I got to talk to DKR some too. I remember one night at the Broken Spoke he was there, and I pointed him out to some friends of mine. One of them had a book in his car for some reason that DKR had written about his life, and he went and got it. He said you know him some and asked me to go with him to where Coach Royal was sitting. I took him over there and introduced him and he asked DKR to sign his book. He said he didn't like signing things in public because it drew a crowd to him. He took out a pen and wrote down his phone number and address on two cards and gave us each one. He said if we called him and told him we were coming to his house, he would sign things. My friend was kind of shocked and we walked away. I told him that's how Coach was. I never called him, didn't really want to bother him and neither did my friend. As time goes by, I sort of wish I had, but I got to see him more times after that and talk to him. I still think about going to DKR's house and having some things signed and he would probably say to set down. I think about maybe meeting his wife and asking some things and having him tell some Longhorn football stories. I had a good opening thing to say because of one of his top assistant coaches Charlie Shira. He went to Mississippi State with Emory Bellard, who was named head coach there. I met Shira's daughter Lorette, at the 1981 College World Series when Mississippi State was there. She told me about her dad and a great story. She was born the week of the 1963 OU game, and the Texas team dedicated the game to her. They won and presented the game ball to Coach Shira to give to her and she still had that ball. I kept in contact with her. She called me after Texas won the SWC and asked if I would like to go the 1982 Cotton Bowl with her and her family, they had tickets. Of course, I went, and we sat dead on the fifty-yard line and watched Texas beat Alabama 14-12 on Brewer's quarterback draw.
Coach Royal was good friends with Joe Paterno, and he died without knowing about the sex scandal at Penn State. He always thought Paterno was just like him about not cheating and doing things the right way. Paterno also before the child abuse scandal came to light used to say that he wouldn't retire from coaching, as long as someone like Switzer was still around. That didn't age well, and I always wonder what DKR would have said about Paterno if he had lived to know about what ole Joe had done. I think we all know.
DKR was hired to beat OU, and he did. He went from being a star quarterback at OU und Bud Wilkenson to hating OU and of course Switzer. He couldn't believe OU would let Switzer do whatever he wanted as long as he won titles. At least Switzer did admit to spying on Texas practices with an OU coach. That incident and the denial of it ever happening really enraged DKR and with the continued cheating might have been the last straw that led to his retirement.