It’s Austin College Crimson & Gold Challenge Week! See the comments for a link to give back to AC. I believe that to encourage others to give, one has to give first. So, on Crimson & Gold Challenge Week, I usually give a story. This year’s Challenge Week story is about an Austin College Legend who sadly passed last week: Coach Duane Nutt.
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My brother Gavin and I took our mother Linda to see the country band Diamond Rio in Austin last Friday. We got Mom front row tickets and settled in to enjoy one of our favorite bands of the 1990s. While waiting for the show to start, I got a text from Kelly Nutt:
“Marc, this is Kelly Nutt. Daddy went to heaven today at the age of 93. He was at AC from 1965 to 1975. Would you mind putting something together for [those] who knew him? I would really appreciate it.”
Kelly, that is an easy ask my friend. Coach Duane Nutt was more than just a Kangaroo coaching legend. He was also an outstanding quarterback in the state of Texas. It would be an honor to write about your dad, a Texas native from Corsicana.
Corsicana Tigers football went through some lean years during and after the Great Depression. But that changed in 1950 when Duane Nutt took over the reigns at quarterback. Nutt led the Tigers to a 9-1 record and district championship, outscoring opponents 409-66 on the way to a state playoff berth. Southwest Conference (SWC) schools soon clamored for the services of Duane Nutt.
Nutt chose the Mustangs of SMU. In Dallas, Nutt was a star just before Don Meredith and just after Doak Walker. By 1954, he was the starting QB of an exceptional SMU team that included future NFL Hall of Famers Forrest Gregg and Raymond Berry. Berry and Nutt were roommates and co-captains.
1954 was a wild year in the SWC. Jess Neely’s Rice Owls were defending SWC champions; the Texas Longhorns were defending co-champions. Bear Bryant and his Texas A&M “Junction Boys” of Gene Stallings and Jack Pardee were in the first year of a story that would culminate in a 1956 SWC title. Baylor and Arkansas had solid teams. And backed by the strong arm of Duane Nutt, SMU also looked to contend for the 1954 crown.
After non-conference wins over Missouri and Kansas, SMU upset defending champ Rice in Houston on the back of three Duane Nutt TD passes. Bear Bryant’s Aggies fell to Nutt and SMU in the Cotton Bowl, as did the Horn Frogs of TCU. Arkansas lost to SMU in Fayetteville and the Longhorns were lucky to escape with 13-13 tie in Austin. Only a late season upset by Baylor prevented a 1954 SWC crown for Nutt and the SMU Mustangs.
The 1954 accolades soon followed. Duane Nutt led the Southwest Conference in passing that year, an honor he shares with 1989 Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware. He earned 1st team All-Conference honors alongside Rice’s Dicky Moegle, an All-American and future NFL star. See the comments for a video reviewing the 1954 SWC season. Nutt appears at the 10:40, 11:14, 12:40, 12:46, and 13:17 marks; the Nutt TD at 12:46 alone is worth a peek.
The NFL held its annual draft in January of 1955. Quarterbacks are always appealing in the draft, and that year was no exception. Eight QBs were selected over 30 rounds. One was future NFL Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas (Round #9); another was Coach Duane Nutt (Round #18). But instead of Philadelphia Eagles training camp, Nutt decided to call it a day as a player. He served a stint in the armed forces and then became a coach.
Assistant coaching positions at Grand Prairie High and Sherman High eventually took him to Austin College. Nutt was hired in 1965 as an assistant to Coach Floyd Gass and helped Gass mold some of the strongest football teams in AC history. Led by QB Web Eben, the 1968 squad of Gass & Nutt was so good it earned a Marc Roo Tale on its 50th anniversary in 2018.
After Gass left AC for Oklahoma State, Duane Nutt took over as Head Coach of AC football in 1969. Nutt’s assistants at AC were names with whom many Roos are familiar: Bob Mason, Slats McCord, and Don Newsom. Byron Boston, an AC wide receiver who became a Super Bowl referee and whose son David enjoyed a 10-year NFL career, was one of Nutt’s best players.
“100 Years, 100 Yards: The Story of Austin College Football” is full of fun anecdotes. One came during the 1972 season: “On Monday after a particularly tough loss, Nutt called the team together. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘when times are tough, I open my Bible and I usually find something that will help.’ The next day, Byron Boston told Nutt that his advice was good. ‘I went home, opened our Bible, and I found $107 my wife had been hiding.’”
Duane Nutt departed AC in 1975. He was inducted into the Austin College Hall of Honor in 1996. Nutt’s induction took place alongside Wes Eben, his 1968 Roo QB, and Brent Hollensed, a country music musician at Claude Webb’s Gar Hole who could probably perform an awesome cover of “One More Day” by Diamond Rio.
Folks like Kelly and me know the pain of losing a father. We’re grateful for their influence and the time we had together. Still, what we’d both give for “one more day” with Dad.
“One more day, one more time,
One more sunset maybe I’d be satisfied.
But then again I know what it would do,
Leave me wishing, still, for one more day with you.”
Much love to the Nutt family, Kelly. And to all Roo fans reading this story: I hope you’ll consider helping Austin College during their Crimson & Gold Challenge week. See the comments. I plan on donating in the name of AC Coach Duane Nutt.
The 1954 SWC Season & Duane Nutt (10:40, 11:14, 12:40, 12:46, 13:17). Check out 12:46!
Duane Nutt vs. the 1954 Junction Boys of Texas A&M & Bear Bryant
One More Day – Diamond Rio
One More Day – Diamond Rio
President and former NCAA D1 athlete Rebecca Cantor asks for your support
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19REw4fm9Y/
Give on Crimson & Gold Challenge Week in the name of Duane Nutt
https://advancement.austincollege.edu/register/?id=a9fa3cd9-049f-470e-9927-3217615c385f&sys:gift:campaign=1eb95fa6-1676-4c26-b23a-01b41f90a3f6&sys:gift:appeal=2d7eada3-978e-424b-96c2-68685b768c7f&sys:gift:field:peer-to-peer-advocate=121553790