Photos: Memorial for Legendary Longhorn Coach Darrell K Royal

Thousands of people paid their final respects to legendary University of Texas football coach Darrell K Royal today. A public memorial was held at the Erwin Center and included a performance by Willie Nelson, and eulogies from UT-Austin President Bill Powers and current Longhorn coach Mack Brown.

“I asked him about what the best thing about coaching at Texas was, coaching football,” Brown said of Royal, “and he said, ‘25 million people care everyday about what you do.’ I said, ‘Coach, what’s the worst thing about coaching at Texas?’ and he said, ‘Twenty-five million people care about what you do everyday.’”

Royal was laid to rest yesterday in a private ceremony at the Texas State Cemetery. He passed away last Wednesday at the age of 88.

Photographer Filipa Rodrigues was at today’s memorial. Below, check out a Flickr slideshow of the memorial.