[LBJ Library photo by Charles Bogel. #IMG_0080]

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The LBJ Presidential Library and Johnson Family Remember Darrell Royal

Nov 07, 2012

Darrell K. Royal, former football coach and Athletic Director at The University of Texas at Austin, and his wife, Edith, were close friends of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. Coach Royal visited Johnson in the White House, the Johnson and Royal families vacationed together, and they admired each other’s leadership qualities. Of Royal, Lyndon Johnson said, “I am a Darrell Royal fan because he is the rarest of human beings.”

In 2008, in honor of LBJ’s Centennial, Darrell and Edith Royal graciously loaned the Library flags that had flown in space with Apollo astronauts. The Royals presented the flags to the Library to be displayed in an exhibit on the space program of the 1960s. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President and Mrs. Johnson, thanked the Royals on behalf of the Library.

Date: 10/15/2008. Download: Medium (3.6 MB). Credit: LBJ Library photo by Charles Bogel.

Date: 10/15/2008. Download: Medium (4.1 MB). Credit: LBJ Library photo by Charles Bogel.

After UT beat Navy in the Cotton Bowl, President and Mrs. Johnson telephoned Darrell and Edith Royal to congratulate them on the victory.

L-R: Darrell K. Royal, Lady Bird Johnson, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Location: Dallas, Texas. Serial Number: #62-1-10. Date: 01/01/1962. Download: Medium (4.3 MB). Credit: LBJ Library photo by Laughead.

January 1, 1964.