Forrest Gregg dies...remember him?

[Hoosierfrog]

FG was a prophet of sorts. In the mid-'90s he predicted the "haves and have nots" that we have today in Div 1-A college football. (Power 5 schools versus the Group of 5 ones/the leftovers)

His mission at SMU was to counter that trend and unfortunately fell short there.

TCU is fortunate/lucky that we are one of only three (UU, Louisville) that "made it" to the monied class of college football.

I still can't help but cheer for a Boise of UCF to beat the big boys.

I wrote a column in the Skiff about the haves and have nots coming about 1973.

 

[Virginia Frog]

I wrote a column in the Skiff about the haves and have nots coming about 1973.

If that is the case, you were ahead of your time.

Just "if" the TCU AD Frank W & Chanc. Dr Moudy had read and paid heed to your warnings. I guess they thought that they were in-the-know and that our SW Conference buds would NEVER turn on us. We were "in" the great SWC (with TCU prof Ken Herrick as the SWC President) so they thought that going 0-11, 2-9, etc in fb didn't matter.

 

[4th. down]

He got to be 85, but here's the report: Forrest Gregg, the great lineman for the mighty Green Bay Packers of the 1960s whom Vince Lombardi called the “best player I ever coached,” has died. He was 85.
He played for SMU back there in the early 1950's, was sure good. SMU had several good East Texas players, Gregg from Sulphur Springs, Don Meredith from Mount Vernon. After coaching several NFL teams, he agreed to coach SMU after their death penalty, and went 3-19 from 1988-91. I didn't know him, but reportedly, he was a good guy.

Gregg was great. He was my counselor at Camp Longhorn along with Leroy Fenstemaker, QB (Rice) and Dick Ochoa (UT). Gregg, Hall of Fame NFL, and Ochoa all SWC and they were all great guys and coaches. They would get up every morning a little before daylight and run wind sprints until we went to breakfast - those were the days.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

If that is the case, you were ahead of your time.

Just "if" the TCU AD Frank W & Chanc. Dr Moudy had read and paid heed to your warnings. I guess they thought that they were in-the-know and that our SW Conference buds would NEVER turn on us. We were "in" the great SWC (with TCU prof Ken Herrick as the SWC President) so they thought that going 0-11, 2-9, etc in fb didn't matter.

This came about due to Super Conferences already being discussed in the media. There were a few faculty senate members that wanted to end athletics at TCU back then.

I don’t think Moudy cared much about athletics and I’m not sure he ever read the Skiff unless it was something pointed out to him that wasn’t “proper” and he wanted changed or removed. By the way the campus looked during my years I’m not sure what his concerns were. I don’t think they ever planted landscaping or even watered the grass. In fact one of my roommates in the Milton Hilton set the lawn on fire throwing paper airplanes set on fire from the third floor!

 

[Virginia Frog]

This came about due to Super Conferences already being discussed in the media. There were a few faculty senate members that wanted to end athletics at TCU back then.

I don’t think Moudy cared much about athletics and I’m not sure he ever read the Skiff unless it was something pointed out to him that wasn’t “proper” and he wanted changed or removed. By the way the campus looked during my years I’m not sure what his concerns were. I don’t think they ever planted landscaping or even watered the grass. In fact one of my roommates in the Milton Hilton set the lawn on fire throwing paper airplanes set on fire from the third floor!

I was at TCU in 1976 and '77 so I witnessed some of what you've delineated here.

Dr Moudy was in his late 50s then and I believe he was just a bit out-of-gas. (my father was older than him and contrasted with him greatly.) Probably he should have have retired sooner than he did. He always appeared to me very grandfatherly and out of step with the campus and the students. I don't remember the physical campus and landscaping not being in great shape.

The real beginning of what became TCUs exile in to the WAC/CUSA/MW - lesser conferences - began with what was called "The College Football Association" in 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Football_Association
The ironic thing is that Dr Tucker was the head of the CFA when TCU was kicked to the curb when the Big Eight/SWC "merged" in 1994. Even in that position Tucker couldn't save us from eighteen years in the wilderness that ended when the BXII brought us in to replace A&M.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

Yeah, I graduated several years before you and the campus always seemed to be a pretty drab place, especially compared to what things look like now.

There was some interesting landscaping over but the nursing building.

I needed three hours of science to graduate my last semester and one course caught my eyes. It was called Sex and Drugs in America or something like that, but at that time only part of what I read about it seemed appealing. As it turned out, it was a nursing course, but still counted. Anyway, they had some DEA guy come in to speak about the ills of recreational chemicals. It was almost a comedy routine as he broke out some artificial weed that when burned allegedly smelled like pot. Some girl named Hope, Flower or some other hippy chick moniker, says something like, “Hey man, there is like a six foot tall stalk of the real deal growing on the south side wall...” After class everyone ran out to look, and all that was there was a fresh hole in the beds.

 

[Spike]

May he rest in peace.