This former Red Raider has fond memories of his days on campus and has enjoyed following this year’s Big 12 Conference champs.

The red vest testifies to a claim only one person can make: “Texas Tech’s oldest living quarterback.”

As you might suspect, Buster “B.J.” Melton has watched some football through the years, and he was among the happy Red Raider faithful when the team wrapped up its first conference championship since 1955 with a convincing win over Brigham Young University in the Big 12 title game.

“Watching that game made me wonder just how good they are,” he said.

The answer to that question should reveal itself over the next few weeks as the No. 4-ranked Red Raiders make their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. Texas Tech will face No. 5 Oregon at 11 a.m. Jan. 1 in a CFP quarterfinal at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

No doubt, the game has changed in recent years, but that’s hardly a surprise to Buster, who celebrated his 100th birthday in October. He has seen a lot of change in his century on the planet.

“I just take every day as it comes,” he said of his secret to a long life. “That’s all any of us can do. I’ve lived a plain life, and I have lived a Christian life, and I think that’s what’s kept me going.”

He was just 16 years old when he graduated from Merkel (a community about 20 miles west of Abilene) in 1942 and enrolled at Texas Tech. His college experience, like that of many young men his age, was interrupted by military service in World War II. 

Buster spent the better part of 20 months at officer training school at Tulane University and Great Lakes Naval training station, although, oddly enough, he said he never set foot on a boat.

He returned after his military service and, thanks to a scholarship from Texas Tech, completed an electrical engineering degree. Along the way, he served as president of the West Hall dormitory (the athletes’ residence hall at the time) and was elected president of the sophomore class.

And he played a little football for the Red Raiders, primarily as a quarterback. Texas Tech, not yet 20 years old and weathering the impacts of a war-related enrollment decline, was smaller and still growing into its identity as an institution of higher education.

“There were about 3,000 students then,” Buster said, referring to when he first arrived on campus. “And you felt like you knew all of them. It was just a friendly place.”

Having grown up during the Great Depression, Buster considered himself lucky to attend Texas Tech. His family didn’t have the means to put their son through college.

“My dad had a grocery store, and we were so poor, we lived in the back of the store,” he recalled. “We didn’t have a house. Those were tough times then, but we didn’t know any better. That was all we saw, but I was very fortunate that Texas Tech offered me a scholarship so I could get my degree.”

During his first year at Texas Tech, Buster said his roommate was Walter Schlinkman, who was the Red Raiders’ first prolific running back and later went on to a pro football career.

Buster still remembers the day he got in trouble with Red Raider head coach Dell Morgan for calling a pass play when the team was supposed to punt. By the way, that play became something of a turning point in his career.

“I am famous really for two things,” Buster said. “Being the oldest ex-quarterback – and a fourth-down pass.”

That play occurred during the second game of the 1946 season, when the Red Raiders squared off against Texas A&M at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio. The game was scoreless as each defense kept the other in check.

Conventional thinking at the time held that if a team didn’t get inside the opponent’s 40-yard line and was facing fourth down, it was time to punt and play for field position. Players typically saw action on both offense and defense in those days with some quarterbacks even taking on punting and kicking duties at times.

The Red Raiders were facing fourth-and-6 near the Aggies’ 40 when Melton had noticed A&M’s linebackers playing farther off the line of scrimmage than usual. It seemed like the perfect time to surprise the Aggies by not punting, throwing a pass and changing the game’s momentum.

“I told them in the huddle, ‘It’s got to work,’” Buster said. “So, I called the play and threw the pass, and he dropped it.”

Buster recalled returning to the sideline and being greeted by a furious Morgan. He would have kept Buster on the bench, but an assistant coach interceded, and Melton ultimately helped the Red Raiders claim a 6-0 victory as part of what would be a successful eight-win season.

“On the bus going back to the hotel, Coach Morgan couldn’t forget that fourth-down play,” Buster said. “He was ranting about it at the front of the bus – even though I was all the way in the back, and even the next week, he still hadn’t forgotten about it.”

It wound up being a short season for Buster. In addition to that play, he routinely arrived at practice late because of required labs for his engineering classes. 

Then, there was the day he was playing defense during a practice and took a sharp knee in the back while making a tackle.

“That kind of paralyzed me for a little bit, and I didn’t get up,” he said. “Coach yelled, ‘Melton, get up and get off the field! I did. I got up. I walked straight to the dressing room, turned in my uniform and that was that.”

A year later, football forever in the rear-view mirror, he put the final touches on earning a degree. Fortunately, his benefits from the G.I. Bill helped offset college expenses.

“I missed playing football,” he said. “But I went to school to get an education so I could make a living for myself.”

Buster spent the bulk of his career working for a company that eventually became part of what is now TXU. 

“I spent 34 years with them and had a good life,” he said.

Two years after graduating from Texas Tech, Buster got married. He and Nancy were together 46 years and had three children before he lost her to cancer.

“Then I married my high school sweetheart, and we had a 23-year honeymoon,” he said with a smile, explaining he and his second wife Clarene had reconnected in the aftermath of seeing each other at their 50th reunion.

Buster has been a lifelong Red Raider football fan. His favorite quarterback through the years is Patrick Mahomes, and Buster has closely followed this year’s team, one of the most successful in school history. 

He said he has noticed a lot of changes since his playing days, but one thing has really stood out.

“There’s a lot more fourth-down plays,” he said with a grin.

Turns out maybe Buster was ahead of his time.