Return To UK Priceless For Doug Moseley
Known As Bill Moseley's Little Brother |
Doug Moseley didn't let the fact that his older brother Bill had played football at the University of Kentucky stop him from trying out for the squad back in 1946.
"My brother and I are very close," said Doug Moseley recently in a telephone interview from Tampa, Fla. "Anything we can do for each other we do to help each other out. Of course, my first couple of years at Kentucky, I was Bili Moseley's little brother. But I didn't mind. I was proud of that fact."
But the way Doug performed for the Wildcats during his three years there, Bill may have been known as Doug Moseley's big brother.
Doug was an All-American center for the Wildcats and helped Kentucky attain
Mel Holbrook
Cats' Pause Columnist
the best three years of its football history during the tenure of the late great Paul "Bear" Bryant. When Doug Moseley played for UK, the Wildcats accumulated an overall record of 28-8 and played in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton bowls.
Doug is probably one of the few players in the history of collegiate football who can say he played in all three major bowls.
"It's a very rare thing, and I'm not bragging about it," said Moseley. "You always hope to play in at least one major bowl during your career, but to have played in three is something else indeed. We were extremely fortunate."
An all-state fullback at little Luverne High School in Alabama, Doug was nonetheless overlooked by some of the major schools because not many head coaches had even heard of Luverne.
Moseley Knew He Would Come Back
"Oh, Alabama and Auburn gave me a look," he said. "The little schools didn't get much publicity. But I always wanted to play for Coach Bryant. My brother Bill was up there and told me good things about him. Coach Bryant had a reputation even then."
Doug went to Lexington for a 5-week tryout in 1946, and learned he had been drafted into the service. But, before he left, Doug knew he would return to the university.
"Coach Bryant told me to play ball whenever I could and that when I got back I would have a scholarship waiting for me, no matter if he was there or not," Moseley explained.
Moseley returned to Kentucky after two years in the Pacific theatre as an Army private. He was at UK for three seasons, 1949-51. During his time there, UK won the Southeastern Conference championship and also won two of the three bowl games. The Wildcats lost in the Orange Bowl, 21-13, but won the Sugar, 13-7, over Oklahoma, and the Cotton, 20-7, over Texas Christian.
"I'd say the Oklahoma win was probably the best victory of my career," said Moseley. "We thought we had the best team in the country, but Oklahoma was still ranked number one, probably because they had a 31-game winning streak coming in. We proved we had the better ballclub there in the old Tulane Stadium (at New Orleans)."
Played Both Ways; All-Conference Standout
Moseley was also proud that during his sophomore year the Wildcats held three SEC opponents, Louisiana State, Ole Miss and Georgia, without any points during the first three league games in 1949.
"That was quite a stretch," said Moseley of the 91-0 run. "Not many league teams have done that.''
Moseley, 6-1 and 205 pounds, played both ways for Bryant, spending time on defense at the linebacker position. Not only did Moseley make a lot of tackles, but he also picked off a lot of passes. His senior season, in fact, Doug intercepted five passes, which was third on the team.
Moseley was chosen all-conference, and was elected the team's captain for his senior year by his teammates.
"That was quite an honor, especially when it was voted on by your teammates," said Moseley. "That makes you feel good. We had a lot of fun during those days. I still talk a lot of football with some of those people, and we all agree those days were the best. The way things worked out, we really looked up to Coach Bryant. He was such a phenomenon, especially with the way he handled people. A lot of people say he was too rough, and it was true. But he was also very fair. If you gave 100 percent, he treated you very well. If you put out for him, he'd treat you accordingly."
Playing in Bryant's two-platoon system, Moseley really had to work hard. But he said he'd much rather prefer that than the way today's game is played.
"It's so specialized today," he said. "Even in junior high, players are only going one way now."
One thing that remains a puzzle for Moseley about the Bryant days at UK was that the Bear had such a difficult time beating the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Only once during Bryant's tenure at UK, his last season in 1953, did UK win over the Vols. Moseley's teams never defeated UK's arch-rival.
While At UK, Big Orange Had The Bear's Number
"He (Bryant) tried too hard against Tennessee," said Moseley. "He wanted to win so bad. He even went so far one year as to paint the practice field orange and the goal posts orange so we could concentrate on them. But it never worked."
Upon graduation from UK with a double-major in education and biological sciences, Moseley and his new bride, the former Nancy Camp of Charleston, W.Va., returned to Montomgery, Ala., where he was an assistant football coach under his brother Bill for one season at I>enier.
Doug Moseley
He was then the school's head coach for two years after Bill left to return to UK under the late Blanton Collier. He led the class 4A school to the state championship, and then entered the oil business as a salesman with Mobil Oil, Inc. He worked with Mobil for 15 years and has spent the past 16 years with Occidental Petroleum, working now in the chemical products division. The couple has two daughters and two grandsons.
Moseley, 59, travels quite a bit on his job. But it seems he spent even more time on airplanes when he was travelling around the SEC as an official for 18 years, from 1957 to 1985.
"I wasn't allowed to officiate Kentucky games," Moseley explained. "But I did enjoy doing the three Alabama games I officiated every season. The Bear and I were close personal friends, and I always enjoyed doing his games."