does anyone have that youtube or anything. I wanted to look at it, and show it to my dad. When we intercepted that pass at the end.

Fox Sports net did a special on this game last year. I recorded it, but have since deleted it from my DVR. We should have won that game several times, but luck was against us. 1st time, a D-Lineman intercepted a pass very late in the game, but instead of falling down, he tried to lateral to a teammate and was hit just as he released the ball, and tu recovered to keep the final drive alive. The "interception" later in the drive was ruled incomplete, but replays showed that the Aggie was clearly in bounds.

control?

This is not the best picture, which would have occurred a fraction of a second later when Jim Willenborg was on his knees, in bounds, with the ball clutched to his chest, then sliding out of bounds. Field was pretty wet.

No question that it was a catch and an interception. Aggie ball on 20 with about 2 minutes left, up 13-9.

This picture was apparently taken from up above, probably from the press box.

The best moving picture I have seen of this was taken from the E side of the end zone, or perhaps from the E side of the back of the end zone, at field level. The way they did it back then was to show a series of movie frames in the newspaper. They clearly show that Willenborg had possession before his knees went out of bounds.

If we had replay back then, we win the game and sips dont win the MNC.

[This message has been edited by Jim Benson 63 (edited 6/22/2008 1:24p).]

I was at the game standing at about the north 10 yard line. The interception was made.

I was on the Fox show, an "interested non-football playing participant". You da#$@ right it was an interception!!

I just gotta play devil's advocate here and point out...this was before the bulk of the Vietnam War and the end of the Civil Rights movement. Maybe it's time to let it go..

edit: Should have used a winky.

[This message has been edited by rhutton125 (edited 6/22/2008 9:50a).]

I was listening on Armed Forces Radio in Venezuela and my brother was in the endzone seats. He said it was a bad call and those *******s broke my heart. Hargett to Long was payback in '67 for 10 years of frustration. They still owe me 8 straight more from right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQDUWTvlf4

Coach 64

Am I correct in stating that you were down on the field level, wearing white?

Hi Jim--

You ARE one smart rascal...hope you're doing well. Lot forward to seeing you at one of the reunions.....

Royce

Actually it's more like "look" forward....it's hell to get old!!

Who was teh fan/ dude doing the no catch signal...BEFORE the refs made a call?

I believe the special that aired last year and/or an article about it said that the individual waving his hands was a tu student covering the game for the Daily Toxin

I am pretty sure the tu student was Bill Little who works in the athletic department at tu now. Nice guy btw.

I have never seen the video before, but it never looks like he has control of the ball. His fingers are on the ball, but full control no.

Now burn me at the stake

[This message has been edited by MD1993 (edited 6/23/2008 7:27a).]

That looks like one of those calls that could go either way and both would be controversial.

In my opinion it does appear as if the ball hits the ground before he really had control, and he's sliding out of bounds at the same time. I think the call was a good call.

After hearing about this supposed injustice for years, and was sure we got screwed by teh Zebras once again, seeing the video..I'm not so sure.

It is no where near as definite as people have claimed it to be, and the ref. signaled incomplete almost immediately, not after he saw the fan doing it.

If those of you who are saying that after "seeing the video" you are not sure, and if the video you refer to is the full speed youtube version referenced above, then u need to see the slomo version, which all of us from that era have. We have also seen it from the other angles I referred to.

Larry Covin, from Nacogdoches, was the ref who made the call. I saw him at church the next Sunday. He asked me if I agreed with the call. I did not speak to him then and have never spoken to him since.

Now, you would think that Jim Willenborg would know, but he doesn't. He was trying to just catch the ball. He knew he was towards the back of the end zone, but was just focusing on catching the ball, which he did. By late sixties, which was the last time I saw him, he had been asked over 1.2 million times "were you in?" I believe he got tired of responding to this question and would just say "I was in downtown Bryan."

Jim - I take it the sermon that Sunday was not on grace or forgiveness.

looked like he trapped it

quote:

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Jim - I take it the sermon that Sunday was not on grace or forgiveness.

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AggieBrad

I believe Larry Covin is now deceased. This was, after all, 45 years ago.

Although I cannot forgive him, I will pray for HIS soul to be forgiven by the Almighty.

you killed him, didn't you

quote:

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you killed him, didn't you

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ROFLMAO, literally.

I've posted this before:




In 1963, I was a Junior.

We built Bonfire, almost to completion, but it didn't burn and was dismantled after JFK was assassinated.

I later read that John Kimborough and members of the 1939 Aggie National Championship team came back to campus to fire up the 1963 Aggie team.

Many students left campus after school was let out early because of the national tragedy, but most of us came back for the game and Kyle Field was full.

During the fourth quarter, when Aggie DB Jim Willenborg was ruled out of bounds at the back of Kyle Field's north end zone, his spectacular and likely game-saving interception of an errant tu pass thrown by a pressured Tommy Wade (their 2nd team QB & passing specialist) was disallowed.

At the time and later on filmed replays and in sequenced photographs I thought it clearly showed that this interception was made in bounds and that the ball was in Willenborg's control as he then slid across the muddy endline.

Another Aggie DB, Edd Hargett's older brother George, saw the interception and leapt into the air, celebrating and pumping his fist.

It was a great play and Kyle Field erupted in joy and relief, we would get the ball out on the twenty and could probably run out the clock.

