One of the observer’s boyhood heroes was Lenny Lyles at the University of Louisville. Week after week Lyles was running over, through and around defenders on his way to the end zone. To say he was good would be to shortchange his talents. He was exceptional, among the best to ever wear the uniform, even by today’s standards.
Quite a feeling, working along side Lyles many years later at Brown & Williamson. A fun guy to work with, but there were more conversations about football than work. He could talk for hours about his days at U of L and with the Baltimore Colts … and would.
Lyles was a consultant, very good at what he did, helping to identify minority vendors for B&W. At the same time, he was running his own business, operating Lyles Plaza in west Louisville.
Ten years ago, a statue was erected in Lyles’ honor at Cardinal Park for his accomplishments. The $100,000 cost of the sculpture was underwritten by long-time Cardinal fan Owsley Brown Frazier.
Lyles, now 74, continues to hold the all-time mark of touchdowns at the Louisville, scoring 43 of them while leading his team to a 25-12 won-lost record from 1954 to 1957.
Player |
Touchdowns |
Season |
|
Lenny Lyles |
43 | 1954-57 |
| Michael Bush |
39 |
2003-06 |
| Eric Shelton |
30 |
2003-04 |
| Frank Moreau |
27 |
1995-99 |
| Anthony Shelman |
27 |
1991-94 |
| Howard Stevens |
25 |
1971-72 |
| Tom Lucia |
23 |
1947-50 |
| Nathan Poole |
23 |
1975-78 |
| Calvin Prince |
23 |
1976-77 |
| Lionel Gates |
20 |
2001-04 |
| Anthony Allen |
20 |
2006-07 |
The printed media guide says 43 touchdowns so I guess you can take your pick. If I’m not mistaken, Lyles wore No. 43.
All great RB’s!
Bush would’ve been the all-time TD leader by far if not for injury…plus he averaged 5.8 yards per carry. I hope he does well at Oakland this year – could be the #1 back.
The U of L site says Lyles scored 42 TD’s, not 43. ????
http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/lyles_lenny00.html
I am proud that the observer gave me the chance to see 6 of those guys play.
Just happy you enjoyed it as much we did.
I was lucky enough to see nine of them.
Only Woodyard prevented Bush from being the all-time TD leader.
I like reading things like this since I wasn’t “introduced” to UofL fandom until 2000.
You are probably right but I don’t think we want to give Woodyard too much credit here. Bush was hampered by a few nagging foot and ankle injuries during his three seasons at Louisville. Bobby Petrino was slow to use him at first, and then at various positions.
Valid point, Charlie, but it’s hard to ignore Bush’s senior season consisted of 55% of one game and he still finished only four TDs short of Lyles.
That takes nothing away from Lenny, though. I wish I had seen him as an offensive player; I only watched him as a star DB with the Colts.