Page 10 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1976
Dick Todd turns rancher
Idol is home on the range
It’s hard to imagine Dick Todd,
the rancher in skinned cowboy boots
and flannel shirt, as a national hero.
But that’s exactly what the quiet,
modest man was in the 1930’s and
40’s. Todd broke all the records dur
ing his long football career. He was
the most sought after high school
senior in history, the athletic idol of
Aggieland and the running half of the
Washington Redskin’s national
championship team.
After that he was the most out
standing service player during WW
II, a successful college and pro coach
and was appointed to the Board of
Regents of two universities.
Today, at 52, Todd is back home in
Crowell, a small North Texas com
munity where football is king and he
is still hero of the kingdom. Between
1931 and 1934 Todd earned 12 ath
letic letters, the school’s limit;
scored 664 touchdown points, a na
tional record which stood for over 25
years; and was the first boy from a
“B” school to be named to an all-state
team, which he made three times.
When asked about his high school
career Todd says, “Well, you know, I
was just real lucky, there were a lot
of good boys on the team. If they
hadn’t of been a winning team no
body would have noticed me.”
But they did notice the 5’9 ”, 160
pound package of dynamite and
Todd was recruited by schools all
over the nation. So why did he
choose A&M, which couldn’t even
give him a scholarship? “Well,”
Todd said in a recent interview, “it
was the uniforms.” He explained, “I
was real fortunate in getting to visit
some of the top schools, like St.
Mary’s, Stanford, and Notre Dame,
but we were just poor country
people and I could tell my dress di
dn’t fit in. At A&M everybody dres
sed the same and I just felt more
comfortable.”
So “Dangerous Dick”, as he came
to be known, went to Texas A&M
College where he had to pay his own
way by scrubbing gymnasium floors,
pots and pans. For the next four
years Todd was, as Coach Homer
Norton put it, “a high-stepping,
free-wheeling football destroyer in a
period when the Aggies enjoyed but
modest success.”
Todd seems to have trouble re
membering the honors he received
while at A&M, saying “Oh well ...”
when asked about them. But one he
still beams about is being named to
Kate Smith’s mythical team. “You
remember” Todd reminisces, “she
was the most popular singer then
and she gave us these really nice en
graved watches.” He still doesn’t
know though what a mythical team
is.
Todd and another member of Miss
Smith’s team, Sammy Baugh of
TCU, went on in ’39 to the Washing
ton Redskins. “Slingin Sammy” and
“Dangerous Dick” were the two-
man powerhouse of the Redskins as
they dominated pro football. Todd
led the team in scoring, receiving
and ground gaining for eight years.
As Baugh said, “He was harder to
bring down than an inflation.”
It was during these years that
Todd did what he calls “my greatest
damage to A&M.” During spring
training he served as assistant coach
at Oklahoma State University,
where he coached Darrel Royal, who
turned out to be the longest lasting
threat ever to the Aggie team.
After three years in the service,
where he was named “Most Valuable
Player” and four more years with the
Redskins, Todd returned to A&M as
an assistant coach.
He left again in ’50 after being of
fered the head coaching job. Why?
“I wanted A&M to have something
better than that, ” Todd answered se
riously.
Todd took the coaching respon
sibilities for the Redskins in mid
season that year and made dramatic
changes. One of his first rules was
that sports writers would not be al
lowed in the dressing room until
after the game. The next day one of
the local writers who had been
locked out demanded to see Todd
before the game. “I went down,
opened the door, asked him if he got
my message and when he said yes,
slammed the door in his face, ” Todd
retells the story. “Well,” he con
tinued, “he went down and wrote a
story about how I was the one who
should have been barred from the
locker room. What really bothered
me though,” Todd said, “was that
after we won the first game of the
season that afternoon, he didn’t have
the guts to print it.”
At the end of the season Todd
went to SMU, then to Midwestern
University. “I guess you could say I
closed Midwestern up,” Todd says
about the school’s dropping football
when he left. “Guess they figured if
they couldn’t do any better than me
they’d better just quit.”
In 1960 the American League
formed with Dick Todd coaching the
New York Titans (now the Jets).
Todd coached only one year of his
three year contract then returned
back to his home in Crowell for good.
