4/17/02

Orban "Spec" Sanders, UT's first-ever first-round NFL Draft choice

NOTE: Below is an article published on Sept. 12, 1949, in The Dallas Morning News. It is about running back Orban "Spec" Sanders, UT's first-ever first-round NFL Draft choice. Sanders was the sixth overall selection in the 1942 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins (at the time, there were only 10 teams in the NFL: Brooklyn, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington).

The Inside Story, by Charles Burton
The Dallas Morning News Sept. 12, 1949

Orban "Spec" Sanders

One late September day in 1942 I was sitting in a Philadelphia press box with Grantland Rice, dean of America's sports writers, Bert Bell, now commissioner of the National Football League, and Henry McLemore, the reformed scribbler of athletic doings.

The University of Pennsylvania, strongly rated that year, was lining up to open its season against a service team from down Georgia way, the Athens Navy Pre-Flight School eleven.

"This navy team probably has too much for them," offered Rice, noting the presence of Frank Filchock, Jim Poole, Red Ramsey, Bill Davis, Bob Suffridge and a string of other professional stars on the squad.

Everybody agreed, though McLemore said something about the collegians probably being in better physical condition, better coordinated and capable of making it quite a ball game.

Then, a burly, twisting, swivel-hipped young navy giant began to run wild.

"Who is that guy?" bellowed Bert Bell, as the blond bombshell took a hand-off from Filchock, headed for the sideline, bulled a Pennsylvania end off the playing field and dashed for a tremendous gain.

"That's Spec Sanders from Texas," I replied.

"Where's he been?" Rice demanded as Sanders again bowled his way down the field. "I never heard of him."

"He's called the All-American substitute," I explained. "Been riding the bench mostly for two years now."

Later, they heard of him plenty.

Spec's pro football records still stand
For Sanders not only ground Penn into the turf that day. He starred in every wartime game in which he played, then turned professional to set records that still stand.

The quiet, modest kid from the Oklahoma prairies scored nineteen touchdowns for the New York Yankees in 1947. That is a professional football record. He scored eighteen of those by rushing. That, too, is a record. In so doing, he carried the ball 231 times, a record. And he gained 1,432 yards, net, by rushing. A record.

Sanders, crippled much of last season, fell far below those marks, though he was fourth in rushing and twelfth in scoring in the All-America Conference.

Both knees have gone bad on him and he has retired from the gridiron t be a sporting goods salesman in Lawton, Okla.

So this seems an appropriate time to answer the question of why Spec Sanders, prep school (Cameron Aggies) star, service team star and professional star, could never make the starting team at Texas.

It is a question that is still asked very, very frequently by both coaches and fans when they get to kicking the verbal football around.

The only man with the complete answer is D.X. Bible, who was coaching the Longhorns when Spec, sought by colleges from coast to coast, chose to enter the University of Texas.

And it is from D.X., one of the greatest coaches in football history, that the story comes.

He was ready at Texas when war broke out
Spec entered Texas in the fall of 1940, direct from junior college, and thus without benefit of spring training with the Longhorns.

He had size, a lot of speed and native ability, but, says Bible, he lacked polish. A tailback, he was primarily a threat to the outside. In his efforts to the inside, he had a tendency to run straight up and didn't have the zip that he had on his attempts to go wide.

"It was no discredit to Speck that he didn't make the first string his first year," says Bible, "or his second, for that matter."

"As a tailback, he was understudy to Jack Crain. Both were tailback types, possessing lots of speed and ball-carrying ability. Jack had an edge in experience – two years in our system – and was a fine leader and quick-kicker."

(Crain had made the all-conference team as a sophomore and had stamped himself as one of the greatest running backs of all time in this section, as you doubtless remember.)

Spec eventually was worked at both tailback and fullback, but at fullback for the Longhorns was Pete Layden. Layden was just arriving as a star as Spec reached Texas. He was the passer, the kicker, one of the fastest starting fullbacks seen around here in years, and was a fine defensive player.

Sanders didn't fit in at the other positions, held by Noble Doss and Vernon Martin, the crack blocker.

So there you have it. Too much Crain and too much Layden.

Bible was not surprised at Sanders becoming a great pro star.

"He would have been a great star for us his third season," says Bible. "He was ready."

But then came the war.