During his senior year Curtis' father moved to Taylor but allowed him to remain at Gainesville in a garage apartment to keep his eligibility.
In the 1957 Cotton Bowl, Curtis threw two touchdown passes and ran for another TD to lead the Horned Frogs to a 28–27 win over Syracuse and standout running back Jim Brown.
Garnering All-Southwest Conference honors in 1955 and 1956, Curtis was selected 85th overall by the defending champions, the New York Giants, in the 1957 NFL draft.
In New York, Curtis was the backup quarterback for Charley Conerly, but did not see any action during the 1957 NFL season, yet as an aspiring coach it worked to his advantage.
Both Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry were assistants on the Giants staff, and their system, he soon realized, far surpassed anything he had seen in four years at TCU.
[3] He also joined, at that time, Waco's Paul Tyson, Amarillo's Blair Cherry and Abilene's Chuck Moser as the only coaches to win three consecutive state crowns.
[citation needed] In 1979 Curtis briefly returned to Jacksboro, before taking over head coaching duties at Cleburne High School in 1981.