Texas Bowl

Legendary Rice halfback Dicky Maegle has been named to the Texas Bowl’s 2008 class of Gridiron Legends, the Texas Bowl Committee announced today. The decision to include Maegle in this year’s class was made in part due to Rice’s participation in the 2008 Texas Bowl.

Rice and Western Michigan will face off at 7 p.m. CST on December 30 at Reliant Stadium. The 2008 Texas Bowl will be televised live nationally on NFL Network. The game will also be broadcast nationally by Westwood One radio and locally on KTRH 740 AM.

A native of Taylor, Texas, Maegle was a member of the inaugural class of the Rice University Sports Hall of Fame in 1970 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

Maegle starred at Rice from 1952-54 and set 26 school records. Maegle was an excellent defender as well, leading the Southwest Conference in interceptions. He was a consensus All-America and academic All-America in 1954.

Maegle was involved in one of the most historic and memorable plays in college football history when, in the 1954 Cotton Bowl, he was racing for an apparent 95-yard touchdown when Alabama’s Tommy Lewis came off the Crimson Tide sideline to tackle him. Maegle was credited with the touchdown on the play. He finished that game with an amazing 265 yards on just 11 carries, giving him a 24.1-yards-per-carry average, and three touchdowns to lead Rice to a 28-6 victory.

The 2007 Texas Bowl was a rousing success as TCU defeated Houston, 20-13, in front of 62,097 fans—the third-largest crowd ever to see a college bowl game in Houston and the eighth-largest non-BCS bowl game in the nation. The bowl boasted over 20,000 season tickets and over 35,000 tickets sold before the matchup was announced. The Texas Bowl has averaged $25 million in local revenue over the past two years, putting it on par with major conventions such as the Offshore Technology Conference in terms of economic impact in the greater Houston area. The Texas Bowl also donated $150,000 to DePelchin Children’s Center over the last two years.

For more information, please contact Texas Bowl media relations director Zac Emmons at 832-667-2220 or via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).