The year was 1979. The game was the annual Red River Shootout that matched the No. 4 Longhorns against the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners. The play was a tight end delay designed for the back-up tight end. The result was a lifetime of remembrance and bragging rights for one time Okie turned Longhorn, Steve Hall.
With All-Southwest Conference tight end Lawrence Sampleton out with an injury, second string tight end Hall was called to duty and suddenly became the man of the hour. Being the starter is usually a good thing, but on this particular play it was not.
As the play was being brought in to the huddle, Hall quickly remembered this play was drawn up for the back up tight end - originally himself but now Dewey Turner. As Turner entered the huddle, Hall directed him to go to the other side of the huddle.
"I worked all week in practice for this play," said Hall, "the ball is mine." And so it was.
After making his block, Hall fell to his knees. Donnie Little, the Texas starting quarterback, was being pressured by a blitz, and as a result, threw the ball away out of bounds. Or did he? Hall darted to the back of the endzone and held on to make the catch despite taking a hard blow from behind.
"You know the saying, 'White men can't jump?' Well, on that play I did everything I could do to jump and catch it," said Hall. Texas went on to win the game 16-7.
But the story of this tight end goes far beyond one play. In Hall's first year at Texas, he made the last block on a Sooner strong safety that propelled Earl Campbell to what would later prove to be the game winning touchdown.
"I knew Earl was behind me because the safeties eyes were huge," Hall said.
It was those two plays that made longtime recruiting coordinator Ken Dabs coin Hall with the nickname, "Two-Play Hall."
But his life was not always filled with game saving blocks and
heroic catches. The childhood of this Broken Arrow, Okla., native was just that, "broken." With his family on a constant move, Steve Hall was never sure where his next high school would be, or where his head would next rest.
"I got into fights everyday," Hall said. "But that helped me to do good in the long run."
Not known for his football ability but more for his baseball skills, Hall set his eyes on the diamond. But with his 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pound frame, Hall quickly turned his attention to the hardwood where he showed off his basketball skills making first team All-District and Region.
While dominating the basketball court, Hall also succeeded on the football field where he would eventually find his true love, but would also face the daunting decision of playing football for his home state or going south across the Red River and suiting up for rival Texas, though the decision was aided by a bit of overkill.
"Everybody in Oklahoma is not for OU," Hall said. "Hearing 'Boomer Sooner' all the time made you sick."
At the beginning of two-a-days his freshman year, Hall was eighth string tight end. But by the first game of the season he was second string. Hall helped lead the Longhorns to a 3-1 record over the Sooners.
When Hall caught that touchdown pass against Oklahoma, he became the first Oklahoma-born Texas football player to score against OU.
Although his football jersey and pads were put to rest long ago, Hall wishes he and the other Texas football alumni would be more involved in the football program.
"Mack Brown made it a point to get former players in line," said Hall. "Lettermen would like to go to the next step, but how I don't know."
So disregard the drug addicted, wife-beating attitude ESPN's "Playmakers" throws your way of what the prototype football player is like, at least for this former Longhorn. Hall had his chance to follow that path, but instead, he chose a more conventional one.
Hall now resides in Westlake Hills with his wife Kerry and has two children, Hillary and Hudson.
Be the first to comment on this article!