Dead Board Blues? Help a Brother Out With High School Football....

[freeper]

Since it is the dead season around these parts, it seems the perfect time to ask The Dungeon if y'all would be inclined to help me out with some research topics I've been toying with. Some of you know that I am a history professor in SE Texas. My research interest regards high school football experiences both on and off the field. So who would be willing to provide me with some basic information such as whether and where you played, when you played, what factors drove you to play, what was the community support like? Did you play other sports as well and which ones?

My research is going to be relative to the Civil War Experience in shaping sports culture in the South. This board seems as good a place as any to start gathering data. So who would be interested in helping a brother out?

 

[clob94]

You need to start your research with one district. Back in the day it was District 4 5A.
If you look at the original members-- going back to the 1930s-40s or so- it was Odessa, Permian, Midland, Midland Lee, San Angelo Central, Abilene and Big Spring--- I think there may have been one more in there.
But if you look at the 2 teams that played in the state title game going back-- there was about a 40 year period in there where a team FROM that district seemed to make it almost every damn year.
I don't remember all the historical details as I researched this back in the late 80s while I was still a kid. But I remember thinking "fvck-- that must have been a tough ass district to play in" because it seemed like every year one of the teams from that district was playing for the title.

 

[Etlonghorn]

You need to start your research with one district. Back in the day it was District 4 5A.
If you look at the original members-- going back to the 1930s-40s or so- it was Odessa, Permian, Midland, Midland Lee, San Angelo Central, Abilene and Big Spring--- I think there may have been one more in there.
But if you look at the 2 teams that played in the state title game going back-- there was about a 40 year period in there where a team FROM that district seemed to make it almost every damn year.
I don't remember all the historical details as I researched this back in the late 80s while I was still a kid. But I remember thinking "fvck-- that must have been a tough ass district to play in" because it seemed like every year one of the teams from that district was playing for the title.

Add in the fact that up until the mid 80s, they only took the district champ to the playoffs. There were some DAMN GOOD teams that sat home every year.

 

[westx]

In my small town of Booker, the elementary, junior high and high school all shared one long building. We began playing on the play ground just like everybody else, but we began playing officially in 5th and 6th grade in full pads with one home game and one away game against Wheeler TX. They were a powerhouse. My town usually had a little less than 100 high school enrollment. It was pretty much a given that 95% of the boys will play on the football team. Similarly, all males were in FFA and all girls were in Home Ec. (Once in a blue moon, a girl would be in FFA). Most of us played offense/defense and special teams, in other words, most of us rarely came off the field. We wore the white addidas cleats and coaches wore spot-bilts.

Nothing really drove us to play. It was almost not a decision at all because it just seemed automatic that we all will play. It was either one or none of the boys out of each class that held out. Community support was awesome. Our town traveled well to the away games. 5 preseason games and 5 district games. I was in HS 1981-1985

 

[oldhorn2]

Look at the history of Ken Hall..
..set records that took almost 50 years to break.

What makes him interesting was that Bear Bryant could not figure out how to use him in college....Bear even went on to say it was his greatest failure as a coach

 

[2300 Nueces]

Aledo. Teams were almost 100% white until 1992. Blacks for football were integrated... the rest is history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aledo_High_School_(Texas)

 

[hillcountryhorn63697005]

In my small town of Booker, the elementary, junior high and high school all shared one long building. We began playing on the play ground just like everybody else, but we began playing officially in 5th and 6th grade in full pads with one home game and one away game against Wheeler TX. They were a powerhouse. My town usually had a little less than 100 high school enrollment. It was pretty much a given that 95% of the boys will play on the football team. Similarly, all males were in FFA and all girls were in Home Ec. (Once in a blue moon, a girl would be in FFA). Most of us played offense/defense and special teams, in other words, most of us rarely came off the field. We wore the white addidas cleats and coaches wore spot-bilts.

Nothing really drove us to play. It was almost not a decision at all because it just seemed automatic that we all will play. It was either one or none of the boys out of each class that held out. Community support was awesome. Our town traveled well to the away games. 5 preseason games and 5 district games. I was in HS 1981-1985

I coached at Higgins, 77-78. Missed you by just a few years, but we played Booker (one of the last years of Higgins being 11 man).When we played Wheeler, one of our players said, "The boys in Wheeler's band are bigger than us!" I knew (and it was) going to be a long night. After we got thumped by Miami in Miami, we had to take a player to their local doctor to get his chin stitched up. While we were there, the tornado sirens went off, so we booked it back to Miami HS...where they were having their homecoming dance. Our guys didn't have much fun....

I loved the Panhandle and it's people.

 

[ElDiabloTejano]

In my small town of Booker, the elementary, junior high and high school all shared one long building. We began playing on the play ground just like everybody else, but we began playing officially in 5th and 6th grade in full pads with one home game and one away game against Wheeler TX. They were a powerhouse. My town usually had a little less than 100 high school enrollment. It was pretty much a given that 95% of the boys will play on the football team. Similarly, all males were in FFA and all girls were in Home Ec. (Once in a blue moon, a girl would be in FFA). Most of us played offense/defense and special teams, in other words, most of us rarely came off the field. We wore the white addidas cleats and coaches wore spot-bilts.

Nothing really drove us to play. It was almost not a decision at all because it just seemed automatic that we all will play. It was either one or none of the boys out of each class that held out. Community support was awesome. Our town traveled well to the away games. 5 preseason games and 5 district games. I was in HS 1981-1985

shiner is still like that. i think it grounds the older kids, and the younger kids see their heroes in the halls every day and helps feed their desire to be in their shoes one day. you want overkill of culture... it's shiner.

 

[ElDiabloTejano]

Add in the fact that up until the mid 80s, they only took the district champ to the playoffs. There were some DAMN GOOD teams that sat home every year.

one year, abilene cooper was #1 in the nation and got left out of the playoffs. it may have been a jack mildren team. they tied odessa permian (or may have lost by 1), and permian advanced and cooper stayed home.

my uncle is gordon wood, and he won 9 state titles but he said his best team might have a team that missed the playoffs because they played in a monsoon and either lost a close or tied and lost on penetrations, and got left out.

 

[clob94]

one year, abilene cooper was #1 in the nation and got left out of the playoffs. it may have been a jack mildren team. they tied odessa permian (or may have lost by 1), and permian advanced and cooper stayed home.

my uncle is gordon wood, and he won 9 state titles but he said his best team might have a team that missed the playoffs because they played in a monsoon and either lost a close or tied and lost on penetrations, and got left out.

Your uncle is Gordon Wood?

GTFO. Seriously?

 

[ElDiabloTejano]

Yeah

 

[Oldmanastro]

Your uncle is Gordon Wood?

GTFO. Seriously?

Dudes a legend of high school football coaches. If there’s a HOF of high school coaches, he would be at the top.

 

[ElDiabloTejano]

Absolutely. Basically invented off-season in Texas high schools. Brought weight training, hydration, mat drills, etc. Darrel royal says his idea of flipping the offensive line win the 63 national championship.

He was at Thanksgiving when I was 4 or 5, and I was already wired for athletics and they could tell. He came in and they said "you know what uncle babe (he hated that outside of family) does for a living?... he's a football coach!" I said "what's his real job?" It didn't register to me that you could get paid for something that seemed like fun. Little did I know.