Looking for an NFL team to back on the road to the 2025 Super Bowl? If you are a Roo fan, I’d suggest the Detroit Lions of Bobby Layne. And that’s because of a fantastic tale sent to me from Austin College Kangaroo Barry Faulkner.
The Detroit Lions last won an NFL title in 1957 and then promptly traded away Quarterback Bobby Layne. Since then, Lions fans have insisted that 68 years of futility are a result of this infamous trade. Peyton Manning, Keegan-Michael Key, Jeff Daniels, and Bobby Layne himself walk us through the Detroit curse in an episode of “Peyton’s Places.” (see the comments).
Bobby Layne had a reputation for enjoying a good drink at a nice establishment. In the episode, Daniels tells Manning that he knows Layne frequented his chosen bar because “it’s a bar in Detroit.” Manning notes that Layne still holds the record for “most touchdowns while legally intoxicated.” Layne himself says “I did have one philosophy in life. When I went out, I went first class and in the front door.”
But all that partying eventually caught up with him. Early into the 1958 season, Lions Coach George Wilson had had enough. Wilson traded Layne to Pittsburgh, leading the Texas quarterback to announce that Detroit would never again win an NFL title. That curse, due in part to Bobby Layne’s partying lifestyle, is still alive today. And there is an Austin College Kangaroo who can vouch firsthand for Layne’s lifestyle: Roo Barry Faulkner.
Faulkner (in the photo with Layne) anchored the offensive line of an exceptional 1965 Austin College football team. The 1965 Roos went 7-2 in NAIA independent play; a mere 8 points kept AC from an undefeated season. Before a game on Saturday, October 23, 1965, AC traveled by bus to St. Louis, MO to take on the undefeated Washington University Bears. The Roos won a tough 21-14 victory and were in the mood to celebrate that night. From Faulkner:
“The game ends about 5 o’clock and we are excited because we are free for the night. The bus is leaving the next morning at seven from our hotel. Ron Haygood had asked Jerry Bishop, Rick Campbell and I to go with him and his girlfriend and three of her [St. Louis] classmates. About 6:00, we catch a taxi to the West Park Plaza Hotel for our dates on the town. The father of Ron’s girlfriend owns an oil company is in for our game and the NFL game [between] St Louis [and] the Washington Redskins the next afternoon.”
Yes, that’s right. The West Park Plaza Hotel was located within a mile of both Washington University AND Sportsman’s Park, where Washington was scheduled to face the St. Louis Cardinals. Kickoff was scheduled for noon on Sunday. Former 1957 Lions Head Coach George Wilson was a Washington assistant. And the QB coach for the St. Louis Cardinals? Former 1957 Lions QB Bobby Layne. From Faulkner:
“We had a fabulous meal and drinks with our dates. After dinner, we go across the street to a jazz bar. We are at the front door and the lady tells us they are full. Ron’s date steps up and says, ‘we have a reservation.’ The lady says, ‘y’all aren’t the Bobby Layne party, are you?’ ‘Yes, we are,’ she says. Now we are sitting at the front table enjoying the great band. After about 45 minutes, I look at the front door and I see a man who just stumbled into the club. To my surprise, [Ron’s] girl says, ‘that’s Bobby!’”
If that weren’t enough, Faulkner and the Roos were soon joined by the former Lions Coach who TRADED Layne, beginning the Detroit curse. From Faulkner:
“Yes, the immortal Bobby Layne is now hugging us like we are his best friends. Five more minutes pass, and [Layne’s former coach] George Wilson is sitting with us. At one point in the night, Bobby and I are sitting in the same chair comparing shoulder injuries. This slowly becomes probably the greatest night in our lives, as we are having so much fun drinking and laughing.”
“It gets to be closing time, and we all are standing on the front steps. I think the night is going to end, until Bobby says ‘we’ve got two taxis, and we are going to an all-night club in East St Louis. We arrive at this building in East St. Louis at 2:30 a.m. that is full of people. The [bouncer] at the front door looks at us as if to say, ‘get out of here now.’ Then he lays eyes on Bobby and goes out of his way to get us a table.”
“We are there until 5:30 a.m. We leave and arrive back at our hotel at 6:15 a.m. [just as] the [AC] team bus is starting to warm up. We go to our rooms, get our bags, and settle into the bus for the long ride back to Austin College. We later tell Coach [Floyd] Gass about our great experience with Bobby Layne. He just rolls his eyes and says we are lucky to be alive. This is about 12 hours of our lives that will never be forgotten. We will never forget our time with Bobby.”
According to those who knew him, Bobby Layne (a distant relative of Roo Wes Tarbox whose brother Layne Tarbox was named for the Detroit star) could spend all night on the town and then head to gridiron and still give maximum effort. It happened again on the weekend of October 23, 1965, with an Austin College Kangaroo. Barry Faulkner partied with Bobby Layne until sunrise, then watched him walk to Sportsman’s Park to face his former Detroit coach who traded him away.
After 68 years, the 2025 Detroit Lions may just end the curse. Detroit owns the #1 seed in the NFC. The road to the Super Bowl goes through Detroit, and Vegas oddsmakers suddenly have the Lions as your likely Super Bowl champions. In the episode, Jeff Daniels explains to Peyton Manning exactly what it means if the Curse of Bobby Layne comes to an end: “Down in the deep darkness of my Lions fan soul, there is hope. If and when the Lions can go deep into the playoffs, this place will go nuts. It’s been a LONG time.”
Jeff Daniels was on the Tonight Show just last night. There, he talked about the Curse of Bobby Layne & how his Peyton’s Places episode might be what broke it. Daniels also wrote a song about exorcising the Curse of Bobby Layne; he performed it on the Tonight Show. See the comments.
Detroit hosts Washington on Saturday. With a win, the Lions will host the NFC title game for a trip to the Super Bowl. Like Barry Faulkner on October 23, 1965, I plan on partying Bobby Layne-style while watching the game with Kevin Carnes, Wayne Whitmire, John Talley, Cliff Brooks, Frank Tooley, Kevin Spencer, Kevin Pittman, and other Roos in Dallas. By the end of the night, I hope to toast the 2025 Super Champion Detroit Lions, the team that finally ended the Curse of Bobby Layne.
