A life, recovered / 1943–2025
Howard Twilley
The receiver at the other end of the pass
Glendale Stamps portrait, 1969. Wikimedia Commons identifies this image as public domain in the United States. Original small-format image preserved without alteration.
01
Tulsa’s number eighty-one
Howard Twilley enters this family archive through a shared moment with Billy Guy Anderson. On September 11, 1965, he caught one of Anderson’s two touchdown passes as Tulsa beat Houston 14–0 in the first football game played inside the Astrodome. He was a teammate and receiving partner, with no family relationship established.
Twilley’s 1965 season made him a national figure. He caught 134 passes for 1,779 yards and 16 touchdowns, earned All-America honors and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. Across his Tulsa career, he accumulated 261 receptions, 3,343 yards and 32 touchdowns. The university retired his number 81.
Sources: This Week in College Football History: September 5–11 · Tulsa Mourns Loss of Football Legend and Hall of Famer Howard Twilley · The published family record
02
Beyond the field
His achievement extended into the classroom. A two-time Academic All-American, Twilley earned an electrical-engineering degree at Tulsa and later a master’s degree in finance. After football he worked in business, operated sporting-goods stores and coached, including at Metro Christian Academy in Tulsa.
With the Miami Dolphins from 1966 through 1976, Twilley reached three Super Bowls and won two, including the championship that completed Miami’s undefeated 1972 season. His honors eventually included election to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992. He died on February 5, 2025, aged 81.
Sources: Howard Twilley — College Football Hall of Fame · Tulsa Mourns Loss of Football Legend and Hall of Famer Howard Twilley
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.
The opening image is the available visual record for this profile.
Continue through the archive
One life leads to another.
Historical connections
These links provide context; they do not establish kinship.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- This Week in College Football History: September 5–11 ↗
National Football Foundation
- Howard Twilley — College Football Hall of Fame ↗
National Football Foundation
- Tulsa Mourns Loss of Football Legend and Hall of Famer Howard Twilley ↗
University of Tulsa Athletics
- The published family record ↗
Family relationships and previously published research supplied by Clayton Hollingsworth; separate from the public institutions’ records.
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