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Golden Hurricane players in Super Bowl

TU Pablo Jr

I.T.S. Redshirt Freshman
Apr 3, 2020
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215
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There have been a number of Golden Hurricane players in the Super Bowl. Off the top of my head: Howard Twilley (Miami Dolphins); Drew Pearson (Cowboys); Tony Liscio (Cowboys); Lovie Smith (Head Coach Chicago Bears); Jerry Ostroski (Buffalo Bills); Wes Hamilton (Vikings). I am sure there are a few more.

When TU played Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl my wife and youngest son traveled to Boise on a charter flight put together by TU. My son was about 13 years old. Our flight back to Tulsa was delayed for several hours. My son roamed around the airport. At one point, he came up to me and said that he met a guy with a Super Bowl ring and he wanted me to meet him. It was Howard Twilley. Howard and I had met before at TU events. He took his ring off and let my son handle it. The ring was from the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team.

In 1993 I was at a head table of a banquet honoring the great Harlem Globetrotter, Marques Haynes. I sat between Haynes and his son-in-law, Drew Pearson. Pearson was not wearing a Super Bowl ring that night. Marques Haynes gave me a signed basketball that night. I told Drew Pearson that I always rooted for him except when he played against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My last Super Bowl contact was with a Tulsan but not a TU alum. I was standing in the check out line at the Home Depot on South Delaware one Saturday morning. An older man had on a Boston Red Sox cap. I asked him if he was from Boston. He said no but he used to visit with the Red Sox when he worked out at Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox were there. I asked him what he was doing at Yankee Stadium and he said he played for the New York Giants football team. After a little more conversation I recognized that the man was Don "Babe" Chandler, the Green Bay Packers kicker in the first two Super Bowls. Chandler played at Will Rogers High and the University of Florida. His sons started the Rib Crib BBQ chain.
 
Tyrunn Walker just missed out with the Saints and Rams.

I met Danny White a couple of years ago. He was the keynote speaker at a banquet honoring my son's scoutmaster who was celebrating his 50th year as the troop's scoutmaster (he has mentored some 790 boys to the rank of Eagle in that time, including my son). Danny White is a big supporter of BSA and said the one thing in life he regretted was not following through on his path to Eagle and prioritizing football when a couple more months and he would have reached the rank. I believe he mentioned that his son is an Eagle scout. He was wearing his Super Bowl ring that evening. He was also wearing his Silver Beaver award (highest adult volunteer award in BSA).
 
And while not a Super Bowl ring, I did meet Bobby Grier in 1994. He sat in front of me and a friend at the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul that year. His son Mike played for Boston University. Bobby was the Player Personnel director for the Patriots and had an AFC Conference Championship ring from 1986. We chatted about hockey and football and how the weather in St. Paul was unseasonably warm for March. He also gave my friend (also a TU alum) crap about having a Minnesota Gopher hockey jersey on sitting in the middle of the BU fans section...it was a lot easier buying tickets from BU than trying to get tickets in general with Minnesota essentially playing at home. This was still the St. Paul Civic Center which had the clear glass boards.
 
I dug deep and found a few more Golden Hurricane Super Bowlers: Jeb Blount (Oakland Raiders); Al Jenkins (1972 Miami Dolphions); Kevin Lilly (San Francisco 49ers) and Lou Spanos (Assistant Coach Pittsburgh Steelers from 1995 to 2009--2005 and 2008 Super Bowls).

Spanos is a guy with a lot of Pro and College experience. He was recently the Interim Head Coach of U Conn. He and his brother Gus were Pittsburgh area guys who played at Tulsa in the early 1990s. Gus became a Tulsa Police Officer and was killed in the line of duty.
 
There have been a number of Golden Hurricane players in the Super Bowl. Off the top of my head: Howard Twilley (Miami Dolphins); Drew Pearson (Cowboys); Tony Liscio (Cowboys); Lovie Smith (Head Coach Chicago Bears); Jerry Ostroski (Buffalo Bills); Wes Hamilton (Vikings). I am sure there are a few more.

When TU played Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl my wife and youngest son traveled to Boise on a charter flight put together by TU. My son was about 13 years old. Our flight back to Tulsa was delayed for several hours. My son roamed around the airport. At one point, he came up to me and said that he met a guy with a Super Bowl ring and he wanted me to meet him. It was Howard Twilley. Howard and I had met before at TU events. He took his ring off and let my son handle it. The ring was from the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team.

