Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming

LARAMIE -- It's officially "series season."

This summer, with the help of some longtime Wyoming football followers, we will count down the Top 25 homegrown products in program history.

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As always, what these guys did in professional football doesn't matter. This is all about production in Laramie. A couple of the guys on this final list may not have been born here, but they grew up in Wyoming and graduated from an in-state high school.

Once we put a bow on these selections, we'll move on to other states like Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, etc. You get the picture:

Jim House lettered for the Cowboys in all his three seasons in Laramie and was named All-Western Athletic Conference after his junior and senior seasons./ UW courtesy photo

No. 2 - Jim House

Linebacker, 1966-68, Laramie, Wyo.

Résumé in Laramie

Jim House was a two-time All-Western Athletic Conference selection and earned honorable mention All-American honors during his senior campaign. As a junior, this fierce linebacker from Laramie helped lead the Cowboys to a 10-0 regular-season record and a berth in the Sugar Bowl. In that narrow loss to the LSU Tigers, House tallied a team-high 11 tackles in muddy New Orleans. House and the Pokes’ defense held LSU to just 33 rushing yards and a single first down in the first half. That included zero points on the scoreboard and five passing yards from LSU quarterback Nelson Stokley. House capped his UW career with a 27-5 overall record, including a 28-20 victory over Florida State in the 1966 Sun Bowl. He was a member of three WAC championship squads. In 1968, House and the Cowboys also knocked off Border War rival Colorado State, hoisting the Bronze Boot for the first time in the series. House went on to become a college coach, spending 12 years at UW before stints at Montana State, San Jose State, San Diego State, Sacramento State and the University of Nevada. In 2013, House was inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame.

About Laramie

Home of the University of Wyoming, Laramie is home to more than 31,000 residents, making it the fourth-largest city in the state. The Gem City is nestled between the Snowy and Laramie Range and its elevation exceeds 7,200 feet above sea level. Laramie is roughly 50 miles west of Cheyenne on Interstate-80 and 25 miles north of the Colorado state line.

Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming series

* No. 25

* No. 24

* No. 23

* No. 22

* No. 21

* No. 20

* No. 19

* No. 18

* No. 17

* No. 16

* No. 15

(Cody Tucker and Jared Newland both work for Townsquare Media, which owns 7220sports.com. Kevin McKinney has been a color commentator of Cowboy football for five decades. Ryan Thorburn now works for the University of Wyoming in a sports information role after spending decades in the newspaper industry, most recently at the Casper Star-Tribune. Sally Ann Shurmur, the daughter of former UW football coach Fritz Shurmur, is also a veteran of the newspaper industry, working as a journalist, columnist at the CST for 43 years. She currently writes for Cowboy State Daily.)

University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players

During the summer of 2021, 7220Sports.com counted down the Top 50 football players in University of Wyoming history, presented by Premier Bone & Joint Centers, Worthy of Wyoming.

The rules are simple: What was the player's impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.

This isn't a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220's Cody Tucker are Robert Gagliardi, Jared Newland, Ryan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.

We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS -- only we hope this catalog is fairer.

Don't agree with a selection? Feel free to sound off on our Twitter: @7220sports - #Top50UWFB

Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players