Anderson, Don 2000-11-09
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Don Anderson
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 09, 2000
Location:
Interviewer: David Marshall
Length: 01:31:57
Abstract
Background, Born in Borger, Texas on May 16, 1943, Played little league in Borger, Father was the coach, 49-2 in two years, Not affiliated with Little league, Pitched 6 no hitters, Left handed, Wanted to be a baseball player, Buena vista until 7th grade, Brother repeated 7th grade to stay with his younger brother to play football, People thought they were twins, Brother got a football scholarship to Texas Tech, Brother played baseball instead, After 3 years he hurt his collarbone, Brother was catcher, Donny was a pitcher, Brother was a quarter back, Donny was a running back, Father was a huge sports fan, Parents graduated from Shamrock High School, Stinnette rattlers, In Stinnette the Juniors are given an aptitude test, Grade Analysis for the aptitude test, Grader told him not to go into a career dealing with cars, farming, English, Anderson was good at History, Grader said that he scored in the 97th percentile in Self Reliance, Father was an athlete all district in 1941, Boxer, FFA, Raised on a ranch, Father was in the rodeo, Calf roper, Always wore boots, Cowboy, Died with 14 horses, Mother, Father was a lawyer, Marriage endured, Raised in Stinnett, Texas, 10 miles north of Borger, Lived in Stinnett since the age of 7, Played football in 7th grade, 5’2 weighed 105lbs and couldn’t run very fast, All the kids were bigger than him, Running back, Played right half back, Basketball and baseball at age 12 is what he excelled at, Didn’t think about being a football player until he was older, Raised on a ranch with cattle and farming, Worked for a lumber yard, Helped him grow to 6’1 and weighed 200lbs, Vince Lombardy, Children, Son was a very good soccer, basketball and baseball player, Played on national championship team, Daughter also played on national championship game, Raised around setting goals and winning, Sister graduated from Texas Tech, Arkansas was Anderson’s second choice school, Anderson also considered Baylor, Did not like SMU, Visited Texas A&M, Received scholarship to Texas, Brother received a scholarship to OU, Brothers narrowed it down and chose Texas Tech, Loves Texas Tech, doesn’t like the black jersey with the black pants, Red jersey, black pants, black helmet, Brothers wanted to stay together, TCU didn’t try to recruit either brother, Bulls, Anderson wanted to ride bulls, Father said that he had great talent and didn’t want him to give it up to get hurt in bull riding, World champions and leaders were put in the newspaper, Not a lot of champions from mesquite, High school had a rodeo, Father had a friend who was injured in bull riding, The horn went through his windpipe, Coaches in Stinnette, Did not want their players riding bulls, They did not want to lose players, Bull riders always ended up banged up, Football out measured rodeo, Had a lot of kids who believed in the system and had lots of hope, “Winning is an “all time thing”’, Everyone was involved, Wrote a book about setting goals, Winners for life foundation, Neiman Marcus bought 1,000 books, Volunteering, Boys and Girls Club, Churches, Rotary, Helping the children, Dealing with children is fulfilling, Younger Anderson, When Anderson was younger, people told him he would never play because he was so small, Had a lot of self confidence and esteem, Driven, Hard worker, Started growing at 16, Never went through an awkward stage, As he matured he got a lot better, Dedicated, Athletic department in Stinnette, Football was the major sport, Football ranked very highly, Everybody wanted to play football, Assistant football coach was also the basketball coach, Head football coach was also the track coach, Only had baseball in the summertime and it wasn’t affiliated through the school, Father built two baseball parks and started a program, Senior year Anderson was on the all American team as well as all state, In basketball he made all state although it was not first team, Got hurt during senior year, Got multiple scholarship offers his senior year, College Ball, Scored 5 touchdowns in his first game, 1963 Sophomore year Washington State started at running back position, 1st touchdown at Texas Tech he intercepted the ball, Freshman could not play, Made a lot of tackles, Linebacker, January 1962- spring of 1963, Ran a 4.8 40 at age 18, Ran a 4.5 at age 20, David Parks was an all American at Texas Tech, Anderson’s time was faster than Parks, Spring 1963 before the season had an 86 yard touchdown, Choices make you who u are, Double scholarship: Baseball and Football, Missed 10 days of Spring Training, Junior year he didn’t miss a day, Drafted that next year, Baltimore Orioles was interested in Anderson and his brother out of high school 1960, Started drafting in 1965, Father wanted his sons to get an education, Boston Redsocks, Mets contacted him at the end of his senior year, Offered a signing bonus of $35,000, 1921 Grandfather was a representative for the state of Texas, First order of business was to start a University in the west Texas Panhandle, Herman B. Hill, Representative for building Texas Tech, Anderson’s activities when not playing sports, Went to country western dances, Dated, Went to the movies, City hall, Music, Had to be home by 11, Didn’t do a lot of things, Mostly school activities, Comparing coaches, Coach King became the coach in 1961, Anderson brothers first year, Tech went into the Southwest conference in 1960, Coach came from WWII thought process, his way or the highway, Jake was hardnosed and serious, No sense of humor, Jake, Senior Coach, Jake went to see a kid a So Cal, Wanted him for tandem offense, Tight ends and good defense, they were a running team, Next year they were a throwing team, 1964 led the conference in rushing, 1965 led the conference in passing, Offensive formation, Won 8 straight games, Senior year went to the Gator Bowl and got MVP, Contract with Packers, Signed December 31st after the game, Coach King was the head of the Hula bowl, Green Bay Packers was the largest contract signed, Signed for 700,000, Most memorable college game, Texas Tech v Texas A&M, Had the most publicity, Texas Tech v Texas Western, Beat them 7 to 6, Was tackled hard every time he had the ball, Leroy Caffey’s brother cut Anderson down, Won 21 to 17, Wilson, Shipley and Anderson, Longhorns-Flea Flicker went over Anderson’s head, Ran back a kick off on Father’s Day, Oklahoma State game, Walt Garrison played, Game was really close, Anderson was put in the game, Ran back a punt and set up the winning touchdown, Green Bay Packers, Eligible on Thanksgiving in 1964, Houston drafted Anderson in the first round, Ended up playing his senior year in school, Made a little more money by staying, Bud Adams invited Anderson to a game, Bud Adams said he was going to sign him and no one else, $700,000 dollars to sign, Bobby Lane, Told him how to sign the contract, 22 years old, Told Anderson to take the money, Bud Adams flew Anderson’s dad to every game senior year, Had 3 cars, First time meeting Lombardi in Baltimore, Lombardi asked if Anderson was going to sign with them, Always wanted to play for the Packers, Won two super bowls, Nearly 1,000 yards, Vince Lombardi, Very little personality, Very serious, Military experience, Coached at WestPoint for 5 or 6 years, Grew up in a Catholic home, Vince didn’t like people who were prejudiced, You didn’t make mistakes playing for Lombardi, if you messed up you were either traded or he ran you off, If you had talent he would work with you, Great motivator, Great talker, Loyalty, Did a lot of speaking on Thursdays, Unbearable to live with Friday and Saturday, “Gentlemen, don’t forget, you are the world champions, they are here to see you, you are the Green Bay packers”, Hard man to play for, Really demanding, Not many options, Built character, Taught how to be a man, Weldon Smith, new doctor, Vince’s dad was in the beef business, Anderson was used to being chewed out, Super Bowl one played the Chiefs, Lined up against E.J Holland a Texas Tech alumni, Played the last quarter with him
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