LONGHORN LEGEND TAYLOR JUNGMANN:
Still Throwing Strikes
by Larry Carlson ( lc13@txstate.edu )
Taylor’s interview by Professor Larry Carlson is at the link below
Professor Larry Carlson
A capacity crowd of 350 had just been riveted for a presentation by Eddie Penney, a former Navy SEAL and the author of "Unafraid," and the inspiration behind "the Unafraid Mindset." It was exhilarating and maybe a tad intimidating for at least some of us, as Penney spoke of the glee he had for "blowing up bad guys" in the Middle East and his self-description as" the biggest hypocrite in the room" before he took on what he considered a bigger challenge than special operations, that of handling fatherhood.
Folks were filing out now, energized, shaking hands with and hugging friends when my buddy Kirk Bohls and I ran into our friend Louis Hughes. With him was a Longhorn baseball great, Taylor Jungmann. At 6-6, Jungmann has always stood out in crowds. And on the baseball diamond.
The conversation quickly turned to what was going on among everybody and Jungmann had great news. He and wife, Brittany, are expecting a second baby boy this spring, a teammate-in-waiting for Heath, a two-year-old.
Kirk, ever the journalist, immediately pressed Taylor about young Heath.
"Is he a righty like his dad?"
"I'm not sure," Jungmann laughed, "he's kinda using both hands right now."
Maybe he'll turn out ambidextrous, I offered, like the Mississippi State pitcher who is dazzling fans this spring with 95 mph fastballs fired left-handed and right-handed. Then I bothered Taylor for his contact info, arranging for the TLSN Q&A session that follows this story
And while Taylor Jungmann stuck with just his right arm at Texas not long ago, he was college baseball's most impressive hurler over a three-year stretch from 2009-2011.
In his final UT season, Jungmann won the Dick Howser Trophy, known as the hardball equivalent of the Heisman, delivered to the national player of the year.
If you follow Texas baseball, you know that puts him in select company at UT, arguably the country's most successful program for more than a century.
Outfielder Scott Bryant won the award in '89,
the peerless Brooks Kieschnick took home the hardware in both '92 and '93,
and slugging first baseman, Ivan Melendez nailed college ball's most prestigious honor in 2022.
Rarefied air for those aforementioned Longhorns, and Jungmann, at 33, is about to become the youngest former UT baseball star to have his jersey -- number 26 -- retired at Disch-Falk Field. He'll now be forever one of the immortals of the burnt orange pantheon, joining Bryant, Kieschnick, Keith Moreland, Greg Swindell, Roger Clemens, Huston Street, and Kirk Dressendorfer.
The towering righty came out of Rogers, a hamlet of barely one thousand citizens not far from Temple and Killeen. He grew up there, standing especially tall on the pitcher's mound, blowing class 2A batters away to lead the Rogers Eagles to the state championship as a junior. He transferred to Georgetown as a senior, again dominating the competition.
As a freshman at the Forty Acres, Jungmann went 11-3 and helped lead the Horns all the way to the national title game before Texas bowed to LSU. It was a magical season for UT, with highlights galore, including a crazy 25-inning Austin regional win over Boston College. The 3-2 verdict took more than seven hours.
Besides Jungmann, Texas's roster featured the likes of Brandon Belt, Russell Moldenhauer, Chance Ruffin, and Cameron Rupp, to name but a few top players.
The Longhorns of 2010 were another outstanding team and Jungmann earned first team All-America recognition but UT got derailed by TCU in the postseason, short of Omaha. Come 2011, Texas was back in its accustomed June "working vacation" home in Nebraska. Jungmann was the best player in the USA but the Horns were unable to leave the Midwest with a seventh national title.
It was time for Jungmann to move on to the next level and he was the first round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers. Four years later, he debuted with the big club and stuck in the MLB for several seasons before adding baseball paychecks in the marvelous setting of baseball in Japan.
Now the legendary Longhorn is back in Austin, married to a Rogers girl he knew from his youth, utilizing the smarts that put him on the Honor Roll while competing in the classroom as well as on the baseball field. He owns a painting company and a cooling business while also making pitches in real estate.
And though he was never a Navy SEAL and has yet to write a best-selling book, Taylor Jungmann made it to the highest levels of his chosen field, spinning feats that wowed crowds much larger than 350 people.
Label him successful, eager and unafraid of the challenges that accompany family, faith and fatherhood.
The very young Jungmann's jersey is already about to be retired but you might say this self-starter is just getting warmed up.
