Darrell Royal Dies: Legendary Texas Longhorns Coach Passes Away At 88 [Video]
The Houston Chronicle has confirmed the sad news that former University of Texas head football coach Darrell Royal passed away at his home in Austin early Wednesday. He was 88.
According to The Chron, Royal, who won two national championships and turned the Longhorns program into a national power, died of complications from cardiovascular disease.
“Today is a very sad day. I lost a wonderful friend, a mentor, a confidant and my hero. College football lost maybe its best ever and the world lost a great man,” said Texas Coach Mack Brown, whose 133 wins at Texas is second all-time behind Royal at the school. “I can hardly put in words how much Coach Royal means to me and all that he has done for me and my family. I wouldn’t even be at Texas without Coach.”
In his 20 years as head coach at the University of Texas, Royal didn’t have a single losing season. He won 11 Southwest Conference titles, 10 Cotton Bowl championships, and two national championships in 1963 and 1969, going 11-0 each time. His 167-47-5 record at UT was the best record of any program in the country between 1957-1976.
Royal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Born July 6, 1924 in Hollis, Oklahoma, Royal was recruited to play at the University of Oklahoma by scouts who saw him playing for a US Army Air Corps team during World War II.
He played quarterback and defensive back at Oklahoma for revered coach Bud Wilkinson and turned to coaching after his playing days. He coached at Mississippi State for two seasons and Washington for one before taking over at Texas in December 1956.
“The University of Oklahoma joins the rest of the nation in celebrating the life’s work of Darrell Royal,” said OU AD, Joe Castiglione in a statement. “We’ve truly lost an icon – a champion, an innovator and an educator. As an All-America player at the University of Oklahoma, he represented his home state with a unique versatility that we still celebrate today. Without question, he left an even more indelible mark on collegiate athletics during his distinguished coaching and administrative tenure at the University of Texas, where he made on immeasurable impact on the University and the countless individuals he touched.”
Darrell Royal is survived by his wife, Edith, and a son, Mack. The couple had two other children, daughter Marian, who died in 1973, and son David, who died in 1982.
The University of Texas released the following tribute video in Royal’s passing:
