Frei, Terry 1955-

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FREI, Terry 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born 1955. Education: University of Colorado, Boulder, B.A., B.S., 1976.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Denver Post Sports, 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202. Agent—John Monteleone, Mountain Lion, Inc., P.O. Box 799, Pennington, NJ 08534. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist. Denver Post, Denver, CO, reporter, 1995—; ESPN.com, columnist. Previously worked for Sporting News and Oregonian.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Voted Sportswriter of the Year in both Oregon and Colorado.

WRITINGS:

Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming: Texas vs. Arkansas in Dixie's Last Stand, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Third Down and a War to Go, to be published in 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sportswriter Terry Frei's Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming: Texas vs. Arkansas in Dixie's Last Stand is an account of what many consider to be one of the most memorable college football games of the twentieth century. The game was played on December 6, 1969, between the top-ranked Texas Longhorns and the second-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, both undefeated, for the Southwest Conference title. It was the last major sports event to be played by entirely white teams.

The contest was held in Fayetteville, Arkansas, amidst protests by black students who vowed to rush the field if the song "Dixie" was played to celebrate Razorback touchdowns, and by antiwar demonstrators, including veterans, who protested the Vietnam conflict outside the stadium. Fans included President Richard Nixon and Texas congressman George Bush. Frei's retelling encompasses more than the game and his studies of individual players. It also takes the pulse of the country as it experienced political and social upheaval.

Bob Holt, in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, wrote that Frei "does a masterful job of weaving in the historical significance of the turbulent times." Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News, who covered the game, wrote that Frei "must have worn out a dozen tape recorders in the process."

Clemson University athletic director Terry Don Phillips, a Razorback defensive lineman in 1969, noted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: "It's sort of like that movie, The Perfect Storm, where you have all these things that converge at one time. It reflects a time when a lot of things were changing, not only at Arkansas, but throughout the South. I think that's the essence of the book, the many issues in America at that time, and that game probably represents the pinnacle of it." Library Journal critic Larry R. Little called the book "a delightful, well-researched chronicle of a turbulent era." A San Antonio Express-News reviewer proclaimed it "a great story, well-told, with more delicious details than a linebacker could tackle." Denver Post theatre critic John Moore remarked that Frei "possesses the football expertise, an uncanny ability to buttonhook diverse personal anecdotes together and an appreciation for history to tell this remarkable tale." And in Dallas Morning News, reviewer Si Dunn called the book a "superb blending of sports, history and politics."