Top of the Queue – Volume VIII Newsletter #5 -March 1, 2024
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Click on the small white letters “VIEW IN BROWSER” at the top of the page to enlarge and enhance the photos and text on your cellphone.
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TLSN is a 501 (c)(3) Longhorn Sports history educational website with a compassionate component.
Https://texaslsn.org
TLSN is not associated with the UT Athletics Department or any organization closely aligned with UT.
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TEXAS LEGACY SUPPORT shares a panoramic view of Longhorn sports history as seen through the eyes of those who created it.
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TLSN is always interested in profiling anyone associated with UT Athletics and their professional leadership roles post-graduation.
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Bill Robertson, General Manager of Camp Longhorn, sent an email to TLSN, saying, “I wanted to share a fascinating story with you. Chuck Frazer, a distinguished alumnus who played tennis at UT and is also Denton Cooley’s son-in-law, performed surgery on the “Miracle Baby” mentioned in the video below. The baby is the nephew of my son and daughter-in-law.”
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The video is titled “Holtin’s Story”. It is a testimony that showcases the immense power of a parent’s unconditional love, the surgical expertise of Doctor Frazer, and the baby’s incredible will to survive. All of them work together, beating as one heart, to emerge victorious in the struggle for life. If you are interested in watching the video, please click on the Vimeo link provided below. Be prepared to shed tears of joy as you witness the inspiring story of Holtin.
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A B.A. from Texas in 1980 and a former Tennis player for the Texas Longhorns, Dr. Charles Frazer is a world-renowned congenital heart surgeon.
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The family of the Miracle Baby in a moment of celebration.
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Doctor Frazer is Denton Cooley ‘s Son- in- Law
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** Denton Cooley was a walk-on and made the Longhorn basketball team.
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Denton Cooley’s confidence in himself changed heart surgery procedures forever.
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2007- THE CHRISTIANS ARE COMING!
Words of wisdom from Mack Brown in 2007.
“The Christians are coming!” Ranked #19, TCU came close to beating Texas. In Sports Illustrated, Mack Brown says, “We’ve been talking about parity for a long time”—since the NCAA cut scholarship limits to 85 in 1994, preventing traditional powers from stockpiling talent. “And it’s finally here.”
“Yes, the stars have to align for [the underdogs]. They have to get a fumble; they have to get a missed field goal; things have to happen. But if you’re not on your P’s and Q’s, you’re going to lose”.
But back to the 2007 season, Texas and O.U. still owned the Big 12. Longhorn seniors played in 4 winning bowl games and beat Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl, winning 52-36. The 2007 team had nine games with over 400 yards of offense. There were 43 football players with a 3.0 and 8 who earned a 4.0. It is the 6th year in a row that Mack Brown had more than 40 players with a 3.0 or higher.
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The Huddle
The TLSN Board urges everyone to spread the word to their personal network to raise awareness of TLSN and its charitable mission.
Please support TLSN missions by donating $20 to $50.
Click on the link below to donate:
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At a recent women’s basketball game, the University of Texas honored Betty Grubbs for her donations to UT women’s athletics. Gary Mcintosh, a former Longhorn trainer and retired CPA, represented her family at Moody Center.
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Gary McIntosh is lower row third from the left. Frank Medina is top right.
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Gary says,
“Yesterday, I had the honor of representing my dear friend Betty Grubbs, who passed in December 2018 at 100, plus six months. Betty and I sat next to each other for 43 baseball seasons at Disch Falk Field on the UT campus. Suzanne and I became such close, dear friends over the years.
I was on the court as her family representative with Hall of Fame Longhorn basketball coach Jody Conradt, AD Chris Del Conte, and Exec Asst AD Andrew Hamor to honor Betty and announce her gift to primarily the Women’s Athletics program at UT. Betty and her husband Homer were instrumental in helping the fledgling UT women’s program start in the days before the NCAA recognized women’s sports, before Title IX. We are now in the 52nd year of Title IX, I believe. Betty and Homer went around Austin, promoting the women’s basketball program in the 1970s and 1980s, selling tickets, and raising contributions for the program, which didn’t have significant funding from any source back then. Coach Conradt speaks highly of Betty and Homer’s excellent, never-ending love for female athletes, and she has continued that support for decades. And Betty’s legacy will live forever.
