POSTCARD FROM THE INDIAN TERRITORY 8/12/2022

Catching Up With Lance Taylor

by Larry Carlson ( lc13@txstate.edu )

I think it's time for Tulsa to secede. It's just way too pretty and pleasant to be part of the Indian Territory. My parents were here in 1950 for one of Daddy's first jobs in the oil business. My sister, Diana, was born here. Daddy used to say he regretted not driving my Mom as fast as he could down to Paris so my sis could be born on Texas turf. But Daddy also always held that at least Tulsa was "the oasis" of Oklahoma. He was correct. And Diana, sometimes called Diney-Bug by her little brother, has done just fine, in spite of that dark mark on her birth certificate.

This wasn't my first trip to Tulsa. I had enjoyed this leafy, hilly, beautiful city several times before returning this month to visit with and speak to the Tulsa chapter of Texas Exes. Great, great fun to catch up with my old buddy Lance Taylor and his lovely wife, Karla.

Lance, of course, was the Longhorns' All-SWC linebacker and leading tackler on the '77 team that went 11-0 while Earl Campbell pounded his way to the Heisman Trophy. Texas fans still grimace when remembering that Taylor received a severe shoulder injury in win number eleven, a 57-28 butt-kicking of the Aggies in College Station.

In the Cotton Bowl game five weeks later, Lance's absence in the middle of UT's "stop 'em" troops was glaring. Notre Dame ran right at the inexperienced players trying vainly to fill his cleated shoes and pulled off a big upset that separated Texas from the national title.

Until this trip, I had never known exactly how Lance sustained the costly injury in that otherwise delicious triumph over A&M. Now Lance sat back in an easy chair in the Taylors' spacious and comfortable living room and revealed that it was friendly fire that did the damage that late November day.

"About five of us were trying to tackle that guy," he said, referring to the Ags' 275-pound behemoth of a fullback, George Woodard. Lance recalled that safety Ricky Churchman (recently touted on TLSN by legendary strength and conditioning coach Dana LeDuc as one of the roughest, street-fightingest guys he ever tutored at UT) crashed the party from behind. And down went Woodard, along with Taylor's shoulder.

"Ricky was always like a heat-seeking missile," Lance said, smiling ruefully.

That evening we got into Lance's truck, a "Texas Edition," of course, and took a short drive to a local restaurant. I spoke -- too long, probably -- to the assembled Texas Exes of Tulsa, about a variety of topics concerning the '22 Longhorns and college football. Folks wanted to talk about the NIL, the SEC and getting Texas back on track. I couldn't resist referring to the past dozen years as a "twelve-year kidney stone" for Texas fans but I presented arguments for why the Horns can have a very good season. There's that potent offense that could be worth 40 points a game if anyone can block. And there's a defense that should be much improved. No less a defensive mind than Lance Taylor told me he thinks a defense with a new leader and scheme always needs at least a second year to get going. I pointed out to the group that Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski should also be aided by the savvy brought in by Gary Patterson. Maybe I'm overstating things but I went out on a limb and predicted that input and insight from Patterson -- who regularly developed three-star recruits into star players, period -- should be worth the difference in two close games this fall.

Lance introduced me to Texas Exes such as Dr. Richard Seifert, John Rosentreter and former UT track man Dr. Jeff Lindsay. And I caught up again with Rodney Tate, one of the rare Oklahomans who braved the Sooner State pressure and played football for the Longhorns. As a great group of orange-clad Texas Exes chowed down on barbecue at Oklahoma Joe's, Rodney told me he is back in his hometown, Beggs, just a convenient half-hour drive from the skyline of downtown Tulsa.

Rodney made it clear, though, that Beggs is pure-dee country. And that's good. "You've gotta move to the country," he kept urging his fellow Texas Exes. Rodney said he has 20 acres and a good pond for reeling in fish. Tate was a fourth-round NFL pick out of Texas in '82 and played for the Cincinnati Bengals' first Super Bowl team as a rookie before later playing for the Atlanta Falcons. He's been back home for years and coached up the Beggs Golden Demons in football and track, his second sport at Texas. The speedster ran for the Longhorn track team only one year before focusing strictly on football. That's the way Fred Akers wanted it.

Dr. Lindsay, an anesthesiologist, had plenty of adventures to share. His personal success story is remarkable, to say the least. Jeff went to UT from Skidmore, a microscopic South Texas town with ten mesquite trees for every person.

His Texas degree propelled him to Harvard Medical School and the burnt orange-blooded physician has taken the baton from there. Dr. Lindsay had dozens of tales about UT track and we exchanged pleasant memories about James Blackwood, a longtime Texas assistant who later served as head track coach at UTSA.

Back at the Taylor home, Lance, Karla and I wound down by sipping refreshments that accompanied a whole lot more chatter about football, music, travel and more. Lance and I traded stories about the glories of his old hometown of El Paso and Karla showed off some amazing photographs from beach vacations.

Lance mused about the dream as a youngster to perhaps play for Utah State in Logan, close to where he grew up before the family moved to Idaho. Lance said he later thought playing for notorious taskmaster Frank Kush at Arizona State might be a fit.

But that was before all the heavy recruitment of the blue-chip linebacker from Coronado High in El Paso. Lance confessed that he hadn't really wanted anything to do with the Longhorns until a persuasive call from assistant coach David McWilliams. It brought on a trip to the Cotton Bowl in October to witness the mystique of Texas-OU. That did it. Taylor was ready to sign on and don the burnt orange, and so he did, as one of the shiniest gems of DKR's final recruiting class. After "The El Paso Kid" told other recruiters that Texas was his choice, he said two rival coaches, understanding Taylor's commitment to academics as well as to football, even agreed that Texas was the right place.

We talked more, past midnight, catching up on dozens of Lance's teammates I used to interview and laugh with before and after practice. Randy McEachern. Russell Erxleben. Johnnie Johnson. Morgan Copeland. Robin Sendlein. Bruce Scholtz. Jim Yarbrough. Time flew before I had to, with a return to the airport set for the next morning. Livin' on Tulsa time sure had been fun, even if a bit too brief.

Maybe the Lone Star State could annex just that one scenic spot amid all those hostiles with the paper clip logo on their helmets. You know, the ones who didn't understand what we meant when we told 'em that Will Rogers never met Barry Switzer.