October 16, 1976

I saw a blurb yesterday about how the date was the anniversary of a horrible day in the life of Baylor's coach Art Briles.  October 16, 1976 was the day Briles lost his parents in a car crash. And then I learned they had been on their way to see their son in the Cotton Bowl where Briles was playing that day for the University of Houston against SMU.

And I started thinking: I went to an SMU game during the State Fair in the 1970s. My buddies and I loaded a bus at the United Methodist Church in Bridgeport on a Saturday morning and headed there.  I wondered if it was the same day? One of my few memories of the game was sitting in the end zone and trying to follow the Baylor/Aggie game by stadium updates. (No portable radios, no cell phones, no nothing.) I remember the wind was blowing like crazy and soon the PA announcer said that Aggie kicker Tony Franklin had just kicked a collegiate record 65 yard field goal against Baylor.

So I googled Franklin's kick.  Yep, it came back to October 16, 1976.

Briles learned of his parents' death in the locker room after the game. I was probably being a goofy kid on the Midway not far away at that moment.