(Editor’s note: One of my classmates at Louisiana Tech back in the late ’60s was Nico Van Thyn who would go on to an outstanding career as a sportswriter for several papers, including the Shreveport Times, Shreveport Journal and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He is now retired and living in Fort Worth. While at Tech, he was a student writer under the direction of the university’s Sports Information Directors Pete Dosher, Jack Fiser and Paul Manasseh and he was an eyewitness to the career of Tech all-time great quarterback Terry Bradshaw. In addition to writing Survivors: 62511, 70726, a poignant book about his parents’ experiences as victims of Hitler’s Holocaust, he wrote the following to set the record straight about the myth surrounding Bradshaw’s predecessor, Duck Commander Phil Robertson. It is reprinted below with his permission:
By Nico Van Thyn, Guest Columnist
When it comes to his athletic career, reality star Phil Robertson—the famed “Duck Commander”—is not very real.
But he and his family are really good at spreading myths. Such as (1) he was All-State in football, baseball and track; (2) he was a major-college recruit; and (3) he had NFL potential as a quarterback.
The first part: no, no, no.
Major prospect: doubtful.
The NFL? Oh, please. No way.
Quickly: I pay very little attention to anything ol’ Phil or his relatives have to say.
He is as far-right conservative as one can get, and I don’t travel in that direction. His brand of religion isn’t mine; his social and political views … not interested.
The TV shows, videos and books about him and his Duck Dynasty family … no thanks.
But I checked for one aspect: athletics. That’s because I was around for Phil’s time at North Caddo High—30 miles north of Shreveport—and Louisiana Tech University.
We saw Phil from the opposing side in high school; we compiled the game and season stats in football as student assistant in sports information for most of the three seasons he played at Tech.
But what I’ve seen and heard from Phil & Sons is about as far from true as the length of Terry Bradshaw’s longest pass (that might’ve carried 80-85 yards) or his national-record javelin throw in high school (244 feet, 11 inches).
I wrote about Phil and Terry 4 1/2 years ago, so I will try not to repeat much of that.
So why write this piece now? It is admittedly a nitpicking, innocuous exercise … except it is like finding a resume’ that is greatly exaggerated.
It irks me to read and hear what I know is not so.
Phil’s athletics bio and story-telling are—I saw this term in a book I am reading—“stretchers.”
I wrote some of this two years ago, but held off because I could not verify what I recalled. Now having checked microfilm of the 1960s’ Shreveport Times, I can tell you this:
Phil Robertson not only was not All-State in football, he wasn’t 1-AA all-district. He was honorable mention.
(Fred Haynes of Minden was all-district, having led his team to an undefeated state championship. Then he was a starter at LSU).
Phil might have pitched for North Caddo — as his sons will tell you — and he did make all-district in ’64 … as an outfielder. But the special baseball players in Class AA in our area, the All-State guys—five of them—were at Jesuit (state champs) and Ruston (two, one a future major leaguer).
He did throw the javelin, and he did make it to the state meet. But he was second in the district meet two years in a row (a Minden athlete beat him both years), third in the ’64 regional, fourth in the state meet … and not All-State. He was not Terry Bradshaw in the javelin, not close.
Myth No. 2: A Sports Illustrated “Campus Union” story dated March 22, 2012, says: “… Robertson said he fielded offers to join the football programs at LSU, Ole Miss, Baylor and Rice.”
Can’t disprove it, but it is highly doubtful. He wasn’t that good as a high school QB, and I suspect Louisiana Tech was his best offer.
I can tell you that we had five talented QBs in the 1960s at our school that Phil could envy: three signed major-college scholarships (LSU and Arkansas); the other two signed with Tech. Three were drafted by pro football teams.
One started ahead of Phil at Tech; the other backed up Phil, but went on and won four Super Bowls.
Phil ducked his football career.
A lot of us sensed, early in 1968, that when Bradshaw’s potential blossomed—it soon did—he would replace Phil as Tech’s starting QB. My opinion: Phil sensed that, too. Losing was not fun, and he loved duck hunting.
Myth No. 3: A tryout with the Redskins.
It is so ludicrous, it is laughable. It is a joke. Nothing about it adds up. It is Phil as his BS-ing best.
He talks about this on a Sports Spectrum TV segment posted (March 25, 2013) on YouTube.
A transcript (found through a Google search) of the video follows:
So, Robertson left football and, the following season, he hunted ducks while completing his degree.
