Steve Worster
July 8, 1949 - August 13, 2022 Bridge City, TX
Steve Worster was born in Rawlins, Wyoming, and was raised from an early age in Bridge City, Texas. He graduated from Bridge City High School in 1967, where he played tailback on the football team and catcher on the baseball team.
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Worster was All-District for four years, All-State for two years, and a high school All-American. He led the Cardinals to the Class 3A state championship in 1966, rushing for 2,210 of his career 5,422 yards during the team’s 13–1 season. When he graduated from Bridge City, the school retired his jersey. He was later inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Over his career, Worster recorded 38 100-yard games — the second most in Texas high school football history.
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Worster attended the University of Texas on a football scholarship and played halfback under legendary coach Darrell Royal. He became a key figure in the Longhorns’ revolutionary wishbone formation, first unveiled against the Houston Cougars in 1968. Worster was named All-Southwestern Conference three times and was twice selected as an All-American. He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting for the 1970 season and was named the 1970 Texas Amateur Athlete of the Year by the Texas Sports Writers Association. He was later inducted into both the Texas Longhorn Hall of Fame and the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Texas fans affectionately nicknamed him “Big Woo.”
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During Worster’s four years at Texas, the Longhorns won two national championships and made three Cotton Bowl appearances. He was voted the Most Valuable Player of the 1970 Cotton Bowl.
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The Los Angeles Rams selected Worster in the fourth round of the 1971 NFL Draft but, as Worster later recalled, “tried every underhanded trick they could play — to the point they even took me out to get me drunk to sign a contract. I just finally told them I wasn’t interested.” Worster instead spent one season in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before deciding to retire. “I played the game because I liked it; it was fun, but by then, I didn’t care anymore,” he said.
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In the mid-1980s, Worster returned to his hometown of Bridge City, Texas, where residents still remember his leadership and the state championship he helped win.