Then an official ran toward Jim Willenborg, first signaling the end of the play, then that the ball was juggled and then that it was out of bounds.

I've read an account where Willenborg said he was too busy catching the ball to be looking at the field's boundary, but he had always thought he fielded and controlled the ball cleanly.

The Aggie faithful, especially those standing near the horseshoe end zone including my Sergebutt self, responded with loud yelling at the official's call, but not with any booing.

This official behind the play near the goal line, who made the call, couldn't have even seen the ball after our interceptor, who caught it in both hands, brought it firmly to his chest while his outstretched body rotated to face due north, his feet and knees hitting the turf still well in bounds.

No other official overruled his unsighted call when he indicated the ball was juggled and not controlled.

Our dead dogs had a better view of the play through the tunnel than any of the zebras did!!!

After the game you could still see where Jim's knee and lower legs had first marked the sloppy turf and then drug almost a full yard inside the chalk at an acute angle to the end line

That one official mistakenly called it without really seeing it (I hope) and none of the others overruled him or questioned him enough to change the call.

You heard the 12TH MAN screaming, "You're blind!!!." "Pull your head out!!!" and "No! No! No!" but there was no booing.

The yell leaders, who had been squeezing down near the north goal line, were quick to signal for the Horse Laugh and we did it at least five times in quick succession, as the guys in stripes with whistles returned the ball to the field of play and gave it back to the 'sips.

It is indeed correct that the Horse Laugh was always done instead of booing, a sound I never heard from Aggies during my years as a student.

The play over and the call made, the Aggie players and fans immediately focused their attention back to the game situation.

We still had the lead and would win this one by ourselves, even with blind officials.

Our team gave great effort and we in the stands yelled in support as loudly as I've ever heard, but the 'sips did manage to finally score several plays later on a short dive with 1:19 left on the clock.

We were outscored 13-15.

We even had an earlier interception, when John Brotherton picked off a longhorn screen pass.

He didn't get tackled immediately and tried to lateral the ball to a team mate, but he was hit and the ball hit the ground and the 'sips recovered.

So we had our chances.

Those longhorns also barely beat Baylor that year, when Duke Carlisle (tu's starting QB, who was in at DB just for that play) intercepted a Don Trull pass in the end zone that Bear receiver Lawrence Elkins was about to catch to win the game.

Carlisle's pick was right at the end line too, he made a leaping catch and was ruled to have had possession before he left the field of play.

So, his interception being allowed to stand saved the 'sips in that game and I thought the refs were correct this time.

Carlisle's body came down on Elkins and the Baylor receiver's momentum carried them both out of bounds.

The ruling was that the 'sip's body would have come down on the field of play had it not been forced out by the Baylor player.

So, texas u won the SWC Championship and went on to face Navy and Roger Staubach in the Cotton Bowl, #2 against #1.

The 'sips won that New Year's Day game fairly easily, greatly aided because they were visually intercepting the Midshipmen's hand signals according to statements of admission made much later by Coach Royal and others.

So we were robbed, Baylor was thwarted, Navy was duped and the 'horns recorded a perfect season, with various interceptions or the lack thereof being huge factors.

They had a great team that year and they made plenty of big plays, but we certainly played well enough to derail their season's MNC run in that 1963 Turkey Day game.

The officials just flat missed that call and if they didn't know it at the time, they've since seen the film and the photos too.

It's over and done with, an opportunity lost and gone.

We didn't boo then and I won't b*tch or whine now.

It's just muddy water under the bridge and a "rest of the story" footnote in Aggie lore that deserves to be remembered just as it actually happened.



BTHO tu!!!!

Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

It certainly didn't look like a catch in that youtube clip. If he hadn't of bobbled it I guess history would've been different.

That was the first Aggie game I saw in person. When they started the "Poor Aggies" mantra after the game my head nearly exploded. For a team clearly outclassed in depth and talent to play that gallant a game only to have it slip (possibly stolen) away at the end, and THEN to have the *******s in effect laugh in the Aggies' faces, well, I carried a real hatred for many years and still don't like them very much.

I was a 5th grader in Dallas. I was watching this game on TV with my Dad (Class of 50) and my Grandfather.

I will always remember an out manned, undersized, lesser talented Texas Aggie team playing their hearts out in that game. They took it to tu the entire game and we all know The Aggies won that game. The tu players know it and the tu coaching staff knows it.

That game convinced me I was going to be a Texas Aggie.

And you talk about UT living in the past. Get over it!

That was a good account Fast Fred.

Jim Willenborg said the referee ran up to him and yelled "You're out of bounds; its our ball".

Squad 11...Thats some funny stuff.
From the video he looks out. No control. Even if he was in...No replay...... You can't talk what ifs....If you could, Houston would have been Super Bowl Champs instead of the Steelers back when.

The play that killed A&M was the guy who should have gone to a knee instead of turning the ball back over to Texas. Replay is new to the game, but smart play or dumb play has always been part of the game.

[This message has been edited by Godfather (edited 6/24/2008 8:56a).]

Oklacityag,
The fact that A&M's coaches watered down the field to try and get an advantage over a faster Texas team made you want to be an Aggie?? You do know that was the biggest part of the ESPN broadcast?

Who really cares what happened all those years ago when A&M has scoreboard the last two years anyway?

All Texas can boast in this day and age is an MNC that Vince Young won. The last two years have helped prove that fact. They can't even win the South in down years for OU without Superman. So who cares what happened in 1963?