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This is from a recent article discussing his fight with Alzheimer's:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/royals-fight-alzheimers-hope-raise-money

“Day by day, Alzheimer’s disease is robbing Edith Royal of her beloved husband Darrell.

“He’s in his childhood now,” she said in an interview this week at the assisted living facility where they live. “Sometimes, you wonder if anybody is ever going to make a breakthrough fighting this disease.”

“Edith Royal is putting some of the family’s personal memorabilia up for auction Nov. 11 in Austin. Some of the proceeds will go to the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease launched earlier this year.”

“Laughter helps. Royal still manages to pull out the one-liners that made him a favorite with fans and reporters.

“The other day, he said, ‘Edith, I have to go to Hollis. Uncle Otis died.’ I said, “No, Darrell, Uncle Otis didn’t die.’ He said, ‘Well, Uncle Otis will be glad to hear that.’ You have to see the humor it in it sometimes,” Edith Royal said.

Sometimes Royal asks to speak to their daughter Marian and son David. Marian died in 1973 after her car was hit by a university bus. David was killed in in a motorcycle accident in 1982. “

Very sad, he was a great guy. I met him as a student during try-outs. While I didn't make the team, he remembered me, and after I had joined the Air Force, I ran into him in Austin while I was on leave visiting my folks, and he gave us some great tickets.

As nice and humble as he was, he could give as well as he could take - I remember his on-field and off-field battles with Barry Switzer. At one point he knew Switzer and the Sooners had been spying on them and cheating, and he was doing everything he could to call out Switzer and get Switzer to sue him for slander so he could get Switzer in court and under oath.

Truly one of the greats. Loved his “let’s go for it” attitude. RIP Darrell.

I remember his team 70's team with the big running backs Coy, Burtleson and Wooster. A reporter asked him about the idea of putting so much into a powerful running game and he replied, "The way I see, there are three things that can happen when you throw the ball and two of them ain't good"

In either 69 or 70 they played Arkansas when they were #1 and the Hogs were #2 with the best defense in the country. Arkansas kicked off through the end zone and Texas took the ball on their 20. The ran three times for short gains and had 4th and 3, or maybe 4 deep in their own territory. They went straight to the huddle without a glance at the bench. The crowd started a low rumbling "WOOOO, WOOOO".

The big fullback Steve WOOster took the ball up the middle for a first down. They didn't show the best defense in the country a glimmer of respect and controlled the game from the beginning.

As an Arkansas Razorback fan I remember the games we played against him. Those were some great games and great times. Alzheimers sucks. Rest in peace Darrell. You deserve it.

The older I get the more I reflect on these great icons of a more gentle and simpler time.I grieve at their passing. As a kid I watched his team play on an old b/w tv and and knew that he and his teams were special.Though I idolized Bob Devaney, I thought Royal was also one of the best.
Well there will be some fine football tales being told in heaven and maybe God is not just a Cornhusker fan.. {:<D ..

A life well lived. I had not yet cried over the election, until this morning when I heard this news, & then the dam broke.