Lone Star Longhorn Legends from Little Towns
by Larry Carlson
In the Texas of old and the Lone Star State of novels and Hollywood -- "Giant," written by Edna Ferber and then filmed near Marfa with Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean -- the cattle were plentiful, the oil was gushing and the townfolk were from, well, small towns. Not cities and metropolitan areas of millions and millions of people.
But Texas, like most places across America, has vastly changed since "Giant" opened at theatres back in the mid-'50s. The myth of an agrarian culture persists for some of us. Two-lane roads and starry skies untainted by light pollution live on in select locales, and Texan school lessons about Davy and Travis' sword line in the sand at the Alamo are etched in the brain for fewer and fewer. But some of us know why mockingbirds, bluebonnets, and pecan trees are not forgotten by real Texans. And a few of us retain twangs or drawls and might still refer to "outsiders" as Yankees or northerners.
Like Austin traffic, though, and pigs-in-a-blanket that get called kolaches, changes have come with urbanization and California transplants bringing in tofu tacos. In Longhorn football, the players no longer come from cozy hamlets with only one Dairy Queen and single traffic light. Billy Bob Blue-chip of yesteryear reigns no more.
Case in point: Texas signed 23 recruits for the 2021 freshman class. One, RB Jonathan Brooks of the Hallettsville Brahmas, comes from a small town, one that is not part of a metropolitan area. And just one other, JD Coffey of Kennedale, spearheaded a team in 4A rather than 6A or 5A. It's been that way for a while and will continue to be. The Austin American-Statesman's "Fab 55" list of top recruits for '22 has 43 prospects from the Houston and Dallas areas. Ten more are from other metro areas. Two outlying small-town hotshots are from Lexington and Spearman.
It wasn't always that way. Darrell Royal had plenty of talented Longhorns from "blink and you'll miss it" spots across Texas, and UT has mined gold with select athletes from small cities ever since. But the nuggets are fewer in "them thar hills" and dales. The Greatest State is now much more urbanized than the states in the SEC and in the other outposts of the Big XII.
I decided to journey through my dusty memory files and come up with an all-time Small Town Lone Star Longhorns Lineup. I'm not using any science here but I wanted to pick the most-decorated Horns from the '60s on, focusing on several criteria. Let's key in on guys who didn't compete in the state's highest high school classification (4A in the '60s and '70s, 6A today) and we'll stay out of the sprawling metropolitan areas. I'm especially striving to focus on the little cities with one high school and fewer than 15,000 residents when possible but there are allowances. I'm sure I'm forgetting or not listing a few worthy Longhorns but I'm attempting to go with the players who merited all-conference honors and more.
And before I even start, remember that Tyler doesn't qualify as a small city. Nor do Port Arthur or Odessa, to name a few. And Longview, home of the immortal James Street, posted a population of more than 40,000 when Street graduated from LHS in 1966. That ain't small when you're really talkin' small-town Texas.
Players are listed with their final season at UT and their hometown and high school team.
Here goes....
You will notice that five Yellow Jackets from the Johnson County seat, Cleburne, were cited among all these country boys who made good on The Forty Acres. Amazingly, four of them -- Pat Culpepper, David McWilliams, Tim Doerr and Fred Sarchet -- were captains for the Longhorns. And Howard Goad, like Culpepper and Doerr, was honored as a consensus All-SWC performer.
If there was something in the water in Cleburne, Steve Sarkisian might be advised to send some scientists up that way. It's not a long drive.
LONGHORN quarterbacks FROM SMALL TOWN TEXAS
Colt McCoy, '09 Tuscola (Jim Ned HS Indians)
The winningest quarterback in UT history. Colt finished at Texas as the winningest college QB in history.
and Duke was 12-0 as a starter when he wasn't busy starring at safety.
As mentioned previously, James Street '69 (Longview Lobos) gets disqualified by the size of his hometown. And Marty Akins '75 (Gregory-Portland Wildcats) of Portland played in the Corpus Christi metro area.
Longhorn Running Backs from Small Town Texas
Talk about a full-house backfield. Two scorched-earth power runners in Worster and Leaks plus a scatback in Saxton whose average-per-carry record of 7.9 yards was just eclipsed by Bijan Robinson after 59 seasons. All three were consensus All-Americans and Worster, a three-time All-SWC pick, was a two-time All-America honoree.
Photo is Ernie Koy
Ernie, Jr ('64) and Ted ('69) of the Bellville Brahmas. They followed their Dad, Ernie, Sr in stardom at Texas. Ernie, Jr played for the '63 national champs and saved the best for his last game. He had two TDs (including a 79-yarder) to lead the Burnt Orange past national champion Alabama, 21-17 in the Orange Bowl following his senior year. He was a Pro Bowl RB for the New York Giants.
