1973 Billy Schott remembers the Miami game and the SMU game 

Schott Describes The Setting For The Miami Game.

Schott: That trip to Miami was like going to a bowl game. The game was on a Friday night, so we were already a bit out of sync with regard to our usual Saturday mindset. Our hotel was a pretty swanky South Beach place, and there were some things scheduled that we weren’t used to doing on our usual regular-season road trips. We normally had a walk-through practice on Fridays, but due to another event at the Orange Bowl on Thursday, we had to do that session at the hotel. 

Billy’s comments are part of a longer article about the 1973 team at link

1973 INTERVIEW WITH (squarespace.com)

With the Miami kickoff being on Friday night, we had a lot of downtime and at some point after lunch, we were treated to a movie in our meeting room. Some older gentleman set up a huge projector and for some reason unknown to us, we watched (or slept through) “Cactus Flower” with Goldie Hawn and Walter Matthau. I’m of the opinion it was orchestrated by the Miami folks to literally put us to sleep as that’s how we wound up playing later that evening. 

For everyone, our first impressions of the venerable old Orange Bowl Stadium were basically, “Wow…what a piece of crap…” when we were anticipating a palatial arena with first-class trappings.

The area itself was pretty seedy and as we wound our way through the streets leading to the stadium, we were rather taken aback by the sight of such an impoverished neighborhood with an iconic and storied football venue smack dab in the middle.

The stadium was so rusty, sitting out in the salty, humid South Florida air, we were amazed that it hadn’t collapsed under the weight of full stands. Being that only 30,000 folks showed up, a catastrophic event was less likely that night.

Our locker room was primitive at best. We were in the same room that the New York Jets had occupied when they won Super Bowl III and I remember thinking, “I wonder what Joe Willie Namath thought of this little box?”

The artificial turf was hard and slick, like a marble floor painted green. We slipped and slid all over the place on a hot, humid night and never got into a solid groove.

Our buses were held up going back to the airport because a vehicle was burning on a street outside the stadium. I was sitting toward the front and heard one of our coaches remarking to the driver, “I guess they’re really excited about beating us tonight.”

The driver just shrugged and replied, “No…it’s just Friday night in Miami.”

SCHOTT:  All in all, it was a trip to and from Hell and we were glad to get out of there and back home alive.

Not a fun plane ride home…

1973 SMU by Billy Schott

Billy’s comments are part of a longer interview conducted by Professor Larry Carlson at 1973 INTERVIEW WITH (squarespace.com).

Instead, we found ourselves in a hole, trailing 14-0 heading into halftime. As we trudged up the tunnel to our locker room, I fell in step with Rosey Leaks, who had maybe 50 yards at best after 2 quarters. He was clearly down and frustrated after taking some solid shots from the Mustang defenders, some of which appeared a bit beyond the echo of the whistle.

I asked, “How’s it goin’, Rosey? Way to run tough out there.”

He quietly replied, “They’re killing’ me out there, Billy. I don’t think I can go any more…”

I gave him a pat on the back and an obligatory “Hang in there, man, you’ve got this.. and as we walked in the door, Rosey plopped down in the first folding chair he found near the door where the trainers had their taping tables set up and the managers stowed our extra gear, head in hands, obviously gassed and visibly frustrated. I was changing out a shoelace in my kicking shoe when I heard Coach Royal asking, “Where’s Junior? Anyone seen Junior?” (referring to Rosey). One of the student managers pointed back to where Rosey and I were seated. 

Coach asked Rosey how he was doing and Rosey’s response was the same as he said to me walking up the tunnel. “They’re killin’ me, Coach…I don’t know if I can go much more…”, shaking his head and looking at the floor.

Coach leaned in close to Rosey and with his cheekbones and ears flaring red, he said in a quiet, yet firm voice, “I’ll tell you what, your ass is going back on that field, and it ain’t coming off until it gets drug off…or I say it comes off. Either that or a one-way bus ticket back to Chapel Hill, Texas…got it?”

Rosey nodded and gave Coach a solemn “Yes, sir.”

And Coach then strode toward the main room.

Rosey looked over to me and said, “What should I do, Schott…I got nothin’ left?”

“I’d listen to the man, Rose…you’ve got more left than you think. We’ll get it going…” and so on.

Now comes the best halftime speech I’ve ever heard…

There was quite a bit of “animated conversation” going on in the locker room with a bit of finger pointing and some terse dialogue between offense and defense.

When Coach Royal would enter a room and stand on a bench or chair, we would automatically cease all conversation or whatever we were doing, take a knee and give our total attention to Coach, as we knew he had something to say…and we’d better pay attention.

He looked out at us as he scanned the room, actually cracked a bit of a smile and simply said, 

“Men…there is one HELL of a fight going on out there……..(looking around at us)

Why don’t y’all get in on it?

Coaches…”, nodding toward the exit as the assistant coaches followed him out to the top of the tunnel.

Mayhem ensued briefly as there may or may not have been a chair tossed into a window above the locker stalls and guys like Gaspard and English began exhorting everyone to get it together and go kick some ass.

Long story short, Rosey DID get his ass out there and 342 yards later, Coach let him off the field. One of the most unbelievable rushing performances I have ever seen and a truly gutsy example put forth by #46.

Final score: Texas 42

                      SMU: 14

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Professor Carlson and Billy Schott discuss DKR’s legacy

BILLY:  I’LL USE SOME OF THE FOLLOWING FOR A SEPARATE PIECE ON DKR’S LEGACY AND NOW BEING UNDERRATED BY MEDIA.

12.  DKR was known to be pretty much “all business” with his players at Texas but then befriended many former players after graduation.  I’ve heard a lot of guys say they learned life lessons from Royal and playing for him and his staff.  What in particular sticks with you?

Since I had known Coach since I was five years old, I had an interesting relationship with him. He had literally watched me grow up and along with my Dad, Coach Royal was someone that I never wanted to disappoint in any way. Fortunately, I never got called into his office for anything bad or embarrassing…and I’m thankful for that.

At 70 years old, I still think before doing something I may have misgivings about, “What would Dad and Coach Royal think?”

13.  Speaking of Royal, I recently saw an ESPN ranking of the top college football coaches of all time.  DKR was 38th?   Has he been underrated now, 47 years after retiring?  And perhaps because he left the game when he was only 52 years old?  Thoughts?

Definitely underrated. I think in another day and age, he would have gone at least another ten years or maybe more. But, as he had said many times before, when it stopped being fun, it was time to set his bucket down. 

14.  Any other thoughts or recollections about having played for those Longhorn championship teams?

Just honored to have had the privilege of playing with the best teammates and learning from such great coaches while fulfilling a dream of wearing a Texas Longhorns uniform.