A year or so later, though, a former Louisiana Tech teammate, running back Bob Brunet, was with the Redskins and thought Robertson could still make the team. Brunet told Robertson to come up and he would likely be the backup and earn about $60,000.
“At the time, $60,000 didn’t seem like a whole lot even in the ’60s,” says Phil, who worked as a teacher for a few years after earning his degree from Louisiana Tech and then earned his master’s degree in education, with a concentration in English.
“I said, ‘I don’t know about that. I would miss duck season, you know? I’d have to be up there in some northern city.’ I said, ‘Brunet, you think I’d stay?’ He said, ‘I doubt it. You’d probably leave with the ducks, Robertson.’ I said, ‘Probably so.’”
“That’s when (future Hall of Fame coach Vince) Lombardi went to Washington for a few years right before he quit coaching. …What (Brunet) said was, ‘We got this hot dog, Robertson, but you can beat him out easy.’ I said, ‘Who’s the hot dog?’ He said, ‘You’re not going to beat out (future Hall of Famer Sonny) Jurgensen. You’re not going to beat him out, but this hot dog, his backup, no problem.’ I said, ‘Who is he?’ He said, ‘Joe Theismann.’”
Phil paused, smiled, then chuckled, recalling the conversation and how good Theismann became—a Super Bowl XVII champion, NFL MVP, and a two-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection.
“(Brunet) said, ‘No problem, we’ve got him, hands down.’
‘I may do it,’” Phil recalls says. “But I didn’t do it. I stayed with the ducks. But looking back on it, who knows if I’d gone up there, you know, I might not have ever run up on Jesus at 28.”
Now, the truth, the facts:
Lombardi coached one season (1969) in Washington. Brunet never played a regular-season game with Lombardi as coach. In fact, he quit the team.
Robert was the best back (when not hurt) we had at Tech in my time there (1965-68 seasons), a two-time all-conference player. The Redskins drafted him, and as a rookie in 1968, he had the second-most carries on the team. The coach that season was Otto Graham.
After Lombardi came in — having sat out one season following his Green Bay retirement — Brunet did not take to his fierce coaching style.
(The Great Coach was the opposite of the dignified soft-spoken legendary Tech coach Joe Aillet, and the head coach in Robert’s senior season, Maxie Lambright, was a quiet man, too, more intense than Aillet but nothing like Vince.)
So Brunet left and sat out the 1969 season, the time of Phil’s story.
Robert did return to the Redskins in the spring of 1970, with Lombardi still there. But in June, Lombardi’s fast-spreading cancer was found, and he never returned to coaching. He died before the season kicked off.
So, Bill Austin was Brunet’s head coach in ’70, and George Allen came in ’71 (and Brunet was a standout special-teams player for him into the 1977 season).
Jurgensen did not start much in 1971 through 1973. He was injured a lot and then the backup to Billy Kilmer (including a hapless Super Bowl against the “perfect” Miami Dolphins, 1972 season).
Jurgensen and Theismann were on the same Redskins team only in 1974. The “hot dog”—after three years in Canadian football—barely played that year. Kilmer started 10 games (and got hurt); Jurgensen started four (and a playoff game).
By then, Phil had been out of football seven years.
And if I have the timing correctly, Phil’s downward spiral hit in the early 1970s, and he soon was drinking and rowdy and split from his family for a time—not exactly headed for the NFL. Then he found religion.
I Don’t remember religion being a factor for Phil at Tech. His religion was hunting and fishing. In fact, Bradshaw had more of a religious leaning (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) then than Phil.
So maybe Phil and Brunet had a conversation about him playing for the Redskins. But, good gosh, what Phil tells makes no sense.
He’s told it so often, though—and written it—and his sons talk about him being All-State and “turning down a chance to play professional football,” and they all believe it now … and want the world to believe it.
Our lack of success in 1966 and 1967 wasn’t all Phil’s doing; the teams weren’t sound. But the QBs were not difference makers.
As a passer, Phil did have a quick release—Bradshaw has mentioned that often in interviews—and he had a decent arm. But not a great arm, like Terry.
Pro potential? Hardly. Alan, Jase and Willie—the sons—can twist it the way they want and repeat the un-truth.
NFL teams were not going to be interested in a guy who quit before his senior season—“to chase the ducks, not the bucks,” as he likes to say—and who in two years as a starter threw 32 interceptions (nine TD passes) and led his teams to three wins (Bradshaw, as a freshman sub, was the star of the only 1966 victory).
It was nice of Tech to invite Phil back for a September 2013 game, reunited with Terry, and to honor him. But it was for his notoriety (and Ducks success), not for his football past.