Todd had been making his home
in the off-season in Crowell since he
first began coaching for the Redskins
in 1950, and in 1961 decided to close
his long career where it started. “I
realized I was cutting my income
drastically when I gave up football
and came back to ranch but the life
here is good enough to be worth it,
this is home.”
Longley traded
Associated Press
DALLAS — Clint Longley, quar
terback, rattlesnake hunter and
amateur pugilist, is now a San Diego
Charger.
King wants hormone
count on Dr. Richard#
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Billie Jean King
wants to count the male hormones
before deciding whether the trans
sexual, Dr. Renee Richards, should
be allowed to play in women’s tennis
events.
“I haven’t made up my mind,” the
outspoken champion of women’s lib
said Monday. “She may have under
gone an operation to become a
female but you must remember that
she still has male hormones.
“More than that, she has played
men’s tennis for 30 years. That is a
tremendous advantage. It is an ad
vantage that should be weighed be
fore she is permitted to compete
with women.”
Without coming out flatly and say
ing so, Billie Jean left the impression
that she probably would line up with
her fellow women pros in opposing
Dr. Richards’ entry in the women’s
singles division of the U.S. Open.
“If I had played in men’s tourna
ments since I took up the game, I
would be a better tennis player,” Bil
lie Jean insisted. “This is something
you have to consider.
“Also, there are going to be more
and more such operations. So a firm
policy has to be made some time. As
I said, I am not really sure at the
moment.”
Billie Jean, 32, winner of six
Wimbledon and four U.S. wojJ
titles, has established herselfaj
of the free thinkers on social j s ,i
and a stern critic of sexual bid
tennis.
She has been credited within
ing build the women’s tour fro-]
hamburger, one-night standc
tion to a $1 million yearly enlerprj!
She was the first woman to readj
million in tennis prize monev*
she was the first president of]
Women’s Tennis Association.
The WTA threatened a boyu
Dr. Richards, a 42-year-old eye
geon who as Richard Raskindi;|
ranking 35-and-over player 1
undergoing a change of sex a ,i
ago, were allowed in the U.S.OjI
Steelers wilt in Texas heat
How long has it been
since you’ve had a
good fit?
TOP DRAWER
Culpepper Plaza
Associated Press
DALLAS — This might not be a
glamorous week to be a Pittsburgh
Steeler.
Chuck Noll, coach of the world’s
champions, was somewhat miffed
Saturday night after Dallas whipped
Pittsburgh 20-10 in a National Foot
ball League preseason rematch of
the Super Bowl X teams.
"The game was all Cowboys,”
snapped Noll. “They were in better
condition . . . they outhit us . . . they
were very physical. . . the most
physical Cowboy team I’ve seen.”
Noll added, “We had trouble with
the weather — 85 degree heat and 45
per cent humidity and we shouldn’t
have. That means we’re not in condi
tion and that’s the coaches’ fault. It’s
up to us to get them in shape and
apparently we didn’t.
“So, we’ll try and solve that this
week.”
Noll continued with his post-game
lecture.
“I just can’t say enough about the
Cowboys . . . they played well and
had super backing from their home
crowd,” he said.
Dallas, playing before a sell-out
crowd of 64,000 in Texas Stadium
and a national television audience,
saw the game as a way to gain a mea
sure of revenge for a 21-17 loss to
Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.
“We expected the Cowboys to
come out tough, yep, that’s about
what we expected and that’s what we
got,” said running back Franco Har
ris.
Defensive end Harvey Martin
said Steeler quarterback Terry Brad
shaw “just laughed at me when I sac
ked him right before the end of the
first half. Comparing this game to
the Super Bowl game, it was one
helluva lot better. We would have
played as well if we had played any
team in the league. You really can’t
look back on last season.”
Bradshaw was one of three players
who sat out the second half because
of heat exhaustion. One Dallas
player was overcome by the heat.
“Oh, it got a little warm out
there, said Cowboy defensive
tackle Jethro Pugh. “Just about like
it was the last time we played
Pittsburgh.”
Dallas sacked Pittsburgh quarter
backs five times and Cowboy(J
terback Roger Staubach
two touchdown passes.
“I feel it was more importantly
most pre-season games,"
Staubach.
"We played fired up,” saida
nerback Mel Renfro.
Dallas’ superb defense drewJ
from Coach Tom Landry whos
“It was a great effort against a 4
good team. Our defense wasei:]
tional. We are playing the veten
now and it’s showing up.”
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