AUSTIN, Texas – Julius Whittier, a trailblazer for Texas football and an all-time San Antonio high school football legend, died Tuesday morning at the age of 68, the University of Texas athletics department announced.
Whittier is a San Antonio native who graduated from Highlands High School in 1969. Whittier was the Longhorns' first African-American athlete to letter in football and among the first African-Americans to receive a football scholarship when he attended the University of Texas.
Whittier played offensive tackle and tight end under legendary head coach Darrell Royal, and finished his Longhorns career as a three-year letterman. He helped Texas win the national championship in 1970.
Whittier earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy, then a graduate degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1976 before he completed his law degree at Texas.
According to the university, Whittier worked as a senior prosecutor in Dallas before he retired in 2012.
Whittier was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2013 and the San Antonio Independent School District Hall of Fame this past August.