The Pecan Park Eagle

“Better put some cranberry sauce on these football coach quotes before you sit down to the big dinner. – Some of the thoughts expressed here will go down a lot easier on the gullet, if you do!, but, nevertheless, all are in line with the idea that winning beats the tar out of losing at a very tough physical game to play.”

Thank you, Pat Callahan, for submitting much of the material we now use for our Thanksgiving holiday column – Football Quotes for Turkey Day!.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

JOHN HEISMAN
THEY NAMED A TROPHY IN HIS HONOR

1) “Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football.” ~ John Heisman

KNUTE ROCKNE
NOTRE DAME

2) “Show me a good and gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure.” ~ Knute Rockne

BEAR BRYANT
ALABAMA

3) “I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.” ~ Bear Bryant

4) “It isn’t necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!” ~ Knute Rockne

ERK RUSSELL
GEORGIA SOUTHERN

5) “At Georgia Southern, we don’t cheat . That costs money, and we don’t have any.” ~ Erk Russell

6) “Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless, beat Texas!” ~ Seen on a church sign in Arkansas prior to the 1969 “Game of the Century” between Texas and Arkansas.

BOBBY BOWDEN
FLORIDA STATE

7) “After you retire, there’s only one big event left , and I ain’t ready for that.” ~ Bobby Bowden

LOU HOLTZ
NOTRE DAME

8) “The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.” ~ Lou Holtz

JOE NAMATH AND BEAR BRYANT
ALABAMA

9) “When you win, nothing hurts.” ~ Joe Namath

10) “Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.” ~ Lou Holtz

11) “If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold , you gotta know the password, “Roll, tide, roll!” – Bear Bryant

FRANK LEAHY
NOTRE DAME

12) “A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.” ~ Frank Leahy

WOODY HAYES
OHIO STATE
~BEFORE HE SAID IT~

WOODY HAYES
OHIO STATE
~AFTER HE SAID IT ~

13) “There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell (aka, the not-yet-evacuated-ingestion-waste) kicked out of you.” – Woody Hayes

BOB DEVANEY
NEBRASKA

14) “I don’t expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation.  I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.” ~ Bob Devaney

WALLY BUTTS
GEORGIA

15) “In Alabama , an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in Bear Bryant.” ~ Wally Butts

ALEX KARRAS
DEFENSE ~ IOWA, DETROIT
MONGO ~ BLAZING SADDLES

16) “I never graduated from Iowa . But I was only there for two terms – Truman’s and Eisenhower’s.” ~ Alex Karras

BOWDEN WYATT
TENNESSEE

17) “My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball , and arrive in a bad humor.” ~ Bowden Wyatt

DUFFY DAUGHERTY
MICHIGAN STATE

18) “I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades.” ~ Duffy Daugherty

SHUG JORDAN
AUBURN

19) “Always remember Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.” ~ Shug Jordan

DARRELL ROYAL
TEXAS

20) “They cut us up like boarding house pie , and that’s real small pieces.” ~ Darrell Royal

SPIKE DYKES
TEXAS TECH

21) “They whipped us like a tied up goat. ~ Spike Dykes

WALT GARRISON
RUNNING BACK
OKLAHOMA STATE

22) “I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn’t recruit me. He said , ‘Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren’t any good.’ ” ~ Walt Garrison

23) “Son, you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the steering wheel.” ~ Bobby Bowden

24) “Football is NOT a contact sport , it is a collision sport. Dancing IS a contact sport.” ~ Duffy Daugherty

JOHN McKAY
USC

25) After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his post game message to his team was,  “All those who need showers, take them.” ~ John McKay

MURRAY WARMATH
MINNESOTA

26) “If lessons are learned in defeat , our team is getting a great education.” ~ Murray Warmath

27) “The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.” ~ Knute Rockne

28) “Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.” ~ Spike Dykes

29) “We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches.” ~ Darrell Royal

30) “We didn’t tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking.” ~ John McKay

31) “Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.” ~ Darrell Royal

32) “I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players.” ~ Knute Rockne

Finally, to help fan the flames on the TCU @ Texas game on Thanksgiving night and the Iron Bowl game featuring Auburn @ Alabama two days later on Saturday night, here’s one more quote and short story before we place this holiday column in the publication oven:

33) “TCU is like a cockroach. “It’s not so much what he gets into and carries away but what he falls into and messes up.” ~ Darrell Royal

34) Alabama coaching legends Bear Bryant and Auburn’s Shug Jordan went bass fishing one November day prior to the Iron Bowl. Bryant fell out of their boat and was drowning when Jordan jumped in and saved his non-swimming football rival and friend from going under a third time. “When we get back into town, Shug,” Bear pleaded, “please don’t tell the Alabama fans that I can’t really walk on water!” ~ Shug paused long enough to muffle a smile and a tear before answering. ~ “Here’s the deal, Bear,” Jordan said, “I won’t tell the “Bama fans that you can’t really walk on water – as long as you don’t tell the Auburn fans that I saved your sorry butt from drowning.”