Chris Gilbert, who was one of the Texas football program’s first great running backs, died Monday. He was 79.
In a news release about Gilbert’s passing, Texas did not announce a cause of death. The Houston Chronicle reported that Gilbert died after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Chris Gilbert was a transformative figure in college football whose excellence helped define an era at Texas,” National Football Foundation president Steve Hatchell said in its own release. “He set the standard for running backs and played a key role in the Longhorns’ success during the 1960s before going on to build an impressive career in business.”
Gilbert played at Texas from 1966-68, and he rushed for 3,231 yards during his time with the Longhorns. A NFF College Football Hall of Fame inductee and member of the Texas Hall of Honor’s Class of 1978, Gilbert became the first player in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. Gilbert also finished in eighth place in the 1968 Heisman Trophy race won by USC’s O.J. Simpson.
“Gilbert is like a rabbit,” former Arkansas defensive lineman David Cooper once said of the 5-foot-11, 176-pound back. “I don’t think it’s possible for one man to bring him down.”
During the 1968 season, Texas offensive coordinator Emory Bellard introduced the Wishbone offense to the Longhorns. Working in a backfield alongside Ted Koy and Steve Worster, who died in 2022, Gilbert rushed for 1,132 yards and 13 touchdowns as Texas claimed a share of the Southwestern Conference title.
Gilbert was selected in the fifth round of the 1969 NFL Fraft, but he never played professionally. According to Texas, Gilbert became an investor and business executive in Houston after his football career ended. In 1968, he founded a Texas summer camp that remains open.