A Tale of Three SWC Kickers

What conference, alive or defunct, can boast three great football players at one position at the same time? The passage of more than 40 years notwithstanding, Southwest Conference fans still remember Steve Little of Arkansas, Russell Erxleben of Texas and Tony Franklin of Texas A&M. The Razorback’s years were 1974 to 1977, while the Longhorn’s and Aggie’s were 1975 to 1978. Little, Erxleben and Franklin all had a powerful right leg and could really light it up. Each of them went on to play in the National Football League. Franklin, the most successful in the pros, has had a life free of misery and scandal—in stark contrast to Little and Erxleben.

A 6′ 0″ quarterback and DB from Overland Park, Kansas, Little was not enthusiastic about being just a punter and kicker when he joined the Arkansas football program. (Erxleben had almost the same situation at UT.) But his coaches, Frank Broyles and Lou Holtz, knew better. He made 53 of his 89 field-goal attempts for the Razorbacks, including 7 of 13 from 50 yards and out. Little peaked in a 1977 game against Texas when he blasted a 67-yard field goal. He also averaged 44.4 yards per punt. That, I’m sure you know, is a big number indeed.

People warned Bud Wilkinson, coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, but he would not listen. He insisted on spending a No. 1 draft pick on the Hogs kicker. Let’s just say things did not work out. Little played in only 33 games, averaging 38.5 yards per punt and made fewer than half of the field goals he was called upon to kick. Ten of his extra-point attempts went awry or were blocked. Halfway into the 1980 season, the Cards brought in another guy. They had a pressure-packed kick-off, Little lost, and he was out of a job. What did he do? He got filthy drunk before climbing behind the wheel of his Mazda that rainy night. Traveling at a high rate of speed, the car hydroplaned 125 feet and hit a signpost. Tragically, Little was paralyzed from the neck down. He lived the next 19 years as a quadriplegic, receiving primary care from his brother Gene. One of the people at his funeral was Erxleben. He said that of the SWC’s big three—him, Little and Franklin—Little was the best.

Erxleben, a native of Seguin, Texas, stood 6′ 4″ and weighed 220 pounds. In the late 1970s, he was among a dying breed—the straight-ahead place kicker. Playing for Darrell Royal and Fred Akers at UT, he averaged 45.1 yards as a punter, better than Little and better than the great Ray Guy at Southern Mississippi a few years earlier. In a 1977 game against Rice, he busted a 67-yard field goal; it was his third time to top 60 yards.

The Cardinals may have already regretted wasting a first-round pick on Little the year before, but the New Orleans Saints did just the same in 1979. Erxleben had an atrocious start, getting injured and missing key field goals. The fans and media criticized him unmercifully. He was soon just a punter, and not a very good one at that—a 40.6-yard average. His career lasted five seasons, barely long enough to earn a pension if he could live to 55. Our boy Russell might have taught school, worked on the assembly line at General Motors or cleaned bedpans at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, honorable professions every one. Instead, his post-athletic life resembled those of Art Schlichter and Lenny Dykstra. That is, he lied, cheated, stole and spent a lot of time behind bars. Erxleben, passing himself off as a financial investor, ran Ponzi schemes, laundered money and committed securities fraud and mail fraud. He was involved in a dizzying number of lawsuits. When he came out of prison in 2019, he was unrepentant, blamed others for his problems and fancied himself a victim.

And so we come to Franklin. Born in a small town in west Texas, he played high school ball in Fort Worth. A sidewinder like Little, he was just 5′ 8″; Franklin must have looked like a typical student in College Station. For reasons I could never grasp, he liked to kick barefoot. In a 1976 game against Baylor, he had field goals of 65 and 64 yards. By the end of his college career, he had kicked 56 field goals, scored 291 points and contributed mightily to the success of the maroon and white. Like Little and Erxleben, he was an all-American. Unlike them, however, he never punted.

The Philadelphia Eagles took Franklin in the third round of the 1979 NFL draft—much more reasonable than what the Cards and Saints had done. He lasted nearly a decade with Philly, New England and Miami. Franklin made the 1986 Pro Bowl and was on two Super Bowl teams. He booted a 30-yard field goal in Super Bowl 15 (an Eagles loss to the Oakland Raiders) and a 36-yarder in Super Bowl 20 (a Patriots loss to the Chicago Bears).  Franklin’s career ended in ignominious fashion. Playing for the Dolphins against his former team, the Pats, he missed three field goals in a 6-3 loss. He was cut, and that was that.

Franklin lives in San Antonio, works in the auto finance business and owns a ranch outside of Junction. He is a member of the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. This makes perfect sense, as does the fact that the Longhorn Hall of Honor and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame have chosen not to include Erxleben, a twice-convicted felon. The University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor did induct Steve Little in 1994, five years after his death. The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, however, has yet to do so.