darrell and frank

DARRELL AND FRANK

darrell is darrell k royal
frank is frank broyles
many of us know them as football coaches

those of us who are hog fans know who dk royal is
as
he brought his longhorns into fayetteville arkansas
in december 1969
in the battle of the century there in front of a full stadium and
in front of the then president nixon who was helicoptered in and was
there to present the national championship to the winner

it was james street the qb for texas who made a pass that
ended the hogs chance for their only national championship

yes all hog fans know who he was
even those born after that fateful game may know who he was

frank was the arkansas coach
of that fateful hog team that lost that day

they were competitors but they were good friends
good golfing buddies

both are legends at their schools and will always be
frank and dkr

they were also tied together in another way
a more tragic connection
that connection is alzheimers disease

franks wife barbara had a gradually onset of this disease that
eventually took her in 2004
coach broyles wrote a book called the
coach broyles playbook for alzheimers caregivers
it is a popular book for those families and caregivers affected by
this terrible disease

in fact i used it frequently as did some of my family members
in dealing with the terrible progression of the disease in
my mother

i kept it readily available in my office for others to read

so it this alzheimers monster hit frank broyles hard and took
his wife away from him
then
his good friend darrell k royal it hit him and took him away also
as the monster got him a few years ago

apparently dkr was witty to the end
he died last week after a fall
thats common a fall or infection to be the reason for the end
my moms was an infection

dkrs family have become advocates and big supporters of
the alzheimers association
something that happens to you when this disease hits your family

they have started a fund called
the darrell k royal fund for alzheimers research

so theres these two icons of college football
who are tied together by this sport
their friendship
and
by alzheimers disease

rip dkr

the organicgreen doctor