Marble Falls orthodontist and former Longhorn football player inducted into UT Hall of Honor
AUSTIN — For years, Marble Falls orthodontist Mike Dean regularly attended the University of Texas Longhorn Association Hall of Honor ceremony to pay respect to the inductees.
So as he stood on the podium as a member of the 2012 Hall of Honor on Nov. 9, Dean called the experience “surreal.”
PHOTO: Marble Falls orthodontist and former Longhorn football player Mike Dean holds the University of Texas Hall of Honor trophy he received during an induction ceremony Nov. 9. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
“I’m in there with people I’m in awe of,” he said. “It’s the most humbling experience in the world. I was the little guy who busted my butt to stay first string.”
The event was at the Four Seasons Hotel four days after Dean’s coach, Darrell K. Royal, died.
In his address, Dean talked about Royal, the man who guided the Longhorns to three national championships.
“I told them about coach Royal and how he related to my teammates,” he said.
As players, no Longhorn wanted the legendary coach to call out his name. Each Longhorn played his best, Dean said, because each believed his starting job was on the line.
As a result, Dean was on the Texas team that won 30 consecutive games and national championships in 1969 and 1970.
For years after their playing days were over, Dean and his teammates met at least once a month to have lunch with Royal.
Dean said his goal as a player wasn’t to be inducted into any hall of fame, which first happened to him in 2005 when he was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. He was simply trying to survive the hardest two-a-days of his life in 1968.
The players worked hard and bonded with one another during those grueling summer practices, which created a sense of “not wanting to let your brothers down,” Dean said.
In all, 42 athletes quit before the end of the camp, Dean said, which opened the door to him being a starting offensive guard.
Though he was never named an All-American, Dean said he has been inducted into halls that recognize many who earned that moniker.
“It’s not only what you did on the field, it’s also about how you represented yourself off the field,” he said.
He is the 22nd player from the 1967-71 teams to be inducted into the Hall of Honor but thinks of himself more like Notre Dame’s Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, the practice squad defensive end whose whole game was based on hard work, not brute strength or athletic size or height.
“I’ve been a guy who worked hard and had a good work ethic, loved his team and didn’t want to let them down,” he said. “Rudy got his picture show; I got into these halls, and I think I won out.”