Cotton Speyrer

Charles Wayne Speyrer (born April 29, 1949) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins. He played college football at the University of Texas.

Speyrer was a first team all state running back at Port Arthur Jefferson High school and a two-time all american receiver at the University of Texas. He is a member of the University of Texas Hall of Honor and the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame and the only player ever named to the Cotton Bowl All-Decade team in two different decades.

Speyrer was a key play-maker in what is considered by some to be the most famous drive in Texas history. Texas was fresh off its famed 15–14 come-from-behind victory over No. 2 Arkansas in the "1969 Shootout", and was eager to avoid a letdown over the eighth-ranked Irish in the 1970 Cotton Bowl National Championship game between Notre Dame, featuring Joe Theismann, and the University of Texas at Austin. But the early proceedings had the makings of one of the decade's biggest upsets when Notre Dame charged out to a 10–0 lead.

Starting on their own 24-yard line, the Longhorns embarked upon a fourth-quarter, 17-play march that included a pair of fourth-and-two conversions, the last coming at the Notre Dame 10 when James Street completed a clutch pass to a diving Speyrer that took the Horns to the two. From there, it took three plays before Billy Dale pushed the ball over the goal line to cement UT's second national title—Texas 21, Notre Dame 17.

Speyrer is also known for his last minute touchdown catch for a come-from—behind win in the Texas–UCLA game in the fall of 1970. That victory cemented Texas' second National Championship year. The third would come in the 1971 season, after being voted Champion by the Coaches Poll.

References