Ted, a tri-captain for the '69 national champs, was -- along with Street, Worster and Chris Gilbert -- a mainstay in the first wishbone backfield a year earlier. He later played with the Raiders and Bills before becoming a veterinarian.
When any in this trio get weary, let's get some carries for All-SWC FB Harold Philipp '64 (Olney Cubs)
As a footnote, I'll list Edwin Simmons '85 (Hawkins Hawks) and Butch Hadnot '91 (Kirbyville Wildcats) as two all-time comets who sadly burst into brief stardom then burned out quickly due to injuries and other challenges. Check sometime into how much potential Simmons showed in '83 and Hadnot flashed in 1990.
Longhorn Wide Receivers from Small Town Texas
Only an Olympic gold medalist (Montreal '76) like Lam could make Shipley, UT's all-time leading receiver, look less than lightning-fast. Try covering these wideouts. Pick your poison. And each could, and did, take a kickoff all the way.
Longhorn tight ends from Small Town Texas
Pete Lammons '65 (Jacksonville Indians)
Lammons was a stud soph, also playing defense, on the '63 national champs, and excelled two more years before a rewarding pro career. His NFL time was highlighted by a Super Bowl III ring, when he and three former Longhorn teammates were starters on Broadway Joe Namath's New York Jets title team.
Longhorn Offensive lineman from Small Town Texas
Bob McKay '69 (Crane Golden Cranes) Simply put, McKay is a rock in the UT line's Mount RUSH-MORE. He was consensus All-Americans with a fine pro career with Cleveland.
1991
You can't go wrong with either starter from national championship teams. Forrest Wiegand and David McWilliams, both a few steaks shy of 200 pounds, punched way above their modest weights, even for the times. McWilliams, of course, served as head coach of the Longhorns from 1987-91 and Wiegand was a long-time success in the high school head coaching ranks at LaPorte.
“Longhorn extra point and field goal kicker from Small Town Texas ”
The other kicking specialist on the honor roster would be Tony Crosby (Kountze Lions), the shoeless wonder who booted the pigskin with the ball of his right foot. Crosby was perfect on his PATs as a senior in '63. His early field goal against the Aggies, in a College Station mud pit watered down into absolute muck by the A&M crew in an effort to slow Texas, was the difference in the 15-13 verdict that sealed UT's
first national title. Tony is in the middle, Ernie Koy is to the left and Tim Doerr is to the right. All three make Larry Carlson’s Small town Hall of Honor.
(Note: Russell Erxleben, the best kicker/punter in NCAA history, was not considered since his high school team, the Seguin Matadors, played in the UIL's largest (4A) category in Russell's years there.)
Happy Feller, '70 (Fredericksburg Battlin' Billies)
The potent wishbone teams in Feller's era seldom needed clutch field goals but Happy was ready when they did. His three FGs against (including a record 53-yarder) were the difference in a 26-20 victory when Feller was a sophomore. And what was the most famous of a then-record number of PATs? The winning margin -- after a high snap -- in the 15-14 Game of the Century at Arkansas in '69. Happy is # 5 Freddie Steinmark is #28
Longhorn return specialist from Small Town Texas
Longhorn linebackers from Small Town Texas
Fun fact: Both Culpepper and Tubbs got a few carries as fullbacks. Each had one career touchdown. 
There was not much of a drop-off with the following linebackers. All these guys could "hitcha." Very hard.
The linebacker rotation is in good hands with excellent help from Mark Martignoni '80 (Kenedy Lions), Martignoni started only one season, the magical '77 campaign when he was a soph. He later redshirted a year and was extremely limited by degenerative knees. "Mark has the knees of a 70-year-old man," Coach Fred Akers once told me. Akers believed Martignoni was an absolute standout at his position.
Longhorn defensive line from Small Town Texas
This is the deepest area for excellence on our mythical all-star team. The slide show is below.
I mentioned depth along the defensive line. Put the guys below could utterly destroy any offense:
Bo Robinson '92 (Bremond Tigers) no photo
Stoney Clark Defensive Line
Longhorn Defensive Backs from Small Town Texas
Each of these ball-hawking defenders earned All-America honors at Texas and went on to lengthy NFL careers.
Johnnie Johnson '79 (LaGrange Leopards)
Johnson, was among the nation's top kick return men.
'90 (Hawkins Hawks)
Earl Thomas '09 (West Orange-Stark Mustangs)
Nathan Vasher '03 (Texas HS Tigers, Texarkana) Vasher is the school's all-time INT leader and, along with Johnson, was among the nation's top kick return men.
