Don Markette- The 1963 team

Thank you for your inclusion on the TSLN e-mail network.

It is with pride that I celebrate 57 years of friendship with Ted Liljedahl. Our bond has never been broken.

In 1962 at 17 1/2 years of age, I chose to walk on and try out for the freshman (short horns) team.  It was a big step for me to come from an all-boys Catholic school in San Antonio to the UT campus.  I was a bit wide-eyed and bushy-tailed during my freshman year.

I played with the likes of Tommy Nobis, Phil Harris, Ronny Landry, and many other great football players.  That year, to my memory, there were four walk-ons: including Jim Roach, Clyde Johnson, Don Nagel.

I made it through the ‘63 spring training, but I had to withdraw from football in the fall of ’63- a good student I was not. So, I missed a National Championship ring by a few months. Something that I think of often.

I was in the BEB ( now the McCombs School of Business)  when Charles Whitman started his rampage. That is also something that I think of often.