'Golden' Pro Pen Seals LSU Star
Stovall Rich, Tigers Happy
1/2/1963
Bill Bidwell, co-owner of the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, proved that the pen is mightier than the horde immediately after LSU proved it was mightier than Texas in the 27th Cotton Bowl Classic.
WHILE THOUSANDS OF adoring Tiger fans swarmed out of the stands to tell Jerry Stovall how wonderful they thought he was one last time, the All-American halfback only had eyes for Bidwell. Or, more accurately, for Bidwell's money.
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Bidwell beat LSU's gaily marching band to midfield by a good 30 yards and had Stovall's signature on a contract before there was time to play one chorus of "Tiger Rag." While he was at it, the young pro football executive collected tackle Don Estes' autograph, too.
But what Stoval and Estes reportedly collected from the Cardinals in return sounded far more exciting than anything that could be said about Tuesday's game.
THE DEAL STOVALL lured from the Redbirds made the original Louisiana Purchase look like a modest transaction. It had to be fancy, of course, from him to refuse the AFL Houston Oilers' offer of $100,000 over three years plus an interest-free $50,000 loan to set him up in dental practice later.
"St. Louis offered me a better opportunity for dental school," said Stovall. Nevertheless, Jerry will never put as much gold in his patients' teeth as the Cardinals will put in his pocket.
Although he maintained that the money involved wasn't what swung him to the Cardinals, Jerry undoubtedly received as good a basic offer as the Oilers made , plus some splendid fringe benefits.
"IF WE HAD had more time to work on this deal," said Oiler talent scout John Breen, "we might have been able to give Stovall a better idea about his prospects for dental school in Houston. But working with New York to get the negotiation rights hampered us.
"Jerry knew he could get into dental school up there. The dean of the St. Louis University Dental School flew down here and told him it would be no problem for him to be admitted there.
"Also, the Cardinals arranged the financing for his wife's final two years of college education plus a weekly radio show the year around which will pay him $1000 per week."
The report was a 2-year no-cut contract worth $57,000.
Estes' preference for the Cardinals also grieved the Oilers. He was their No. 2 draft choice.
Texas went into the Cotton Bowl game with three known pro football prospects and came out with five.
Tailback Jerry Cook signed with the Houston Oilers, who drafted him third. Fullback Ray Poage joined the Minnesota Vikings, who also picked him third, and the left for the Hula Bowl with Johnny Treadwell. And end Tommy Lucas signed with the Dallas Cowboys, who took him in the 20th round of the NFL draft.
Treadwell and Pat Culpepper, the Longhorns' two top-notch linebackers, are the new pro prospects. Both said they are considering deals with the Oilers.
CULPEPPER MADE A verbal agreement to sign with the Oilers after finishing school next June and Treadwell, who plans to enter medical school, said only that he was "considering" signing with the Oilers.
"I'd just like to play some more," said Culpepper.
All the commotion surrounding Bidwill's expensive double play took the spotlight from LSU's 13-0 victory for awhile in the locker room. But finally someone got around to asking for Stovall's comments on the game.
"We got a good break right at the start of the second half when Lynn Amedee recovered that Texas fumble on the kick-off," Jerry said, "and we went on to convert it to the touchdown which gave us some breathing room. Until then we felt pretty tight."
"BUT, MAN, LET me tell you something about their linebackers. They've got the finest pair in Pat Culpepper and Johnny Treadwell that I've ever played against. I'm glad I've seen the last of them."
Stovall felt that the Texas offense didn't offer too many surprises "aside from that little screen pass they worried us with occasionally." He also wasn't too surprised that his team awarded the game ball to coach Charley McClendon.
"We gave coach McClendon the New Year's present we wanted him to have. He did a great job in his first year as head coach and he took the job under terrific pressure. No one would have blamed him for taking the Kentucky offer instead of trying to follow coach Dietzel at LSU."
SURPRISINGLY, STOVALL also had some compliments for the Cotton Bowl's oft-criticized field, where grass was distressingly absent as usual.
"That field was really fast. It doesn't have much grass but everyone did all right running on it. It wasn't muddy and no one was slipping down."
McClendon had plenty of compliments to pass out, too.
"Texas is a strong team and let no one deny it," the LSU boss asserted. "They didn't go undefeated by accident in the competition they faced all season. We knew that we would be in for 60 minutes of football and, sure enough, we got it.
"THE COMPLICATED defenses that Texas was throwing at us? I believe they were stunting more than usual – forced is to throw the ball more. Our reverse away from the motion was our most successful running play, because their linebackers were going with the motion."
The Louisianans' liberal use of the forward pass delighted Amedee, the quarterback who earned the most valuable back award with a fine all-around performance. Lynn wasn't drafted by any pro team, but his hopes for signing as a free agent rose after this game.
"I THINK I COULD make it with the pros as a kicker," said the man who booted vital field goals of 37 and 23 yards, "but I hope to prove I can play quarterback. This was my best college game and I sure don't want to stop now."
Amedee hit nine of 13 passes for 94 yards, not a fancy figure but impressive when you consider that he threw well under pressure for crucial yardage.
"It was one of those days when the receivers and the passers were really clicking (overall, LSU hit 13 of 21). I'm not sure why we were, but we were. Funny thing about it was that I was throwing before they finished running their patterns, I was hitting them three or four steps early all day.
"MAYBE THAT WAS when we needed all along."
The Tigers' heavy rush against the Texas passers also played a big role in their success. End Jack Gates explained that everyone was concentrating on hounding the quarterbacks more then usual.
"Usually we try to slow the ends but today we let them go and blew in there, "Gates said. "We wouldn't let their quarterbacks go to the outside. We knew we had to hurry them and I guess we did all right. We deflected some passes and our interceptions kept them upset, I'm sure.
"Of course, we were surprised Texas passed so much but maybe they changed their plans when they got behind. We really expected them to try to blast us out with the good running backs, but they weren't much of a factor."
ABOUT THE TIGERS' highly effective passing attack, Gates said, "we didn't throw much more than usual but we sure caught a lot more. I don't know what, but the receivers started catching better when we started working out for this game. Suddenly we relaxed and started holding passes we had been dropping all season.
"We got to Dallas early (Dec. 26) and that helped to relax us. We got used to the climate and got acquainted with the town. We felt real comfortable out there today."
Texas could hardly say the same.
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