Comments to Larry Carlson from Jay Arnold
Larry: Your topic is such a big part of my heart. Small town guys that Coach Akers, Coach Royal and other staff members recruited were always a solid part of the team during my years. Coach Akers recruited Glen Gaspard and me the same year and we were suite mates in the Jester Hotel our freshman year. My roommate was another small town guy, the late Marfa Mad Dog, Robert Guevara. As you probably know, all the other schools that recruited Glen and I used the same lines, “you don’t want to go to Texas, it’s got 25,000 more students than your hometown. You’ll just be on a number on the sideline at Texas. You will start for us as a Sophomore. At Texas you’ll never play a down, etc.”. I would wonder to myself, but never say it, “I wonder who’s going to win the game, if I start for another team and can never get off the bench at Texas?” Glen felt the same way. We were both fortunate enough to start as Sophomores and play in the Cotton Bowl as SWC Champions for our recruiting class’ first of what would be UT’s 4th in a row. We extended the SWC Championships to 6 in a row through our senior year.
Remind me when we are able to get together about our “small town guys” kicking game we played before practices, and how Glen’s knuckleball kickoff was actually incorporated into Coach Royal’s game plan after I got Glen to very successfully use it against UCLA on national tv in 1971 at the Colosseum in LA! Coach Royal, as you know, was a stickler on the kicking game. He was hot at the time and instructed me to come to the front of the plane on the way back to Austin and sit with him and read me the riot act on calling a play he didn’t authorize. My explanation led to a full pad next Monday on the field demonstration called by Coach Royal. Glen, Jimmy Moore, me and a few others had to don full pads and go live, full speed on the kickoff while Glen kicked his knuckleball kickoff. After about 30 minutes Coach Royal seemed less skeptical about the legitimacy of the knuckle kickoff. Coach Royal later used Gaspard’s knuckleball kick 3 times that season. The unsanctioned use at UCLA led to a fumble recovery and turnover touchdown. Coach Akers role in trying to smooth things over will never ever be forgotten by me. That same weekend was when Coach Royal put us up in a plush Hollywood hotel. I can’t speak for the big city guys but for us small town guys it was like being in a castle. In fact, the jet ride to LA was only my second airplane ride. I’ll never forget our first meal at the Century Plaza Hotel. We had about 5 spoons and five forks, it seems. Coach Royal got up right before the food was served and said every time they bring a dish just use a different fork or spoon, depending on the dish. The first dish was a cold potato soup. They brought it out and the low grumbling broke out around the room It just so happened that the round table I was sitting at was next to the coaches table. Coach Royal came over to our table and asked what was all the grumbling about. Ray Dowdy of Austin said “Coach, this soup is cold. They didn’t even heat it up before they brought it out here.” Coach Royal then made an announcement to the whole room that this was a Gazpacho potato soup and it was supposed to be cold. Again, Ray Dowdy, a Sr starting defensive tackle, said, “Mama never served us cold soup at home. I wwnt mine warmed up!” That met with a majority approval and Coach had the waiters come by the table and pick up bowls of everybody who wanted hot soup and take it to the kitchen and heat it up and bring it back hot. I recall a few of the Dallas and Houston guys (and maybe others) had heard of and eaten cold soup before, maybe at home or in a restaurant, and they left their soup cold and ate it. But those of us that never had cold soup, and they certainly weren’t served in our usually one small town cafe, had it heated up and reserved. I recall everyone at my table did. The rest of the meal was great. They kept bringing course after course. But living and interfacing and playing football with the big city boys and establishing lifetime friendships was a great reward for us small town guys.
\Jay Arnold
These DB wonders below were so good, they keep NFL ballers like Bill Bradley '68 (Palestine Wildcats), Bradley, the erstwhile wishbone QB, only started a handful of UT games at safety. That didn't stop him from swiping four Aggie passes in his last regular-season game, then earning All-Pro merit in a great career with Philadelphia. The images are shown in a slide show. Others due for reps would be Willie Mack Garza '91 Refugio Bobcats). 
Longhorn Punter from Small Town Texas PUNTER
John Teltschik '85 (Kerrville Tivy Antlers)
A big and athletic barefooted punter, Teltschik could boom towering punts, threaten fake punts and deliver jarring tackles when necessary. His toughness made Teltschik a favorite of John Madden during his NFL career with Philadelphia.
Longhorn Small town texas Exception for 4A Texas City
Texas City has fed the Longhorns a number of stud players over the years. The latest Stingaree from TCHS to make it big was RB D'Onta Foreman, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards in 2016. The Stings were playing in the state's highest classification (4A) back in the '60s or I would have saluted quite a few Texas City alums.
But it wouldn't feel right not to mention the legendary, tall, and talented Talbert brothers. Don ('61) was a captain and All-America tackle before playing a decade in the NFL, Charles ('63) was a key two-way player for DKR's first national champs and Diron ('66) went on to become a member of the LA Rams' second wave of the Fearsome Foursome, then terrorized the Cowboys as a Washington Redskin star.
All three brothers are members of the UT Hall of Honor.
Write to Larry Carlson at lc13@txstate.edu
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