Give Phil and the Robertsons’ credit for inventiveness, ingenuity, creativity, self-promotion … and a duck dynasty.
They have millions of reasons—and dollars—to be happy, happy, happy. And I’m happy to provide the truth on Phil as an athlete.
He is out “in the woods” on so much (that’s the name of his new show on CRTV, a subscription-only channel. No subscription here, thank you).
The promotion, which I am not looking for but which is popping up regularly on my computer, says, “… just truth, from Phil’s mouth to your screen.”
Phil’s truth, not ours. If he tells you he was All-State in three sports or an NFL quarterback prospect, don’t believe him.
God-appointed messenger? You decide.
Reminds me of a friend who used to joke, “Any man who says he runs his household will lie about a lot of other things, too.”
Louisiana Voice 
WOW! This really goes to the top of the “Who gives a crap” list. The author seems to have a real ax to grind here. Oh well. Interesting read nonetheless…….
First of all, don’t be so crass. Second, I know Nico and he has no axe to grind. He just doesn’t like hypocrisy.
Terry Bradshaw is the one who brought up what a great ball player Phil was on the Tonight Show. Jay Leno (it was that far back) brought up the topic that they played football in college together and it was Terry who said he (Terry) was 2nd string to Phil and what a great player he was, he could have gone pro, etc. Terry was very matter of fact and Jay was all amazed and saying things like “I can’t believe it!.”
Why you think your playing Blue’s Clues & speculation is better than Terry Bradshaw’s own words I have no idea.
What would you expect Terry to say—“He quit because I was going to blow him out of the water”? That’s not Bradshaw’s style. He’s much too considerate to be that blunt but the truth is, that’s exactly what was going to happen. I was sports editor for the Ruston Daily Leader at the time and covered both of them and it was obvious who the quarterback was going to be.
Terry was just being nice.
Whether you liked the article or not, agreed and disagreed, you choice of language is offensive, sir……
Agreed.
Of course , if Phil has liberal views and opinions, supported liberal democrats , I doubt any of us would be reading this. Because he has conservative values and takes conservative positions he is a target for such as this!! Plain and simple!!!
Well….no, it’s mostly because he has consistently misrepresented his athletic history, all while professing to be this big Christian—all to bolster his personal reputation—and his bank account. That kinda makes him a hypocrite who attracts the likes of you.
As for his self-righteous beliefs that he would impose on everyone else, yeah, well, you’re probably right, so deal with it.
Nice reply Buck.
And yet you came here, read it, and then commented. You should have just glanced at it and moved on. Plain and simple!
You ASSume I read it. One doesn’t have to scan much to know where this as going!!!
Really! Why bother to waste your time and bandwidth and the same for us. Shoo! Go away!
That’s beautiful.
Where were you, Bud, when I slammed Hillary for her continued whining about the election and her silly book in which she blamed everyone but herself?
Where were you when I criticized Gov. John Bel Edwards for his handling of State Police, Fire Marshal’s office and the Department of Corrections?
Where were you when I did an entire piece highly critical of the State Democratic leadership and the weaknesses of the State Chairman?
It’s funny I didn’t hear a peep out of you when I did those stories. But let someone step on your apparent hero duck commander, and you bring out the tired old argument of “conservative values.”
Enlighten me. Are you referring to the same “conservative values” embraced by Roy Moore? If that’s the “conservative values” to which you refer, I’ll just go with those horrible old liberals.
I think the lies Soros paid for is falling apart.
The duck people are laughing all the way to the bank. I never understood their appeal and I don’t buy duck calls so Phil and the others have no relevance to my life. To me everything in the image they present for public consumption seems fake, so why would Phil’s athletic prowess be an exception. They apparently made their millions being legends a substantial number or people believed – This same tactic seems to have propelled a certain spoiled brat bully into the White House. And, lest we forget, until he crashed and burned they were big time Jindalites.
This is another case of a liberal reporter doing his best to twist facts to smear a conservative, Christian, believes in what our country was built on. He will tell any story/lie to make them selves look good. He must be applying for job with cnn or any other twist the truth outlet. When will the Liberals and half truthes News get over it they lost.
Let’s see how the facts were twisted and just who it was who twisted them. Phil says he made All-State in football. He didn’t. Who twisted facts there? Phil said he made All-State in track. He didn’t. Who twisted facts there? Phil said he made All-State in baseball. He didn’t. Who twisted facts there? Phil said he was offered a tryout by the Redskins. He wasn’t. Who twisted facts there? Sorry that your hero doesn’t pass the smell test.
