Tony Casillas Inducted into College Hall of Fame

NORMAN, Okla. -- Former Oklahoma All-American Tony Casillas was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame Saturday night in South Bend, Indiana.

Casillas said he was overwhelmed when he learned that nearly 5 million men have played college football but fewer than 1,000 have been honored by the hall.

"That kind of puts everything in perspective," said Casillas, who won the Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman in helping the Sooners to a national championship in 1985. "The hall really brings the adrenaline out in you."

Casillas was a consensus All-American in both 1984 and '85. Then-head coach Barry Switzer called him perhaps the greatest defensive linemen ever at Oklahoma. He was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Eight and National Lineman of the Year by UPI in 1984.

Eyes of Texas, Heart of Oklahoma
Tony Casillas returned home to Tulsa from a recruiting visit to the University of Texas with a song in his head, if not in his heart.

"I remember telling my parents that I was singing 'The Eyes of Texas,'" Casillas said.

Their son entertaining the idea of attending Texas at all troubled them.

"That was kind of a forbidden fruit growing up in Oklahoma," Casillas said.

Admitting the lyrics of the alma mater passed his lips inspired a disgusted chorus at home, a persuasive siren song tugging him to the school on the right side of the Red River.

What happened to you?

They brainwashed you while you were there.

Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, whose interest in Casillas involved professional preservation as much as state pride, got wind of his little sing-along in Austin.

He called to offer his blunt assessment of the situation.

"You've got to be kidding," Switzer said. "There's no way you're going to go to the University of Texas...

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Teaching a Hard-Hitting Lesson
As part of the Hall's annual Enshrinement Weekend festivities, former Oklahoma middle guard Tony Casillas, a staple of Sooner teams from 1982-85, offered a few pointers to an eager group of listeners that included several members of Clay's freshman squad.

"What's up fellas?" Casillas said as he greeted the first circle of shy guys who shuffled over to him. Minutes later, the former Sooners standout was showing them a few tricks that helped earn him a host of college honors that includes Defensive Player of the Decade for the 1980s.

Casillas talked of having strong shoulders to bump a blocker off-base and of being balanced enough to combine speed and strength to still make plays. Several Colonials looked ready to buckle their chin straps right then and there.

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University of Oklahoma Athletics

Tony Casillas Inducted into College Hall of Fame

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