University of Tennessee Athletics
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Paul "Bear Bryant", Duke Carlisle, Johnny Holland, John Kimbrough, Lindsey Nelson, Roger Staubach and Jim Swink Honored in Fair Park Ceremony
DALLAS, May 18, 2000 - Seven individuals who helped shape college football history and New Year's Day tradition were inducted today into the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.
Southwestern Bell and the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association honored the "Class of 2000" on the steps of the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park. Inductees included Alabama and Kentucky coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, Texas quarterback Duke Carlisle, Texas A&M linebacker Johnny Holland, Texas A&M fullback John Kimbrough, long-time network announcer Lindsey Nelson, Navy quarterback Roger Staubach, and TCU halfback Jim Swink.
Sixty-four years in the making, the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame honors the many extraordinary individuals who have played a role in developing the tradition, pageantry and prestige of one of college football's most legendary post-season bowl games.
Each member of the Hall of Fame received a personalized bronze statue in the likeness of a 1930's football player, the era in which the Cotton Bowl was founded. Former SMU tailback, Cotton Bowl Classic participant and current CBS sportscaster Craig James served as the event's master of ceremonies. Duke Carlisle, Johnny Holland, Roger Staubach and Jim Swink attended the ceremony. John Kimbrough was represented by his son, John. Bear Bryant and Lindsey Nelson were inducted posthumously. Bryant was represented by one of his former players at Alabama, linebacker Lee Roy Jordan. Nelson was honored by his daughter, Nancy Nelson Wyszynski.
"The Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame gives us the opportunity to properly and permanently recognize these heroes and unique personalities who helped establish the Classic as one of college football's premier events," said Fred McClure, chairman, Cotton Bowl Athletic Association. "We believe that the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame provides future generations with a greater appreciation for the rich tradition of college football on New Year's Day here in Texas."
"Southwestern Bell is dedicated to expanding the legacy of the Cotton Bowl to future generations," said Tom Morgan, President, SBC Consumer Markets. "By showcasing the Cotton Bowl's unparalleled past, we also enhance the bowl game's promising future."
A 35-member judging committee (including media representatives and athletic administrators) voted from a list of 52 original nominees that included players, coaches, bowl administrators and others who have made special contributions to the Classic.
Selection criteria for the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame include the following:
* An individual's performance in, or contribution to, the Classic rather than on the person's college or professional career.
* An individual is eligible five years after his final Classic appearance.
The 2000 Class is the third to be inducted into the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. The inaugural class in 1998 included Syracuse halfback Jim Brown, Texas quarterback Bobby Layne, Rice halfback Dicky Maegle, Texas coach Darrell Royal, Cotton Bowl Founder J. Curtis Sanford, "Mr. Cotton Bowl" Field Scovell, and SMU halfback Doak Walker.
A year ago, the Class of 1999 featured TCU quarterback Sammy Baugh, Arkansas coach Frank Broyles, Kilgore Rangerettes founder Gussie Nell Davis, Houston linebacker David Hodge, Cotton Bowl team selection chairman Felix McKnight, and Texas quarterback James Street.
The Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame is one of several events developed by Southwestern Bell and the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association to extend the Classic to the community and to future generations. New activities include the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Football Fest during the State Fair of Texas, the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Art Contest involving 6,500 elementary children from Dallas and Richardson, and the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl New Year's Eve Parade and pep rallies in downtown Dallas.
Since its first game in 1937, the Classic has hosted:
In September 1996, Southwestern Bell became title sponsor of the
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic, an agreement that will run through
the year 2006.
The Cotton Bowl Athletic Association supports higher education through
athletic competition. Three quarters of every dollar generated by the
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic is returned to higher education. Since
1937, the Classic has contributed more than $120 million to participating
institutions. Each year, football fans attending the Southwestern Bell
Cotton Bowl generate more than $25 million in direct spending for the
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader.
Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech,
Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Cellular One - and
world-class network, SBC's subsidiaries provide local and long-distance
phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed
Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security
services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory
advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently
has 90.4 million voice grade equivalent lines, 11.2 million wireless
customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring
SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has
telecommunications investments in 23 countries. With more than 204,000
employees, SBC is the 13th largest employer in the U.S., with annual
revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.
