1983 Longhorns baseball champs get the documentary treatment
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University of Texas baseball players celebrating with their coach in 1983. Photo: Courtesy of UT Athletics
The 1983 University of Texas baseball team, a storied squad that included Roger Clemens and a handful of other future big leaguers, is the focus of a new documentary about the College World Series that year.
Driving the news: "Summer of '83: Texas vs. Tide" premieres Wednesday on the SEC Network.
We caught up with Johnny Sutton, a reserve outfielder whom Coach Cliff Gustafson inserted in the lineup late that season after injuries took down teammates — and sparked the Longhorns to playoff victories.
- Sutton, now a partner at the Ashcroft law firm, served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas in the George W. Bush administration.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
How would you characterize your coach?
"His attitude was, 'We're so disciplined, we've got such good pitching and defense, once we score a couple runs, we'll shut them down.' If someone ever said 'You can't win 'em all' — he'd say, 'That's not true.'
- His feeling was: 'You're supposed to be the best players in the country, you practice longer and prepare better, and we're going to win.' If we lost a game, he'd come into the locker room the next day and say, 'I couldn't sleep last night thinking how bad you played yesterday.'"
Tell me more about the team.
"Anything less than a national championship was going to be an unsuccessful season for us. There was a level of aggression, competitiveness that I had never seen before. Six players from that team went to the big leagues."
- "The practices were amazing: six to seven hours long — the first three hours were batting practice and infield practice. They hit me 200 ground balls every day. The intra-squad games were highly competitive because they determined who got to start during the week."
Why do you think things clicked for you so well that NCAA postseason?
"It was a Cinderella story — but it was just a matter of getting my chance. I always worked hard, spent time in the batting cage, and I knew when I got a real chance I'd come through, and I did."
Do you still dream about that season?
"I really don't think about it much, to be honest. I didn't want my life to be defined by something when I was 22 or 23 years old. But watching the film — it's a good movie, it's suspenseful, even though you know what's going to happen. My only problem is it cuts back to us now, and we all look like crypt keepers."