Former TWC and Green Bay Packers quarterback Billy Stevens takes a trip down memory lane

Wearing a skullcap made out of his old manila colored beach ball under his football helmet, little Billy Stevens often pretended to be a very bald Y. A. Tittle. You could say the New York Giants’ former quarterback was one of his most influential athletes, however, little did he know he would one day become a star athlete just like his role model.

“I started playing sports when I was eight, and finished up in the pros at 25 or 26,” said Stevens, 70, who played collegiate football as quarterback for Texas Western College (now The University of Texas at El Paso) from 1965 to 1967 and professional football as quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1968 to 1971.

Growing up in Galveston, TX, Stevens played every sport possible. He played baseball, basketball, ran track and began playing football in the 7 th grade. Although he enjoyed them all, “football and baseball were probably my two favorite,” Stevens said.

His college career at TWC began at age 18, where he played quarterback position, while he pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education with math and history as teaching fields. “I’ve got so many great memories of playing here at Texas Western…” he said, as he reminisced about his most memorable moments as an athlete at TWC.

In 1965, while at TWC, he completed what was known as a “Sun Bowl record” of 21 of 34 passes for 208 yards and one touch down. In 1967, Stevens also completed 13 of 36 passes for 155 yards and a touch down, leading the Miners to continuous bowl wins; two very important games to Stevens.

The 1965 and 1967 Sun Bowl games against Texas Christian University (1965) and Ole Miss (1967) were two of the three most memorable games to him. “We weren’t supposed to win. We were definitely the underdogs going into both games,” said Stevens who insisted they should’ve lost both games. The two miraculous wins earned him the Sun Bowl MVP awards, making him one of the two players in Sun Bowl history to receive the C.M. Hendrick Trophy twice.

Additionally, another of Stevens’ most memorable games was the TWC vs. Utah game played on November 13, 1965. TWC had won four games in a row and lost three. Playing Utah was a must win if they wanted to save the season. His legendary 92-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Bob Wallace, on the final play of the game sent the Miners to a 20-19 triumph. From behind his own goal line, Stevens achieved the touchdown pass in the last second, making it a historic win.

American artist Tom Lea painted a portrait of the final play, naming it the “The Turning Point;” one of his most emblematic pieces and extremely famous in TWC/UTEP sports history. Stevens believes “The Turning Point” is a very fitting name because that game truly turned their season back around. “We won the rest of the games that year,” he said.

His success at TWC led him to various awards, including: being inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame in 1976, becoming a Legend of the Sun Bowl in 1994 and also being inducted into the UTEP Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. “I’ve been very fortunate,” said Stevens.

As a senior, Stevens alongside ten others on the team got the opportunity to play professional football. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the NFL Draft of 1968.

Playing for the Packers was never a goal for Stevens. However, he definitely hoped for an opportunity to get to play professional football. “My father’s dream was that I was going to play professional baseball,” said Stevens. Because he liked football more than he did baseball, he decided to play for the Packers.

Playing for Green Bay was a great experience for him. “Quite honestly, I was in awe,” said Stevens. “The Packers had just won the first two Super Bowls, so they were definitely the team at the time, and of course, Bart Starr was the quarterback; again, the quarterback at the time…” Being able to walk into the same dressing room every day and see players he thought pretty high of was quite amazing for Stevens.

In 1971, he left professional football and stopped playing sports because “there were no other sports to play after that.” He went back to school, finished his bachelor’s degree, coached football at UTEP, and later attended the University of New Mexico for his Master’s Degree in Banking.

Stevens believes the fact that he was “hungry” and needed a scholarship to attend college was what made him most successful in his athletic career. To him, the most rewarding thing about being an athlete is the friendships he built with other players. “We were teammates, no doubt, but we were also friends. We hung out together. Those were my friends going through college. The players on the football team,” said Stevens.

The biggest obstacles he faced throughout his athletic career were injuries of all kind. A broken collarbone, a broken big toe, a dislocated shoulder…; ” I had almost every injury imaginable,” he said. However, his biggest advice to any up-and-coming athletes is to “…do your best, keep trying, and don’t give up. Especially when you get a few injuries.”

After working as a banker for over 35 years, Stevens has now been retired for the past five. He has been married for the last 50 years. “My wife gave me one more year to get it right. Hopefully she’ll give me another one this coming year,” he said. They both love living in El Paso, according to Stevens, which is one of the many reasons why they decided to stay here after he was done with the Packers.

Nowadays, you can find Stevens hanging out and catching up with his old friends: Bill Tumberlin, Petey Vasquez, Bob Wallace and Dick Leach, or working at his church. “I pretty much do what I wanna do,” said Stevens.