This metropolitan city is also the state capital of Texas, a music center like Athens, and the home of the Longhorns football team, which now competes in the Southeastern Conference.
Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, what would Darrell Royal, Dana X. Bible, Tom Landry, and Tommy Nobis think of that?
In addition to the music scene – Austin promotes itself as the “Live Music Capital of the World” – there is industry and technology.
Most Texans I have met over the years would tell you that Austin's two most salient facts are that it is the home of the Texas Longhorns and a hotbed for country music.
Unfortunately, with the Georgia football team staying in Round Rock, 22 miles north of Austin, I could not find my way to Ciso’s Bakery on East Sixth Street. This is where the late Texas coach, Darrell Royal, often hung out. It was always an exciting scene. When the coaching icon sat down, various people usually joined him without an invitation.
Many street folks, including a couple of Mexican Americans who were seasoned fans with knowledge of his exemplary record and statistics, confirmed they were really into Longhorn football lore.
He never shooed them away, was never impatient with their intrusion into his conversation, and never made them feel like he wanted to seek solace via the exit sign. I always thought that those qualities made him an excellent communicator, which likely enhanced his recruiting acumen and heightened his leadership skills.
It would not be easy to think any football program in the country has it better than Texas. Texas is a big state geographically, meaning the population base is significant, and there are many high school prospects to choose from each year. Nowhere is the passion for the game more important at the grassroots level.
There is big money in the state, and lots of it, which means there are more big donors in Texas than most anywhere else. The weather is as conducive to playing football as it is anywhere.
However, most Texas alumni remember two things about their football history. One is the Royal era: He coached for 19 years, won 167 games, 11 Southwest Conference titles, and three national championships. The other is Georgia’s defeat of the Longhorns, 10-9, in the 1984 Cotton Bowl.
Texas partisans have longed to return to a Royal-like era since he retired. The closest they came was when Mack Brown coached Texas to the national championship in 2005 and lost to Alabama in 2009 in the old BSC championship game. That was a highly successful era, but for most Texas fans, it was not the same as Royal's era, when he won three national titles and dominated the conference.
We remember Royal for many things in his career, mostly his affection for country music. Off the field, he cavorted with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and the Gatlin brothers. He and his wife, Edith, vacationed with Charley Pride and his wife, Rozene. Royal played golf with Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, and while he was never the life of the party, he was the center of attention in most any group.
That was because of his storytelling and downhome humor. He was the quintessential raconteur—never verbose but forever compelling and entertaining.
I never had a conversation with him in which he did not invoke humor with every topic. He came from a small-town environment in Hollis, Okla., and knew about austerity and hard times. He undoubtedly benefited from a brush of humility at birth, and that trait never left him. For example, he addressed all his coaches and superiors with “Mr.” He always referred to Dana X. Bible, who hired him at Texas, as “Mr. Bible.”
I will always appreciate his story about his relationship with Bud Wilkinson, the ultra-successful coach for whom Royal played at Oklahoma.
When Royal became the Texas coach and had to play in the “Red River Shootout” in Dallas every year, competing against his old coach was tough.
When his team beat Oklahoma the first time, he told a friend, “It just didn’t seem right to beat Mr. Wilkinson.”