Texas unveiled a new 12 1/2-foot statue of trailblazer Julius Whittier, the Longhorns' first Black letterman, outside the north end of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Whittier, who died in Sept. 2018, arrived at Texas as one of the school's first Black scholarship athletes and played on the 1970 team that won a national championship. He played offensive line and tight end on three teams that won the Southwest Conference and was on the freshman team when Texas won the 1969 national title.
After Whittier graduated with a degree in philosophy, President Lyndon Johnson encouraged him to continue his studies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at Texas.