Thornton imitates another UH Coaching legend, former UH Athletic Trainer Tom Wilson. Wilson was head football Athletic Trainer at UH from 1953-1993. Wilson was inducted into the national Athletic Trainer HOF in 1978. At age 15, Wilson had his leg amputated due to complications from a football injury. That prosthetic leg became the source of many a practical jokes, which Randy retells.
The way I heard it was Wilson lost his leg in a farming accident.
Wilson was a special guy, very gungho and very aggressive…when they first came out with Gatorade back in the late '70s Wilson decided what our Cougars needed would be called "Cougar P’ss lol.
Tom was hard nosed but the players loved him…however, he did have a potty mouth for sure, and I personally saw coach Yeoman call him out on it at practice a couple of times.
That said, Yeoman called him the best trainer in college football. Yes, he was very special and a life time Cougar…
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Tom Wilsonisms:
Camp Fun: Football conditioning program.
Think Cotton: T-shirt given to players to remind them of the ultimate goal.
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I liked Randy but I always thought he didn’t live up to his hype. He was a highly regarded recruit. I’ll never forget when he hammered Metcalf on a pass across the middle. Horns were coming down the aisles to try to go on the field. 60-40
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That is my most enduring memory of him too.
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