Darrell Royal: Difference between revisions

Darrell Royal

Darrell K. Royal (born July 6, 1924 in Hollis, Oklahoma, USA), is a College Football Hall of Fame member, and is the most successful football coach, in terms of wins, in University of Texas Longhorn history.

Darrell Royal has a middle initial but no middle name. The "K" is in honor of his mother, Katy, who died when he was an infant. She died of cancer, but because of the taboo surrounding the disease at that time, Royal was led to believe until he was an adult that she had died giving birth to him.^[1]

Royal played quarterback and defensive back at the University of Oklahoma under his mentor, coach Bud Wilkinson.

He is most noted for his prowess as a defensive back, where his 18 career interceptions and his 3 interceptions in the 1947 game against Oklahoma State are still Sooner records.^[2][3]

His part-time contributions at quarterback had a similar impact, despite having to share time with Jack Mitchell and Claude Arnold at the position. He threw a 43-yard pass against North Carolina in the 1949 Sugar Bowl. He holds the fourth best winning percentage in school history (minimum 15 starts) with a 16-1 mark as a part-time quarterback starter. His 11-0 mark as a starter in 1949 ranks as one of the best seasons in school history.^[2][3]

He served as an assistant coach at North Carolina State, Tulsa and Mississippi State. He coached the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, and in 1955, he returned to Mississippi State for his first collegiate head coaching job. He spent the 1956 season at the University of Washington.

Royal took over as head coach at University of Texas in December of 1956, and achieved success almost instantaneously. The team went from a 1-9 season, their worst record ever, in 1956 to a 6-4-1 season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl in 1957. In Royal's 20 years as head coach, UT never had a losing season. Royal posted a 167-47-5 career record at Texas. His overall coaching record was 184-60-5.

With Royal at the helm, UT won three national championships (1963, 1969, and 1970), won or shared 11 Southwest Conference championships, and made 16 bowl appearances.

Royal is also known as a great innovator on the football field and off. He introduced two key changes to college football — the "flip-flop" and the wishbone formation backfield. He was also the first coach in the nation to employ an academic counselor. Four out of every five of his players went on to earn their degree.

Starting in 1962, Royal also served as athletics director for UT. He retired from coaching in 1976, and remained director of athletics until 1980. He now serves as special assistant to the university president on athletic programs. In 1996, the University honored him by renaming Texas Memorial stadium to Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Royal was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

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• "If good luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, bad luck is what happens when lack of preparation meets a challenge."
• "Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile."
• "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
• "You've got to be in a position for luck to happen. Luck doesn't go around looking for a stumblebum."
• "Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad."

• List of presidents of the American Football Coaches Association

• Head Football Coaches at The University of Texas
• The Darrell K Royal Appreciation Page
• Texas Monthly Talks - Interview with Darrell Royal
• Read Me Texas - Darrell Royal

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