We look at the 1967 UT Arlington Rebels for the first time this year in today's history installment. You can see the season opener a week ago here, a 17-14 victory over the Los Angeles State Diablos. It was the first time the squad, known as Arlington State in prior years, started 1-0 since 1960.
Speaking of season openers, this fits in with the two original prior posts this year. All-time, ASC/UTA was 8-19 in season openers, a .296 winning percentage. Oddly enough, UTA is almost the exact opposite in season finale's, 18-9. Odd that the same thing that plagued the 1970's squad existed in the 1960's, a much better time for overall performance. From 1959 to 1969, the Rebels were 61-35-1, while the 70's saw a 40-68 cumulative record.
Now of course, UTA began the process of playing at the highest level near the beginning of that decade, prompting the decline the winning percentage. But it still strikes me as odd that in 27 University seasons, the football team won only eight games to start the year.
Today's opponent is New Mexico State, an opponent ASC/UTA has played numerous times. I've documented it in this series on more than one occasion, but the Rebs/Mavs played New Mexico State 18 times, second most among non-conference opponents and fourth overall. Coming into '67, the Rebels had dropped all three previous meetings, which was really no surprise as the Aggies were in the University Division, compared to the College Division for Arlington squad.
In a bit of a spoiler, some of the best UTA players from a statistical perspective were on the sidelines in the late 1960's. It's hard to start with one name over the other, as each contributed mightily in some way or helped in another. So I'll just start with the offense.
The best career passer in program history was Mike Baylor, a junior in 1967. He's number one in the Mav record book in career pass attempts, completions, yards, TD's and interceptions. Kind of a sad stat for hardcore fans as a 1986 season may have seen David Bates break some or all of those if he would have repeated his '85 season. But as it is, those records are Baylor's. Staying with the QB, backup Ronnie Faulkner saw considerable time as well and is second to Baylor in completions, yards, TD's and interceptions. He actually has a better completion percentage and more yards per completion than Baylor. It is really odd to see essentially the two top passers play three of their four years at the same time, but that's what happened during this era.
Kicker Skip Butler owns virtually every career, season and single game record possible. He's UTA's all-time leading scorer at 215 total points as well, 23 ahead of second-place Scotty Caldwell. He's also number one in total punts. After his UTA stint, he played seven seasons in the NFL after getting drafted in the fourth round. He retired as the SLC's best all-time kicker.
Danny Griffin was explosive as a fullback in this era. Despite UTA's rich history of running backs and only playing a ten-game schedule compared to the later 11-game seasons, he is still third in all-time carries as well as yardage. He's also only one of six players to achieve all-Southland honors three times, joining teammate Butler in the process.
Dick Hill was one of Baylor and Faulkner's top targets. If the QB's own so many passing records, stands to reason their receivers would too. Hill is first with 109 receptions, the only player in program history to eclipse the century mark, while he's second in receiving yardage and fourth in touchdown grabs. Speedster Jimmy Thomas was Hill's perfect opposite. He is second in total receptions and first in yardage as well as TD's. Mike Buchanan, listed as the UTA wingback, is third in all-time receptions and touchdowns. The top three career pass receivers all played at the same time. Wow! Note: Keith Arbon caught 54 in 1985, a single-season record and a repeat in '86 could have changed that order, like that of his QB Bates.
Bob Diem, guard, and Ken Riley, tackle, earned all-conference honors on the offensive line at the conclusion of the year. Junior Greg Bailey, guard, would earn the same the following year as a senior. Those three received much publicity for their efforts around that time, but center Richard Norwood and tackle Jerry McLaughlin (earned honorable mention all-SLC at the end of the season) were quite competent at their line positions.
The defense had a lot of star power returning as well. Records for tackles are hard to come by until later seasons and certainly sacks weren't even a stat kept yet. But on the defensive line, Weldon Grisham and Jimmy Stoehr anchored the interior line and would finish first and third on the team in tackles. Defensive end David Miller was second. The other end saw split duty between several players, but their combined tackles would be in the ballpark of the team lead in tackles. No other way to put it, the front four of the Rebel D-line was stout.
That isn't to say the linebackers were slouches as Fred Doerr would make the all-conference team. Monty Tolleson would lead the group in tackles, but was fifth overall, not something common in linebackers. It was the deepest part of the defense, causing an effect where everyone played well enough that no one grabbed any stat lines. They combined for seven turnovers for the team. Fred Gough would earn first-team honors in a later season.
As good as the defensive line was at disrupting the offense, the secondary was composed of ballhawks before that became a common term. Jim Marcum is tied for first as UTA's all-time pass swiper with 16. He'd grab six this year. Senior safety Robert Willbanks was nipping at Marcum's heels with five along with sophomore cornerback Billy Mitchell. Junior Rover (an archaic position similar to a strong safety today) Mike Stamps nabbed four. Had Stamps been on any other team in program history, his fourth place finish with four interceptions would have been a team leader in 15 of 27 University seasons. As a team, the '67 Rebels picked off 28 passes from the opponent's quarterback, double the 14 UTA themselves threw. You'll see some of that in today's game.
I've alluded to this several times, but this was a special year. What made it special was just how well the team performed in close games and clutch situations. Had some of the later teams had that type of mojo, the program might still be around. Today is a great example of that type of game.
Playing the higher Division opponent at home certainly helped, but they played in two other games with one-point wins away from Arlington, plus another road victory by two-points. The previous victory was by a field goal and the season finale was within a TD. That's a lot of close games. It takes special character and adequate preparation to win those types of games. I've mentioned the problems from later years a few times, so it is time to honor when the program did it right. And in the 1960's, they generally did.
As the title indicates, on this day in UTA football history, the UT Arlington Rebels play from behind against the New Mexico State Aggies.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, September 24, 1967.
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