Longhorns Wire is continuing the series of jersey numbers to match the days until Texas kicks off the season. On Sunday, we find ourselves remembering No. 65. Currently, incoming freshman Jake Majors is assigned
Greg Dahlberg, LB (1970-73)
Greg Dahlberg joined the Texas Longhorns in 1970, just in time to win a National Championship under legendary coach Darrell K. Royal. That season the Longhorns were perfect until their Cotton Bowl matchup with Notre Dame and lost 24-11. They were named the Coaches Poll National Champions. The Longhorns were coming off a consensus National Championship where they defeated that same Fighting Irish team 21-17 in the previous Cotton Bowl.
The Longhorns would win the Southwest Conference Championship every year that Dahlberg played for the Texas Longhorns. He was a three-year letterman for the Longhorns. Greg played the center in the infamous Oklahoma-Texas spygate in 1972. This happened deep in their own territory while losing 3-0 against the Sooners.
Coach Royal called for a quick kick to eliminate any opportunity for the Sooners to return the football. However, the Sooners knew it was coming and proceeded to block the kick. The Sooners went on to win that game.
Former ESPN writer Jake Trotter detailed how the Sooners were able to pull off spying on the Longhorns.
That week of the 1972 game, Lacewell, the Sooners’ defensive coordinator, suggested to longtime friend Lonnie Williams that he go to Austin and report back on the Longhorns. Posing as a construction worker, the perfect disguise with Texas’ stadium under renovation, Williams covertly took note of everything the Longhorns practiced — including the quick kick.
During a Friday walkthrough before traveling to Dallas, Lacewell brought the defense together to briefly practice one last thing.
“Coach Lacewell said, in case Texas tries a quick kick, this is how we’re going to line up,” Moore recalled. “We hadn’t practiced against the quick kick in years. Then [Lacewell] walked by casually and said to me, ‘Derland, move to the gap between the tackle and guard. … You might have a chance to block it.”
Following his football career, Dahlberg attended post graduate school to become a dentist. He passes away in 2017.