I remember one of those days very distinctly. I was in the Longhorn Band at the Orange Bowl January 1, 1965, where the No. 1 'horns were relegated after having lost to Arkansas earlier in the season, dropping us to No. 4 or so. Joe Namath was the Alabama QB. Alabama was, I believe, ranked No. 1, or thought they were, or should be.WildBill wrote:Those were the days!Oldgringo wrote:Mrs. Oldgringo was in Alabama when Bear Bryant was coach and Joe Namath was QB. I was in Tennessee when Bill Battle was coach. So yes, we're SEC fans.
It was a very exciting game. The 'horns were ahead 21-17 as the 4th quarter wound down. Alabama intercepted a rare Longhorn pass, and found themselves with 1st and goal inside the 10. 3 plays later, it was 4th and goal inside the 1.
The next play was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated next issue, a picture from the end zone, All American Tommy Nobis diving into the pile to nail Namath on a QB sneak just short of the line.
Namath jumped up, ran over to the referee to protest, "I was in, I was in!" The referee, holding up his hand with forefinger and little finger extended in the familiar way, said, "Nah, Joe, you missed it by this much!"
That trip to Miami was a real eye opener for us 19 yo hicks from the hill country, still getting used to Austin with one way streets, taxi's and buses and bright lights on past 9 pm. I had never before met anyone who didn't know the words to "The Eyes of Texas." 3 weeks later, we were in Washington, DC freezing in the Inaugural Parade.