In 1993 I was at a head table of a banquet honoring the great Harlem Globetrotter, Marques Haynes. I sat between Haynes and his son-in-law, Drew Pearson. Pearson was not wearing a Super Bowl ring that night. Marques Haynes gave me a signed basketball that night. I told Drew Pearson that I always rooted for him except when he played against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My last Super Bowl contact was with a Tulsan but not a TU alum. I was standing in the check out line at the Home Depot on South Delaware one Saturday morning. An older man had on a Boston Red Sox cap. I asked him if he was from Boston. He said no but he used to visit with the Red Sox when he worked out at Yankee Stadium and the Red Sox were there. I asked him what he was doing at Yankee Stadium and he said he played for the New York Giants football team. After a little more conversation I recognized that the man was Don "Babe" Chandler, the Green Bay Packers kicker in the first two Super Bowls. Chandler played at Will Rogers High and the University of Florida. His sons started the Rib Crib BBQ chain.
Don Chandler was a regular customer of my dad's at our restaurant many years back. I think he died a few years ago.

Garrett Mills is now President of the company that owns Rib Crib btw.
 
I dug deep and found a few more Golden Hurricane Super Bowlers: Jeb Blount (Oakland Raiders); Al Jenkins (1972 Miami Dolphions); Kevin Lilly (San Francisco 49ers) and Lou Spanos (Assistant Coach Pittsburgh Steelers from 1995 to 2009--2005 and 2008 Super Bowls).

Spanos is a guy with a lot of Pro and College experience. He was recently the Interim Head Coach of U Conn. He and his brother Gus were Pittsburgh area guys who played at Tulsa in the early 1990s. Gus became a Tulsa Police Officer and was killed in the line of duty.
Lou was my roommate at TU in 1993-1994. He lobbied for the TU job when Burns got it and again when Kragthorpe got the job. He has at least 1 SB ring with the Steelers. He will continue as UCONN's DC under Jim Mora Jr next season. That job is a no win situation with UCONN basically sacrificing football so their basketball team can be somewhat relevant
 
Lou was my roommate at TU in 1993-1994. He lobbied for the TU job when Burns got it and again when Kragthorpe got the job. He has at least 1 SB ring with the Steelers. He will continue as UCONN's DC under Jim Mora Jr next season. That job is a no win situation with UCONN basically sacrificing football so their basketball team can be somewhat relevant
He has two Super Bowl rings, 2005 against the Seahawks and 2008 against the Arizona Cardinals. He has a lot more experience now than he did in 2000 and 2004. Besides the Steelers he has coached at places like UCLA. I think in 2005 he was a defensive quality coach, like an Assistant Assistant coach. He was the Steelers Linebackers coach in 2008. Coaching the Steelers linebackers is a first-rate job. The Steelers are now looking for a Defensive Coordinator. Maybe he can go home again.

When the Steelers win the Super Bowl the entire organization gets Super Bowl rings, including the Scouts and Administrative staff.
 
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He has two Super Bowl rings, 2005 against the Seahawks and 2008 against the Arizona Cardinals. He has a lot more experience now than he did in 2000 and 2004. Besides the Steelers he has coached at places like UCLA. I think in 2005 he was a defensive quality coach, like an Assistant Assistant coach. He was the Steelers Linebackers coach in 2008. Coaching the Steelers linebackers is a first-rate job. The Steelers are now looking for a Defensive Coordinator. Maybe he can go home again.

When the Steelers win the Super Bowl the entire organization gets Super Bowl rings, including the Scouts and Administrative staff.
He was also the Washington FT LBs coach for a couple of years under Mike Shanahan and then the UCLA DC under Jim Mora Jr. He then moved on to the Titans as LBs coach and when they cleaned house of the staff and hired Vrabel, he moved to the Alabama staff as a defensive quality control analyst and got a natty ring.
 
He was also the Washington FT LBs coach for a couple of years under Mike Shanahan and then the UCLA DC under Jim Mora Jr. He then moved on to the Titans as LBs coach and when they cleaned house of the staff and hired Vrabel, he moved to the Alabama staff as a defensive quality control analyst and got a natty ring.
Like I stated above he has a lot of NFL and college experience. He has the credentials to be a head coach at a school like Tulsa.
 
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Like I stated above he has a lot of NFL and college experience. He has the credentials to be a head coach at a school like Tulsa.
Spanos went 1-9 as interim coach at UCONN in 2021 with the only win being over Yale and that was 21-15. I don't think he will get the call to be a head coach anywhere.
 
Spanos went 1-9 as interim coach at UCONN in 2021 with the only win being over Yale and that was 21-15. I don't think he will get the call to be a head coach anywhere.
He took over a sinking ship that the captain abandoned so the 1st mate had to take over. And no one should be judged by their record at UCONN football post AAC membership. The coaches are absolutely hamstrung by the UCONN admin being in love with men's basketball and them whining about having to play in the AAC and the trouble it caused them in recruiting. Funny...Houston and Memphis aren't having any trouble recruiting in the AAC. Geno Auriemma was able to maintain his recruiting in the AAC. But the move to independent status in football has destroyed UCONN football and they are now a minimum of 5 years away from being competitive. Lou would have a plan for TU and he has so many contacts in the business he would likely bring in some names that would get guys to take notice.
 
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