Recruited by Bill Parcells and coached by Jimmy Johnson, one a Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach and the other a College Football Hall of Fame coach, Lynn Duncan learned from two of the best coaches in history as he worked his way to become one of the best defensive players to ever wear a Wichita State football uniform.
“I was very lucky, Coach Parcells recruited me out of high school and Jimmy Johnson taught me more about football than everyone combined,” Duncan said. “I was recruited by several schools, but everyone thought I wasn't tall enough. It worked out because Wichita was closer to home.”
At 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, he earned third-team All-America by the Associated Press in 1969 at defensive tackle for the Shockers despite playing for four different head coaches and four different position coaches during his career.
“I was high as a kite,” Duncan said of learning of the All-American honor in 1969. “It is the ultimate honor as a player to be recognized like that.”
He was also named after his senior season as the Missouri Valley Conference Associated Press Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
As a senior, he had 78 tackles, 49 assists, eight pass deflections, and one interception for a touchdown. The 78 tackles were believed at the time to be the most ever by a Shocker. He was also chosen the team's MVP three times.
“I was lucky enough to be quick,” Duncan said. “Being quick helped, and having a knack for knowing where the ball is, was kind of a natural sense for me.
He also worked as a brick layer's helper and helped put down the new turf at Cessna Stadium prior to his senior season while working to gain up to his playing weight of 240 pounds.
A defensive tackle as a sophomore and senior, and a linebacker as a junior, he also knocked down 14 passes.
He was named a MVC Player of the Week five times in his career, including his very first varsity game against Utah State when he had 10 unassisted tackles, including four for loss of yardage.
He started every game for three seasons, including his junior season at middle linebacker. The late Coach Ben Wilson called him the “most underrated player in college football… he could play and start for anybody.”
But the best compliment came from the competition, Arkansas Head Coach Frank Broyles, who said after Duncan took part in 20 tackles against the Razorbacks in 1969, “ I don't believe we have met a finer player at his position this year. He was outstanding. I can't remember seeing a player at his position, what we call the two-technique, all over the field like he was. Sometimes a linebacker will be all over the field, but never one from Duncan's position.”
Arkansas tailback, Bill Burnett, who was the leading scorer in the Southwest Conference the year before, said, “If they had 10 more like that number 75, we would have been up the creek.”
A Little Rock reporter said during the game, it was reported, “How many 75s do they have? He is all over the field.”
In addition to credit for 20 tackles, 13 assisted and eight unassisted, he had two tackles for 11- and five-yard losses and two pass deflections against the Razorbacks. And that was just in one game.
His file in the Wichita State Media Relations office is filled with press clippings of many double-digit tackle efforts.
It took more than a year for Shocker fans to realize just how good Duncan was. Signing with Wichita State in the Spring of 1966, he broke his shoulder later that summer playing a touch football game, and spent his freshman season sidelined, at times acting as the team's ball boy, according to a release from 1968.
After the injury he became a permanent fixture since the first day of practice his sophomore year.
An offensive and defensive tackle for John Marshall High School in Oklahoma City, Okla., Duncan made the all-city, all-conference and all-district teams after a standout high school senior season under coach John Kyle.
Although standing 6-foot-2, Lynn weighed only 200 pounds, out of high school. Major schools interested in Duncan were Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Colorado State, Kansas, Tulsa and UTEP.
Duncan attributed Wichita State's interest in him since his junior season of high school, as well as Wichita's proximity to his hometown as reasons he chose the school.
“After college I signed with the Chicago Bears and made it part of the season before injuries caught up to me,” Duncan said. “The NFL wasn't as glamorous as it is now… we drank water out of a hose, and didn't have Gatorade to drink out of a bottle. We had some pretty rough coaches… It wasn't the fun I had in college. Playing at Wichita State was fun. It was fun to play without all the pressure.
*Lynn Duncan currently lives in Oklahoma City with his wife of 12 years, Kimberley. He has three daughters, Amy (a 1996 Miss Oklahoma) and Maggie of Houston, and Mindy of Blanchard, Okla. He also has nine grandchildren. After pro football, he worked in the auto business and currently works in Oil and Gas Marketing and Production.