SOUTHWESTERN BELL COTTON BOWL HALL OF FAME
COACH PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT, ALABAMA/KENTUCKY
Paul "Bear" Bryant, the coach who made the houndstooth hat famous, shared
many exciting moments in the Cotton Bowl. In five appearances, he was one of
only three coaches to lead more than one university to the Classic. His
first trip to Dallas came in 1952 when he guided Kentucky to a 20-7 victory
over TCU. Then, with his move to Alabama, he and the Crimson Tide made four
more Cotton Bowl appearances. However, The Bear may be remembered more for a
game he lost than for his two victories. In the 1968 Classic, Gene
Stallings, one of his former players, directed Texas A&M to a 20-16 upset.
After the game, Bryant gave his former pupil a congratulatory bear hug...a
moment frozen in time in the lore of the Cotton Bowl.
DUKE CARLISLE, TEXAS, QUARTERBACK
Duke Carlisle, the Longhorn defensive ace turned quarterback, gave college
football a performance to remember when No. 1 Texas faced No. 2 Navy in one
of the most eagerly awaited bowl matchups ever. The Longhorns were unbeaten
at 10-0-0 while Navy was 9-1-0. Much of the focus fell upon Navy quarterback
Roger Staubach, college football's Heisman Trophy winner. However, it didn't
take long for Carlisle and Texas to gain the upper hand. The Midshipmen
dared the ground-oriented Longhorns to throw the ball and Carlisle answered
the challenge by throwing touchdown bombs of 58 and 63 yards early in the
game. He then ran nine yards for another score just before halftime. The end
result was a convincing 28-6 Texas victory and the dispute was settled as to
which team was No. 1.
JOHNNY HOLLAND, TEXAS A&M, LINEBACKER
The term "Wrecking Crew" is defined as a tenacious, swarming defense, one
that turns opposing offenses inside-out with no place to run. The moniker
came into vogue in the mid-1980s when Texas A&M linebacker Johnny Holland
served as one of the ringleaders of the first "Wrecking Crew" defense.
Blessed with tremendous quickness and football instincts, Holland was
spectacular for the Aggies against Auburn and Ohio State. In those two
games, "Mr. Everywhere" logged 27 tackles, 18 were solo efforts. In the
Classic's Golden Anniversary game, Holland unloaded on Auburn with 16
tackles and was involved in two crucial fourth down situations in the fourth
quarter that propelled A&M to a resounding 36-16 victory over the Tigers and
Heisman winner Bo Jackson.
JOHN KIMBROUGH, TEXAS A&M, FULLBACK
Texas A&M fullback John Kimbrough was big, strong and hard to bring down.
Kimbrough's bone jarring collisions were infamous. That's why they called
him Jarrin' John. He wasn't the average football player of the 1940s.
Standing 6-2 and weighing 222 pounds, the Haskell Hurricane was an imposing
force on the gridiron. Opposing defenders often compared tackling Kimbrough
with tackling a truck. There wasn't any trickery or shiftiness in his
running style. Everyone knew where he was going. They just couldn't stop
him. At the 1941 Cotton Bowl, Kimbrough plowed through Fordham defenders for
66 yards on 18 carries and scored the game's decisive touchdown in the third
quarter, a one-yard burst around left end. After the game, Ram players
agreed that knocking Kimbrough off his feet was just too much to ask.
LINDSEY NELSON, VOICE OF THE COTTON BOWL
"Hello everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson." For 26 years, this was his signature
greeting as Nelson welcomed millions of football fans from around the
country to the Cotton Bowl. A true pioneer of sports broadcasting, Nelson's
radio and television career began in 1948 and spanned five decades in which
he covered thousands of sporting events. His tenure as the "Voice of the
Cotton Bowl" began on NBC with the radio broadcast of the 1951 game. Three
years later he teamed up with Red Grange for the telecast of the infamous
1954 Cotton Bowl Classic. His streak of 17 consecutive Cotton Bowl
broadcasts began with the 1970 Classic and ended with his retirement
following the 1985 Cotton Bowl. Nelson's unique delivery style, those
colorful test-pattern sportcoats, and his intense love for college football
made Big D a special place to be every New Year's Day.
