shootout of 1969 and relishes the satisfaction brought through coaching and answering the call for personal growth in various chapters of life.  And Wigginton, still a UT season-ticket holder in several sports, advises patience in assessing coaching and quarterback play at The Forty Acres, reminding all readers that "the jury is still out."

Make no mistake on this, though.  The verdict was long ago delivered regarding Donnie Wigginton.

Mentally and physically tough, tasting life with extra relish and always, always prepared for opportunities and new experiences.  Still growing.  

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