cover image Long Live the Longhorns!: 100 Years of Texas Football

Long Live the Longhorns!: 100 Years of Texas Football

John Maher. St. Martin's Press, $29.95 (229pp) ISBN 978-0-312-09328-0

Seen by Darrell Royal as ``an extension and an addition'' to Lou Maysel's Here Come the Texas Longhorns , this collection of hundreds of photos and a game-by-game reconstruction of the first century of Texas football should sell like hoecakes in the Lone Star State. Maher and Bohls, both journalists, last collaborated on Bleeding Orange and, of course, have a great story to tell, for Texas has built up an amazing record on the gridiron, with just a handful of losing seasons. Of particular interest are the pre-1911 years, when there was a new coach virtually every season; the tale of the worst defeat in the school's history at the hands of Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago in 1904; and obviously the reign of Royal from 1957 to 1976, which brought three national championships. There are also delightful sidebars, the most noteworthy about booster Lutcher Stark, who helped recruit the best players money could buy, and Bevo I, the steer bought as a mascot who, because he was too ornery to handle, ended up as barbecue. (Aug.)