Arkansas

1964-66 Razorbacks
(Authentic Reproduction)
 

Arkansas began the season with a new helmet design. Broyles had made it known that he wanted in some way, to incorporate the Razorback symbol for the program, into the helmet design. Arkansas grad Phillip Key mailed a sketch from his St. Louis home that Broyles approved of and he sent trusted assistant Wilson Matthews on a mission to have the appropriate decal made. The result was a white-bordered fierce looking Razorback that was placed on each side of the helmet with three-inch white identifying numerals in the rear of the shell. With the success of professional football staring at them the NCAA did an about-face for 1964, again changing the rules to increase substitution opportunities although most players would have to go both ways. Relative to the new rules, the Razorback staff took a chance, as did a very few other schools and decided they would use well planned time-outs and incomplete passes to make their substitutions as per the new regulations, and prepare the team as if they had unlimited substitutions and multiple platoon football. Assistant coach Doug Dickey took the Tennessee head job and he was replaced by Johnny Majors. The 1964 senior class of players, miserable with the 5-5 record of ‘63, instituted their own “Fourth Quarter Class”, a demanding off-season program of running, strength training, and drills.  Broyles tweaked the offense, using an I-Formation with two wide receivers that he dubbed the Wide Slot-T. The senior leadership was excellent, carrying over from the off-season with guard Jerry Jones, O-lineman Dick Hatfield and his brother HB/return man Ken, QB-DB Billy Gray, All American LB Ronnie Caveness, and DT Jimmy Johnson as key leaders. Jones, a converted FB who was a very effective blocker at guard later gained much greater fame as the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson, one of the real coaching stars in the Broyles’ constellation, dropped twenty pounds and huge 6’5” tackle Glen Ray Hines more than thirty. Bobby Crockett took over a WR spot with Jerry Lamb moving to TE. With Jim Lindsey, Harry Jones, and Bobby Burnett in the backfield and QB Fred Marshall in tow, they used top ranked Hatfield’s timely returns, including an eighty-one yarder against Texas that helped to beat the number-one ranked Longhorns by 14-13, to compile a 10-0 record. The defense was outstanding behind the seniors and a pair of All SWC DT’s Loyd Phillips and Jim Williams. Caveness again was the leader, named as a Consensus All American. He had a solid pro career with the Chiefs, Dolphins, Oilers, and Patriots. Despite shutting out its last five opponents and leading the nation in scoring defense with a 5.7 points-per-game yield, the Hogs watched Alabama get the votes as Number One in the poll taken prior to the bowl games but when Texas defeated the Tide 21-17 in the Orange Bowl, Arkansas received the blessings of The Football Writers Of America after knocking off Nebraska 10-7 in a hard fought Cotton Bowl game. The 11-0 record and National Championship gave Broyles a tie with Notre Dame’s Ara Parseghian as National Coach Of The Year.    

Entering 1965 Broyles had built the team he wanted, one that featured speed and he now had a number of larger players that could also run for five quarters if necessary. All American DT Loyd Phillips, DT Jim Williams, All American tackle Glen Ray Hines and offensive linemates Dick Cunningham, and Mike Bender and even backs Bobby Nix, Harry Jones, and Bobby Burnett who put up 947 rushing yards were “big” by any standard. With WB Jim Lindsey healthy enough to contribute big plays and in ’66 go to the Vikings as their second round pick, they defeated number one ranked Texas in an eighty-yard final drive against the wind in what broadcaster Lindsey Nelson called “the best college football game I’ve ever seen.” This led to a 10-0 finish and an offense that was tops in the country scoring 32.4 points per game. Lindsey, whose Viking career lasted seven seasons and who became a member of The Arkansas Board Of Trustees, was the team’s emotional leader. The All Conference awards were spread on both sides of the ball. On offense the honors went to end Crockett who would go to the Bills, tackle Hines who then had an eight year pro career primarily with the Oilers, and backs Jones who had a 7.7 yards-per-carry average, Burnett who had a few years in Buffalo and Denver as a pro, and QB Jon Brittenum. On the defense it was Phillips, also an All American, Bobby Roper, Jim Williams, Jackie Brausuel, and soph DB Tommy Trantham getting recognition. With a chance to compete for the National title, the Hogs were upset 14-7 by an LSU team that played “an inspired, perfect game”, still one of LSU’s greatest all-time wins. This left Arkansas at a final rank of number three and after the season, Jim Mackenzie left to revive the sagging Oklahoma program, taking Barry Switzer with him. Broyles hired Charley Coffey, to install a new pro style 4-3 defense.

Coffey’s new 1966 defense was effective, finishing as the seventh ranked team against scoring but losses to Baylor and Texas Tech, the latter in the season’s finale, dropped the Hogs to 8-2. The offense had a slow start despite the play of receiver Tommy Burnett, a track standout who later played with the Jets and became perhaps the most acclaimed college handball coach in the nation, QB Brittenum who was briefly with the Chargers, RB’s Jones who was the Eagles first round pick and All SWC soph David Dickey who ran well behind the line play of All SWC tackle Ernest Ruple. The defense was boosted by All Conference DE Hartford Hamilton and Conference Sophomore DB Of The Year Gary Adams but suffered when Loyd Phillips, the Razorbacks’ first two-time Consensus All American, had limited playing time throughout November due to an ankle injury. Despite this Phillips enjoyed having his younger brother Terry Don playing next to him and still won the Outland Trophy. He became the Bears first round draft pick, playing DE as the NFL’s smallest linemen but his career was limited to three seasons due to injury. The death of tackle Claud Smithey from a cerebral vascular problem dampened the team’s spirit and without a Cotton Bowl berth, the team voted to remain home. At season’s end, Bill Pace took the head coaching position at Vanderbilt, Majors ascended to offensive coordinator, and former Alabama star Hootie Ingram was hired from Georgia.

SPOTLIGHT ON LOYD PHILLIPS:

One of the out-of-state athletes that previous Arkansas regimes could not attract, Loyd Phillips was thrilled to be a part of Broyles’ ascending program. He left Longview, Texas and had an immediate impact with the 1964 National Championship team, named as an All Southwest Conference choice for the first of three times. A bit undersized as a defensive tackle at 6’3” and a lean 230 pounds, he was a rough and extremely fast athlete who often needed to be double teamed. Phillips was an All American in both 1965 and ’66. Even in the Cotton Bowl loss to LSU after the 1965 season, he recorded seventeen tackles. That game paved the way for his triumphant 1966 season where he won the Outland Trophy and completed his career with a squad that had gone 29-3, in good part due to his play. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round but an injury limited his career to parts of three seasons. Phillips continued to be an outstanding representative of the Arkansas program, returning to the state and utilizing his Masters Degree as a school administrator for a number of decades.

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