“Only angry people win football games”
University of Texas head football coach Darrell Royal (1924-2012) was quoted in August 1966:
“Trends are bunk. Only angry people win football games.”
Royal was talking about football formations (such as the “I” formation), but he believed that games were won by the players and their passions. “Don’t matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games” is often given as the full quote, but it’s not known that Royal ever said these lines together.
Wikipedia: Darrell Royal
Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), and the University of Texas at Austin (1957–1976), compiling a career college football record of 184–60–5. In his 20 seasons at Texas, Royal’s teams won three national championships (1963, 1969, and 1970), 11 Southwest Conference titles, and amassed a record of 167–47–5. He won more games than any other coach in Texas Longhorns football history. Royal also coached the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for one season in 1953. He never had a losing season as a head coach for his entire career. Royal played football at the University of Oklahoma from 1946 to 1949. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1983. Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, where the Longhorns play their home games, was renamed in his honor in 1996.
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Coach Royal was famous for the inspirational Royalisms he deployed as motivational tools. These sayings include:
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“Don’t matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games.”
28 August 1966, Atlanta (GA) Journal and Constitution, “Southwest Conference: Arkansas and Texas Could Take Lumps” by Bob Galt (Dallas Times Herald), pg. 6-F, col. 8:
EVEN WITH the coming of the “I” and two platoons to Texas, Royal says: “Trends are bunk. Only angry people win football games.”
21 September 1966, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “TU Expecting ‘Mo’ Problems,” sec. 4, pg. 3, col. 2:
If it’s true that “angry people win football games,” then the Aggies should give a good account of themselves Saturday night at Tulane stadium.
2 October 1969, Galveston (TX) Daily News, “O’Connell Holds Big Edge In Sante Fe Grid Series” by Jimmy Blair, pg. 15-A, col. 3:
There is an old saying that “only angry people win football games.”
Google Books
Sportswit
By Lee Green
New York, NY: Ballantine Books
1986, ©1984
Pg. 131:
DARRELL ROYAL Texas football coach:
“Only angry people win football games.”
Google Books
Winning Words:
Classic Quotes from the World of Sports
By Michael Benson
Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing
2008
Pg. 6:
“Don’t matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games.” —Darrell Royal, football
Google Books
A Hedge Fund Tale of Reach and Grasp:
Or What’s a Heaven For
By Barton Biggs
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2011
Pg. 21:
Then she ushered him into an enormous dining hall hung with exhortative banners such as “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going,” “Angry People Win Football Games,” and “Make Something Happen.”
Austin (TX) American-Statesman
Memorable quotes from Darrell Royal during his coaching career
6:19 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012
Cedric Golden American-Statesman Staff
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“Only angry people win football games.”
Hook’em.com
Texas countdown to football: 5 memorable Darrell Royal quotes
Posted August 22nd, 2016
Joe Harrington American-Statesman Staff
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“Don’t matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games.”