Duke Carlisle obit

Duke Carlisle, quarterback who won national title at Texas, dies at 84

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AUSTIN - Former Texas quarterback Duke Carlisle, one of just four Longhorn quarterbacks to win a national championship, died in Lockhart after a seven-year battle with lung cancer Friday. He was 84.

He never made All-American or first-team All-Southwest Conference but made his name legendary with critical plays at crunch time. He was the most valuable player in Texas' dramatic win over Navy to claim Texas' first national championship in the 1964 Cotton Bowl against Navy and Roger Staubach.

Born in Kaufman, Texas, Emmett Augustus Carlisle grew up in Athens where he took his high school team to the state quarterfinals as a junior. He was named after his father and grandfather but became known as Duke.

He was an investment banker in New York before moving to Dallas and then settling in McCombs, Miss., for 50 years and working in the oil business.

"He was really a humble, self-effacing guy," said Rich Terry, Carlisle's son-in-law. "He never pushed himself and never took himself seriously. He was such an invert and just a good guy."

Carlisle, a Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame for his performance after crushing Navy, was also a starting safety for Darrell Royal as a sophomore and made one of the most pivotal plays of the 1963 national championship season on defense. Late in the game when Baylor was driving behind its dual All-Americans quarterback Don Trull and Lawrence Elkins, Carlisle was inserted in the game and intercepted a pass in the end zone intended for Elkins to secure a 7-0 win over Baylor.

That would be the only defensive series he played that entire season and remains one of the most significant defensive plays in school history. In fact, the late Bill Little, one of the school's foremost historians, called Carlisle's interception the biggest play ever at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

By season's end, Carlisle would extend his perfect record to 12-0, bettered only by James Street's 20-0 career mark. He would be able to claim victories over both No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Navy before getting drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round.

Carlisle had thrown just three passes in the 28-7 win over OU, the school he preferred until becoming a Longhorn in 1960. But in the 1964 Cotton Bowl game, Carlisle threw for a Cotton Bowl-record 234 yards and two touchdowns of 58 and 63 yards to Phil Harris for a 28-6 victory. He set a bowl record with a 30.4-yard completion average and 267 all-purpose yards before leaving the game with a 28-0 lead before the fourth quarter. Ironically, in the previous 10 games, he had totaled just 415 yards and four touchdowns.

The other three Texas quarterbacks who have won national championships and whose bronze busts are in a plaza area in the southwest corner of Royal-Memorial Stadium are James Street (1969), Eddie Phillips (1970) and Vince Young (2005).

Duke was preceded in death by his parents, Eloise and Emmett Carlisle Jr. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Emily Alford Carlisle, daughter Kathy Carlisle Asher and husband Hugh, daughter Eloise Carlisle Terry and husband Rich, and his brother Todd Carlisle and wife Carolyn.

A celebration of life is being planned for later this month.