In 1969, a pompous New York sports writer said having 11 Texans on the New York Jets roster was a mistake. “Too many peppers in the stew,” he sniffed. One of those offending spices was receiver Don Maynard, the Miner standout from Colorado City, Texas.
Former Texas Longhorn Pete Lammons shrugged it off: “We kept telling the Jets that if they got enough guys from Texas, we would win. Sure enough, we did.” On Jan. 12, 1969, with Joe Willie Namath at QB, the Jets won Super Bowl III: Jets 16, Colts 9. Maynard went to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and write a book.
A long-time fixture on El Paso golf courses, Maynard returned to the UTEP campus in the early 1970s to play in a varsity-alumni spring game. Decades later, Miners Coach Sean Kugler invited Maynard and his son Scott to speak to the squad during training camp. The Hall of Fame receiver now leads a quiet life in Ruidoso, N.M. Longtime Colorado City residents still remember the skinny, fast kid they knew as “Donnie.”
Miners Are Forever 