A life, recovered
Billy Guy Anderson
The quarterback behind number fourteen
Billy Guy Anderson in his senior yearbook portrait. Restored and interpretively colorized from the family photograph. The yearbook page names him as a senior and one of the school’s “Most Popular” students; the full source page remains preserved.
01
A season of his own
Billy Guy Anderson took over Tulsa’s offense in 1965 after Jerry Rhome had finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. He made the position his own. Anderson led the nation in passing and total offense, throwing for 3,464 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing 58 percent of his passes. He earned All-Missouri Valley Conference recognition and a place on United Press International’s second All-America team.
The workload behind those totals was extraordinary: 509 passing attempts and 296 completions over ten regular-season games. Against Southern Illinois, Anderson completed 42 of 65 attempts for 477 yards and five touchdowns. He matched the 477-yard total against Memphis and threw six touchdown passes against Cincinnati. The achievements were spread across a season, not confined to one celebrated afternoon.
Sources: Billy Guy Anderson — Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame · Tulsa Football History, 2021 Record and Fact Book · Football — Team Records (2000 historical record book) · Tulsa Football Records — Top Ten Performances
Clayton’s maternal grandfather Billy Guy Anderson, wearing football number 14. The approximate date follows the uniform, photographic style and family context.
View the source record →02
Football enters the Astrodome
On September 11, 1965, Tulsa faced Houston in the Astrodome’s first football game. About 37,000 spectators watched a contest that began as a defensive struggle. Anderson finished with 230 passing yards and two touchdown passes as Tulsa won 14–0. One of those scoring passes went to Howard Twilley, whose own remarkable senior season would place him second in the Heisman voting.
The National Football Foundation preserves the game as a landmark in indoor football. The Astrodome, the shutout and the two scoring passes give this family memory a precise public setting.
Sources: This Week in College Football History: September 5–11 · Tulsa Football History, 2021 Record and Fact Book
03
The afternoon he passed five hundred
On November 25, 1965, Tulsa defeated Colorado State 48–20. Anderson completed 37 of 57 passes for 502 yards and five touchdowns. Three fourth-quarter scores came on throws covering 60, 63 and 51 yards. His passing total established an NCAA record and became the performance most closely associated with his name.
Tulsa finished the season 8–3, including a loss to Tennessee in the Bluebonnet Bowl. Anderson’s season belongs within that team story: an ambitious passing offense, a gifted receiving partner and a succession of games that stretched the record book.
Sources: Tulsa Football Records — Top Ten Performances · On This Date in Tulsa Sports History · Football — Retired Jerseys · This Week in College Football History: September 5–11
04
Beyond Tulsa, and back to number fourteen
Professional teams noticed. Tulsa’s draft history lists Anderson as a 1965 selection of both the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, in the nineteenth round, and the AFL’s Houston Oilers, in the eleventh. He later appeared on the Oilers’ 1967 roster.
Tulsa inducted Anderson into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 and retired his number 14 in 1995. In this family archive, the honors sit beside two quieter images: a senior yearbook portrait and the football photograph that preserves his throwing stance. Clayton’s maternal grandfather can be seen as both the young man in those photographs and the quarterback whose name remains in Tulsa’s history.
Sources: Tulsa Football History, 2021 Record and Fact Book · Houston Oilers — 1967 roster · Billy Guy Anderson — Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame · Football — Retired Jerseys · The published family record
Look a little closer
The photographs
hold more of the story.
Open any image to see the complete photograph. Captions name the people and places in each photograph.
Perry Wayne Hollingsworth at left with Papa Bill at right. Restored from the family photograph
View the source record →Continue through the archive
One life leads to another.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- Billy Guy Anderson — Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame ↗
University of Tulsa Athletics
- This Week in College Football History: September 5–11 ↗
National Football Foundation
- Football — Retired Jerseys ↗
University of Tulsa Athletics
- Football — Team Records (2000 historical record book) ↗
Official Tulsa publication: 509 attempts and 296 completions in ten games; historical statistics, not a claim all remain current records.
- Tulsa Football Records — Top Ten Performances ↗
Official game statistics: Colorado State 502 yards and 5 touchdowns; Southern Illinois 477 yards and 5 touchdowns; Memphis 477 yards and 4 touchdowns; Cincinnati 451 yards and 6 touchdowns.
- On This Date in Tulsa Sports History ↗
November 25, 1965 entry verifies 37-of-57 passing and 48–20 Colorado State victory.
- Tulsa Football History, 2021 Record and Fact Book ↗
University publication: second-team UPI All-America (PDF page 21 / printed page 113); 1965 NFL/AFL draft selections (PDF page 25 / printed page 117); period history (PDF page 6 / printed page 98).
- Houston Oilers — 1967 roster ↗
Official NFL historical roster names Billy Anderson; linked player page identifies quarterback and Tulsa.
- The published family record ↗
Family relationships and previously published research supplied by Clayton Hollingsworth; separate from public institutions’ records.
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