re: Anyone read "Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming: Texas vs. Arkansas in Dixie's..."

Should be a good read. Will be a good addition to my library.

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I saw him in Austin when he was coach of the Cowboys. I had a 1969 Cadillac (it was silver, not orange) with a horn that through various trumpets installed in the grill played The Eyes of Texas. You get it from J.C. Whitney.

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I'll try to remember and piss on something in Austin the next time I'm down that way in memory of Tony Jones catching that end zone pass in the final seconds of that game in L.R. too.

BTW, Sorry to hear about James Street's death last year. He was liked by many (Hogs and Horns) from what I understand.

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I agree, it's truly remarkable when you stop and think about the near-180 that's occurred when it comes to general race relations in basically half a century. That kind of societal change is practically unheard of in human history, and things are only getting better in that regard (Ferguson be damned).

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You're absolutely right about the turnaround of race relations in this country from the 50s & 60s compared to today being pretty amazing for such a short time span, particularly considering that prejudice & bigotry were so widespread and generally accepted & considered to be the norm in our society. It's a bit strange, though, because on one hand, it is sickening to think that it was not so long ago that things were so unbelievably discriminatory, but on the other, it's something to be proud of, a pretty great accomplishment, that we've turned things around in such a small period of time and have gotten to this point in our society regarding race relations - something that, as you said, is historically almost unheard of. We've got more to do, but we're so far from where we were even since I was a young child.

Honestly, I believe that sports - predominately football, I would think - has helped tremendously with that. How could it not? Important values, character, & life lessons stem from something that brings kids of all races together from a young age and instills & develops not only good physical habits & conditioning, but also discipline & mental conditioning. Most importantly, though, is probably teamwork - working together for a common goal, having each others' backs, learning to have respect for each other & authority, and forming close bonds with teammates - is extremely beneficial to the participants & is carried on throughout their lives.

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Must be rather gratifying to witness the change from your perspective, having lived some of those different times. The current status quo is something I feel my peers take for granted far too often.

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It is extremely gratifying, yet odd, in a way. Like I said earlier, it's a little cringe-worthy to think of how just a few short decades ago, things were very different than they are today. While I wasn't around for the more blatant bigotry, I do remember certain things that were considered acceptable, which, thankfully, by today's standards would be mortifying.

As someone, I think Porky, posted earlier, our family values had much to do with what was acceptable & not, and in my family, right & wrong were very distinguishable; there weren't too many shades of gray. Even being born & raised in the South to a southern family during the 70s, I was taught, as were all the children in my family, from day one, that people were not to be judged by their skin color, regardless of what might be acceptable to the community at the time - that was just wrong. I saw that my parents & grandparents treated everyone equally, regardless of race, so my siblings & I never thought anything differently about people of other races; we never thought about skin color at all, even if some in the community did. But on the whole, most decent families in the town where I grew up raised their children that way. For the most part, only the ignorant, unintelligent hicks, whom people with any class didn't want to associate with anyway, raised their children to be bigoted & prejudiced.

However, even during the late 70s when I was in lower elementary school, maybe 1st or 2nd grade, there was still some rather flagrant racism in our community. My teacher actually called my mother at home one evening to inform her that I was playing with two little black girls a lot at recess - maybe too much - and perhaps I should play on the swings with little "Sally" or "Susie" a bit more & not jump rope so much with "them." Unbelievable. My mother basically laughed in her ear, told my teacher not to bother her again with trivial crap - that she should have more important things to tend to, such as prepare a lesson plan or grade papers, & hung up. ... Those 2 girls remained my good friends throughout school, and I believe our elementary teacher lived long enough to see that one of those girls became a pediatrician & the other an attorney & municipal judge.

God I miss Roger's Rec. I could see Switzer fitting in just fine there.

I think they used to take bets back in the day at the Delux.

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I think they used to take bets back in the day at the Delux.

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More than likely.

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Was he one of the last coaches to smoke on the sidelines?

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Idk who else did, but I remember Barry smoking, and he was always crouched down like he was trying to hide when I saw him do it at a game. I'm sure I thought nothing of it since almost every adult I knew back then smoked.



LINK SoonerFans.com

The comments about Barry smoking & Stoops are hilarious ...

"He would probably get our games rated R today."

"I think the NCAA declared Barry, as a person, to be a violation of NCAA rules."

I think that's the reason I perhaps don't recall it as vividly...almost everyone seemed to do it, so it wasn't that strange at the time.

Great pic BTW!

Here's one of Len Dawson:
LINK

I can remember some professional athletes doing cigarette commercials.

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Here's one of Len Dawson:

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This pic is awesome!! ... And during the fricking Super Bowl!! Lmao ... Cigarettes were so socially acceptable back then, even the players got smoke breaks at halftime.



That's what I mean about athletes just seeming more badass back in the day. Len's all dirty, sweaty, & disheveled with grass stains & mud from shoulder pads to socks, taking a hard draw off that cig ... and drinking a tall boy bottled Fresca, like a boss.