SWCROUNDUP: Steve Ramsey Record Breaker

[Salsa_Verde]

Cool piece on Steve Ramsey’s record breaking 1969 season. 

https://swcroundup.com/news/2019/8/3/the-record-breaker

[Eagle71]

Thanks for posting.  Made me think of one of the most overlooked players during that era,  Bernie Barbour.  Led the team with 6 interceptions, won a couple of games with his field goal kicking and averaged 10 yards per punt return.  The guy hated to fair catch punts.  Tough as a boot and was a big part of the excitement back then.

[Salsa_Verde]

I like these kinds of stories. Don’t know much about North Texas from that era. 

[SilverEagle]

The first time I ever saw Ramsey and Shanklin was in the spring game of 67. Back then, the spring game was the Varsity against the alums. It was always a pretty interesting game to attend. I was there because I thought I might see Abner Haynes or John Love in action. Ramsey was flinging the ball all all over the place that afternoon, but for some reason it was a play that I stopped and watched as I was leaving the stadium that I always remember. I was standing on the track around the 20 yard line and Ramsey (and the offense) was somewhere around the 30 on the opposite end of the field. Ramsey went back for a long throw and Shanklin was going down the sideline on my side of the field. My view of Ramsey was lost because the rush was just about to get to him when suddenly I saw just the ball being launched high in the air like someone had put it in one of those punting machines. I didn't think that either Shanklin or the guy covering had a chance at the ball, when suddenly Shanklin leaped up in the air and brought it down.  I remember thinking at that time that the whole play was just mostly luck.  Boy was I wrong about that.

The second thing I remember about Ramsey was in 68 when North Texas was playing someone (probably Tulsa)  on a regional broadcast. In those days I always had to work on Saturday, so I didn't get the watch the game. But someone who did was most impressed. It was my step-father, and the next day he made a point of telling me about the portion of the game that he watched while he was home for lunch. Now, my step-father NEVER talked to me about sporting events, except possibly Dallas. And I'll never know why he watched a portion of the North Texas game, but Steve Ramsey made a huge impression on him and he made a point of telling me about it on Sunday. He said that he had never seen anyone throw the football with such a quick release in all his life. He said that when Ramsey threw the ball he got the ball up to the level of his helmet ear hole and then suddenly it disappeared. He couldn't see the rest of his throwing motion. I thought, Wow, this must have been really something to hold my step-fathers attention and motivate him to tell me about it the next day.

Years later I heard another person comment that Ramsey had the quickest release he had ever seen. It was the legendary (and very controversial) Howard Cosell.............https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Cosell

Edited August 5, 2019 by SilverEagle