ROGER STAUBACH, NAVY, QUARTERBACK
If Dallas only knew what the future held when Roger Staubach, Navy's junior
quarterback, brought his Heisman Trophy to the 1964 Cotton Bowl Classic. In
a dream matchup that pitted No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Navy, Staubach gave
football fans something to get excited about. Despite Navy's loss to the
Longhorns, he was brilliant in defeat. Staubach completed a record 21
passes -- a number that still remains at the top of the Classic's passing
charts -- for 228 yards, another Classic record. However, it was Staubach's
nimble feet that got Navy into the end zone that day against Texas. Late in
the fourth quarter, he ran two yards for the Midshipmen's lone touchdown. At
the time, no one realized that "Captain America" was about to find a home.
His efforts for the Cotton Bowl didn't end on the playing field. As a Dallas
civic leader and a former color analyst for CBS, Roger Staubach has
established a lasting relationship with Dallas' New Year's Day Classic.
JIM SWINK, TCU, HALFBACK
Jim Swink lived for the big play. Throughout his career, the Rusk Rambler
left defenders grasping in air as the elusive halfback turned long, broken
field runs into points. With his gliding, side-stepping running style, Swink
was poetry in motion. He scored twice in TCU's narrow 14-13 loss to Ole Miss
in the 1956 Classic. His first touchdown was a short, one-yard burst, but
the second score came on a dazzling 39-yard sprint over right tackle. Swink
returned to the Cotton Bowl a year later for the Frogs' celebrated duel with
Syracuse and Jim Brown. True to form, Swink scored what proved to be TCU's
winning touchdown, the 35th of his career, on a three-yard blast early in
the fourth quarter. The score pushed TCU to a 28-14 advantage and a cushion
that Syracuse could not overcome.
* 17 Pro Football Hall of Famers * 11 Heisman Trophy winners
* 13 Outland Trophy winners * 8 Maxwell Award winners
* 12 Lombardi Award winners * 7 Walter Camp Award winners
THE CLASS OF 2000
Hometown: Fordyce, Arkansas
1952 Classic: Kentucky 20, TCU 7
1968 Classic: Texas A&M 20, Alabama 16
1973 Classic: Texas 17, Alabama 13
1981 Classic: Alabama 30, Baylor 2
1982 Classic: Texas 14, Alabama 12
Classic Coaching Record: 2-3-0
Ht. 6-1 Wt. 176 Class: Sophomore/Junior/Senior
Position: Quarterback/Halfback
Hometown: Athens, Texas
1962 Classic: Texas 12, Mississippi 7
1963 Classic: LSU 13, Texas 0
1964 Classic: Texas 28, Navy 6
Statistics:
1964 Rushing: 11 attempts, 54 yards, 1 TD
1964 Passing: 7-19-1, 213 yards, 2 TDs
1962 Defensive Statistics: 7 tackles, 3 unassisted, 3 PBUs
1963 Defensive Statistics: 6 tackles, 3 unassisted, 1 PBU
Ht. 6-2 Wt. 220 Class: Junior/Senior
Position: Linebacker
Hometown: Hempstead, Texas
1986 Classic: Texas A&M 36, Auburn 16
1987 Classic: Ohio State 28, Texas A&M 12
Statistics:
1986: 16 tackles, 10 unassisted
1987: 11 tackles, 8 unassisted, 1 TFL for -23 yards, 1 PBU
Ht. 6-2 Wt. 222 Class: Senior
Position: Fullback
Hometown: Haskell, Texas
1941 Classic: Texas A&M 13, Fordham 12
Statistics:
Rushing: 18 attempts, 66 yards, 1 TD
Hometown: Columbia, Tennessee
Cotton Bowl Broadcasts:
1951, 1953: NBC Radio Network
1954-57: NBC Television Network
1958, 1961, 1968, 1970-86: CBS Television Network
Ht. 6-2 Wt. 193 Class: Junior
Position: Quarterback
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
1964 Classic: Texas 28, Navy 6
Statistics:
Rushing: 12 attempts, -47 yards, 1 TD
Passing: 21-31-1, 228 yards
Ht. 6-1 Wt. 185 Class: Junior/Senior
Position: Halfback
Hometown: Rusk, Texas
1956 Classic: Mississippi 14, TCU 13
1957 Classic: TCU 28, Syracuse 27
Statistics:
1956 Rushing: 19 attempts, 107 yards, 2 TDs
1956 Punt Returns: 4 returns, 55 yards (one for 43 yards)
1957 Rushing: 12 carries, 41 yards, 1 TD
1957 Receiving: 4 receptions, 60 yards
1957 Kickoff Returns: 2 returns, 57 yards
