Looking back on a UT great before Texas and Georgia football square of

Special to the Athens Banner-Herald

There are new faces in the inner circle in almost every profession nowadays, including sports and country music. While I was never directly connected to the heyday of Darrell Royal and Willie Nelson and the sphere they created, I was fascinated by the downhome atmosphere they preferred and the headlines they made that enriched the lives of so many without either of them being driven by ego and greed.

You just couldn’t be more downhome than the long-time Texas coach who was a deep and abiding aficionado of country music and a close friend of Willie’s.

I first met Royal at the annual convention of the American Football Coaches Association in the late sixties. Bill Dooley, Vince Dooley’s younger brother, played football at Mississippi State when Royal wa