the team in scoring with 10 touchdowns
as the starting fullback or wingback
(RHB) in the power running single-wing
formation. Durkota was such an excep-
tional pass receiver that he led the '47
team with six receptions, including
three TDs. He also was an outstanding
defensive back, but when SMU scored
its :rst touchdown on a pass in the Cot-
ton Bowl, Coach Bob Higgins blamed
Durkota and benched him for almost the
rest of the game. Later, teammates and
some reporters criticized Higgins, say-
ing he made Durkota the scapegoat for
all the team's high jinks and discipline
problems, which stemmed from the day
before the game when the team was
forced to stay at an out-of-the-way
former Naval base because Dallas was
racially segregated. (Two of the Lion
players were black.) During World War
II, Durkota won the Bronze Star as a sky
trooper in Italy and a