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In my opinion, I don’t think there has ever been a high school player in the history of Longhorn football recruiting who has received as many high school honors as 5”8” 145 pound Joe Bob Bizzell.
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Larry Carlson says about Joe Bob Bizzell.
Joe Bob Bizzell was the first player to start as a freshman for Coach Darrell Royal. There are bound to be thousands of guys across Texas who wear snap shirts and boots and answer to the patented Lone Star name of Joe Bob. But there was and is only one Joe Bob Bizzell. The pint-sized defender (5-8, 145) packed an outsized punch and was All-State three seasons at Odessa’s Permian High before wearing the burnt orange. He’s a member of the Texas High School Hall of Fame.
Royal dismissed him from the team in the summer of ’74. He can’t be all bad since he qualified and was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.
Joe Bob Bizzell was the first freshman to start at Texas, but he was gone the following year. However, the reason for his departure will remain a mystery because he doesn’t want his story published.
The only point he shared is that he still feels sadness and regrets over what he believes was bad information Royal received that led to his dismissal.
As a former Panther, I can say with some confidence that the reason Permian was a significant factor in high school football for two decades was their aggressive, free-spirited nature. Permian players were usually disciplined but not large, blessed with quickness but not speed.
Longhorn All-American Glen Halsell and Joe Bob Bizell, both from Permian, shared these aggressive free-spirit genes that gave Coach Royal indigestion. Glen was lucky to remain on the team. Joe Bob was not so lucky.
photos are Joe Bob Bizzell with one photo of Glen Halsell with Tom Campbell
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PROGRESS – Or Lack Of It – REPORT From The Old SWC
by Larry Carlson for https:// texaslsn.org
It was an ugly breakup, as all breakups are. No love lost. None found. Hurt feelings, hard feelings. Splitsville.
It followed the 1995 season. Arkansas had jumped ship four years earlier. But nobody in Texas really cared. The Hogs had always been outliers. And they lived off recruiting the Lone Star State. Parasites.
Now, in the divorce settlement, UT, A&M, Tech and Baylor were moving on to the newly formed Big XII with midwestern teams including OU and Nebraska, the two-time defending national champs.
The private schools – TCU, SMU and Rice – would go west to join ranks with BYU, Utah and even Hawaii, in a two-division, 16-team league. The redheaded stepchild, Houston, entered Conference USA to face “city” schools such as Memphis, Cincinnati and Louisville, among others. And the Coogs would win the C-USA championship on their first try.
Plenty of conference alignments were in store for the 21st century. Now, as the 2024 football season slowly emerges on the far horizon, the landscape and geography of college football is a new planet.
The Longhorns, of course, are set to join the SEC and renew rivalries with the Aggies and Razorbacks. Meanwhile, TCU, Baylor, Tech and Houston remain in the reconstructed Big XII that spreads from Utah to Florida. The SMU Mustangs are raring to go for their Atlantic Coast Conference debut along with other unlikely members that include Cal and Stanford. Rice will stick with Conference USA.
So that’s the future, at least for a season. Let’s take a Cliff’s Notes retrospective look back at the almost three decades since we all read the sad obituary for the once-esteemed Southwest Conference that kicked the bucket after surviving live support for several seasons following the outlaw days starring antiheroes known as SMU’s Pony Express and Cheatin’ Jackie Sherrill of A&M.
The SWC team record list compiled by Professor Carlson is at
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In 2019, TLSN created a “Celebration of Life” webpage to honor individuals associated with the U.T. Athletic Department. Most Longhorns who passed away before 2019 are not listed on the TLSN celebration page.
To add someone to the TLSN Celebration of Life section, send his/her obituary to Billydale1@gmail.com. Rey Moreno, a former Longhorn track manager, sent TLSN obituaries of Edwin Wright III, Martell Petermann, Bishop Dolegiewica, and Randy Lightfoot. Each is now remembered on the “Celebration of Life Wall” as a burnt orange spirit.
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The Randy Lightfoot Celebration of life link is
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