“This is another case” of the conservative mantra of blaming anything negative about conservative heroes on “liberal reporters.”
BTW, themselves is one word, not two and half-truths should be hyphenated…and spelled correctly and there should be a period at the end of that sentence. And in your other comment, you should make your subject and verb agree.
And just for the record and not to belabor the point, Hillary didn’t lose. She won the popular vote by 3 million votes and I bet if she’s won the electoral vote but Trump had won the popular vote, you’d be screaming to change the way presidents are elected. But hey, it is what it is and let’s see how much you like Trump when you realize he has designs on taking your Medicare and social security benefits and when you realize just what his idea of “tax reform” really means. It’s really kind of funny how your conservatives consistently vote against your own interests – and you don’t even realize it.
But the real issue is this: Do you extend your conservative values to the support of child molester Roy Moore? Are those the Christian values you believe in that made our country great?
Talk about twisting the truth….
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
We have a lot to be thankful for and should focus on them today. In that spirit, try not to think about the things we are not thankful for and don’t look at this until tomorrow:
https://www.axios.com/10-big-things-americas-polarized-politics-2511885087.html
…or, if you do look at it today, find the bright spots. There are a few.
Roger That Stephen, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Sound like just more of the Liberal “Sour-Grapes” by a loser. Terry Bradshaw, said himself that Phil handed him his football career and if Phil had decided to go into Pro-Football, he would of never had the opportunity and success that he had. This writer is obviously, just spreading his fake news, or what his Boss is telling him or rather told him to write. Just shows that the Liberals just can not accept defeat gracefully or by any other means. They keep dragging things up that died many years ago, I suppose just to have something to do and the cast doubt in the minds of other Liberal Idiots, that they have been out played, both in the field of Athletics, as well as in the field of American Politics.
Speaking of sour grapes, it sounds like you picked a few yourself. First of all, Nico is retired so no, no boss there. Second, both he and I were witnesses to the transition and we could see Bradshaw’s rising as Robertson’s was fading. Third, you are disputing facts put forth by Nico, not opinion. The facts are Robertson never made all-state in any sport as he claims. You can’t get around that with your tired, broken-record sour grapes response.
I agree with Mr. Buck. I am a big fan of the Mountain Man, because he is my lst cousin and I love him dearly, could care less about the other jindalites. but they can make a buck and that is important even to us liberals. thanks and love always ron thompson
Tom, did you invite Phil Robertson to write a rebuttal, in the same way you invited your friend to write this piece?
Ole Tom will never extend an invitation like that! You can bet the baby’s milk money on that !!
Just to set the record straight, I did not invite Nico to write his post. He wrote it for his own blog, I saw it and asked him for permission to reprint it on LouisianaVoice.
If Phil wishes to write a rebuttal, I will give him the same opportunity I gave you for your comment.
No, on second thought, I will give him a full post, not just a comment, if he cares to try and defend how he twists the truth about his being an all-state athlete in three sports when the record clearly states otherwise.
I know that disappoints you to learn that I would ever consider being fair. After all, I pay for this blog and I reserve the right to say whatever I wish. But there is another side of me you obviously do not appreciate: I don’t believe in censorship. I abhor it and will never be a part of it.
So, of Phil wants to write a few thousand words of rebuttal, my space is his.
No Tom, you got me all wrong. I am not disappointed in you being fair, to the contrary, I am overjoyed.
Why are you so jumpy every time someone criticizes or asks questions?
Calm down, and take a deep breath.
Jumpy? Man, at my age, I can’t afford to be jumpy. I might fall and break a hip. As for taking a deep breath, I’m trying to conserve my oxygen, not use it all up. I’m the guy who drives really slow in the left lane for 72 miles with my blinker on.
(But I’m also the one who cops a parking space up front at the mall at Christmas shopping time and puts my car in reverse while holding my foot on the brake—just to amuse myself by making others think I’m leaving. Old people can have fun, too.)
A quick review of Robertson’s stats tell you he wasn’t very good. He preceded an NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback that was about to win the job. I’m sure Robertson could care less what you think. It’s not like he is the patriarch of a $500M dynasty, or anything. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that would give it a second thought.
It’s a bit disconcerting that people will claim, fake news, and liberal media, for correcting lies told by a local folk hero, facts don’t lie.
This is by far the cheapest shot (sideways at that) against people who are recognized as being Christian in public. You have lost a lot of respect in my eyes.