 "Photo: Kerry Lentz")
During Thursday's football practice, Texas Tech senior safety Jordy Rowland ran over to Lonnie McCurry on the sidelines and shook his hand, thanking him for speaking with the team.
McCurry held on to Rowland and looked him in the eye. "Saturday, we're gonna have a big day," he said. "You're gonna kick butt."
At 89 years old, Lonnie "Primo" McCurry is one of the few remaining men from Tech's 1938 team that went 10-0 before losing in the third Cotton Bowl ever. He said he hopes his message provided an inspiration for a No. 6 Red Raider team preparing for the biggest game in Tech history against No. 1 Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
McCurry said he told the team to limit penalties and stay focused, and the win will come.
"It makes you proud, you're proud to say I'm from Texas Tech," said McCurry, who turns 90 in March. "I tried to fire them up there and not make a foolish mistake. I hope it means a little bit because I'm somebody who has been there done that, but never anything like these guys."
McCurry could give former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz a run for his money as an ESPN college football analyst. Just listening to him talk about the Texas Tech football team proves he still knows his football.
"They're not a one-dimensional team," he said. "They've got many receivers that take the ball. They've got people that can run it. Then the defense looked pretty good last week."
Tech coach Mike Leach is not outside the topic of conversation for McCurry either.
"I think he's smart as a whip," McCurry said. "He's put on a good show here, and he's indoctrinated these boys into a system that if he ever leaves, they're gonna have to make a recruiting change for years to change systems. This is the only system in the country that does exactly like he does."
McCurry was an All-American for Tech, playing from 1938 to 1940 before his Marine status called for him to fight at Iwo Jima.
McCurry said he earned the Purple Heart after a tank ran over a land mine, causing it to explode. A piece of shrapnel pierced McCurry's hand.
Dean McCurry, Lonnie McCurry's son, said his dad received a contract to play in the NFL from the late Wellington Mara, the longtime owner of the New York Giants. However, Lonnie McCurry had to turn the offer down to fulfill his military duties.
"There wasn't any question about what I was going to do because the war was on and I was going to war," Lonnie McCurry said. "Whatever may have happened in football was gone."
McCurry said his nickname is based on Italian heavyweight Primo Carnera, who eventually became a world heavyweight champion. McCurry would box in high school, causing his nose to get punched in. Someone came along and compared him to the boxer, and it stuck ever since.
The McCurry family has a tradition of attending Tech. Dean McCurry graduated from Tech, as did his son and daughter. Lonnie McCurry's little brother played football for Tech several years after Lonnie McCurry left to the Marines Corps.
"It's a lifetime inspiration for me," Dean McCurry said. "It means that in his life, obviously this is something that is motivational for him to interact to the players. For the players to hear somebody who did the last undefeated season."
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