Comments on: 1965 Orange Bowl, Texas vs. Alabama: College Football Goes Primetime

By: ChagoFuentes

ChagoFuentes — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:32:09 +0000

Great article and great game. I was a junior in high school and bet $50 even that Texas would beat Alabama and Joe Willie. I was both crazy (especially for not getting any points) and poor. Fortunately I won the bet because I would never have been able to pay it. I don’t think I ever collected either — probably because the only Crimson Tide fan in our high school was just as broke as I was. I met both Tommy Nobis and Pete Lammons a couple of years later when I was a freshman at UT. Nobis was the most impressive physical specimen I had ever laid eyes on at the time, and I witnessed Lammons and Diron Talbert bench pressing a juke box at the Orange Bull, a local drinking establishment well known to any UT fans reading this article.

By: Barking Carnival — Blog — Texas vs Alabama: An Historical Perspective

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:26:14 +0000

[...] NBC-TV had asked the Orange Bowl to move to their kickoff to 7:00 pm for the Jan. 1 game, and kicked in an extra $600,000 to make it worthwhile. The Orange Bowl Committee then put together a match made in TV Heaven. From 1961-64 Texas was 39-3-1 with a National Championship, while Alabama was 40-4 with two National Titles. [...]

By: don

don — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:10:02 +0000

every one knows namath scored—just like jfk—today people would tape–no tech then

By: DBH

DBH — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:40:35 +0000

srr50,

Somehow I missed this when it was first posted. Great account of one of the classic games in Longhorn lore. I was a kid who had fallen in love with Texas football in ‘63, so this is one of my early memories of the Horns. Really appreciate you bringing it back to life here on BC.

By: Procyon

Procyon — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:30:26 +0000

That game was a real extravaganza. I was a Freshman in the Longhorn Band, and we flew to Florida on a chartered plane. We took a much smaller band than usual, because of the expense. They sat the band down on the sideline in folding chairs, and I spent most of the first half trying to see around Joe Willie, who was warming up in front of us. The game was incredible. Afterward, the band stayed until everyone had left the stadium, before getting on the buses back to the hotel. We wandered down to the end of the stadium and pulled oranges off the trees. They had Sunkist stamping on them, and were scotch-taped to the trees.

By: Bob in Houston

Bob in Houston — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:57:44 +0000

I had a friend who used to make a visual joke about the distance by which Namath failed to score, that the official signaled with a Hook ‘em.

By: SlickStreet

SlickStreet — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:42:16 +0000

super treat to read, srr. Thanks

By: beast in 'bama

beast in 'bama — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:50:35 +0000

An excellent read. Thank you.

A further irony is that Coach Bryant and Coach Royal were such good friends; Royal was instrumental in convincing Bryant to go with the wishbone – the offense that led to Bryant’s further domination of college football in the 1970s.

But Bryant was never able to beat his old friend Royal while coaching Alabama. With all its great football history, Alabama is 0-7-1 all time against the ‘Horns.

By: J.R.69

J.R.69 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:10:13 +0000

Great writeup. I remember that game very well. With all the pre-game hype, night game, matchups, etc., I was near-rabid and couldn’t wait for the game.

The night before the game, I dreamed that Texas won it 21-7. It turned out that that was the halftime score, and the Horns won 21-17.

Whatever. It was a great, great game. One small nit to pick: it waqs FRANK Bedrick, not Fred. :)

By: BRAGGonUT

BRAGGonUT — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:05:16 +0000

Great stuff, srr50. ESPN Page 2 ranked this game as the #9 all-time best bowl game.