One name came to mind and I wonder who else remembers Butch Duhe. Duhe was a blue-chip QB out of N.O. who was ready as a junior to compete for and win the starting job. The guy really was a stud, but just before the '70 season began he died of a brain hemorrhage. It was a real tragedy, I remember how fast the news spread on campus.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE. I love the "go somewhere" part. ABSOLUTELY TRUE and how it was routinely the case. Not the exception. I can only add, about the breathing down ones neck. I was a PLEBE (freshman) at USNA and those breathing down my neck were Upperclassmen. It was even worse. Dayum the bad luck.
My sister and ex-brother-in-law were at LSU in the 1950s and I followed the Tigers as a school boy at that time. After the 1958 National Championship, the 1959 season and 1960 Sugar Bowl, I remember having a conversation with them asking how LSU would replace its graduating backfield. The reply was they'd been hearing that LSU had a back coming up, Wendell Harris, who might be the best in recent years. That made an impression because the backs of 'recent years' had included Jimmy Taylor, Billy Cannon and Johnny Robinson. Wendell Harris played in what might have been LSU's most talented back field. Wendell Harris, Jerry Stovall and Earl Gros were all first-round NFL draft picks (Gros and Harris in 1962, Stovall in 1963). Stovall was selected to the Pro Bowl three times as a defensive back for the Cardinals. Earl Gros played in the NFL for 9 seasons. Wendell Harris went on to play for the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants. He was a defensive back, kick returner and punt returner.
That was a good comeback by LSU. It wasn't the first time I'd seen the Tigers in the Sugar Bowl. My parents had bought bonds when the stadium was being built so we had Sugar Bowl tickets every year. The first game I had a chance to attend was 1957 (Baylor vs. Tennessee), when I was 10. During the 1958 season, I attended the LSU-Florida game in Tiger Stadium. Then on January 1, 1959, we went to the Sugar Bowl to see the Tigers beat Clemson 7-0 on a TD pass from Billy Cannon to Mickey Mangham. LSU finished undefeated and untied and was selected the AP and UPI national champion. The next year I listened as Billy Cannon ran the ball back 89 yards on the famous Halloween night punt return that enabled LSU to beat Ole Miss 7-3. The following January 1 was a rematch in the Sugar Bowl. The week following the Ole Miss victory, LSU had been upset 14-13 by Tennessee so the Tigers were no longer #1. The only loss by Ole Miss during the 1959 season had been to LSU so they were looking forward to a rematch in the Sugar Bowl. Ole Miss was #2 going into the game and LSU had fallen to #3. Ole Miss beat LSU 21-0. It was a disappointing finish for LSU fans after the 1958 team had not lost a game and returned its core of players. But during the following season, LSU did get a measure of revenge against Ole Miss. The Tigers had a 1-4 record as they traveled to play undefeated, #1 Ole Miss on October 29, 1960. In one of the greatest upsets of that era, Ole Miss had to kick a field goal in the last 6 seconds to tie LSU (6-6). Ole Miss finished 9-0-1 that year. That game had one of the most unusual runs I've seen in college football. LSU's Charlie Cranford ran into a pile of players, flipped over them in a somersault, landed on his feet and made a vital first down. One other Sugar Bowl was particularly memorable. The 1964 game was played shortly after it had snowed in New Orleans and we had to clear snow from the stadium seats! That was when the game was played at Tulane Stadium, before the Superdome was built.
There were two episodes like that. Butch Duhe was a high school football legend in New Orleans who'd quarterbacked Holy Cross in the mid-60s. He was scheduled to be LSU's starting quarterback but passed away. LSU had earlier recruited an All-State quarterback from Woodlawn High School named Trey Prather. I saw him in a high school playoff game in 1964 and he was impressive. How impressive? He was the starter at Woodlawn ahead of a quarterback named Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw didn't start for Woodlawn until Prather graduated from high school. Trey Prather didn't stay at LSU long enough to have a great career. He played QB for a year before leaving school for the Marines and was killed in Vietnam in January, 1968.
Sammy Grezaffi, White Graves, Karl Dunbar and Al Coffee(sp) are a few others that come to mind from the 60's and early 70's. Also Richard Picou. Mike Anderson and George Bevan made on hell of linebacking trio.
Nelson Stokely, whose son Brandon is currently in the NFL, was a QB from Crowley who played against (Heisman Trophy winner) Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators in 1965. The game was played on a very hot day (102 degrees). LSU seemed to be in the game in the first half but they were out of it by the fourth quarter. On the other hand, Florida seemed invigorated in the second half. Florida won 14-7. That was the game when University of Florida researchers had introduced Gatorade to its football team.
