SCHOOL
YEARS
HIGH
High school was mostly a pleasant experience. There were ups and downs I'm sure, but I can only remember the good times now. Luckily, I was still pretty good in sports and that gave me confidence that carried over into other things. I was a pretty versatile guy. Oddly enough one of my favorite past times was typing. My mom taught me how to type. She showed me the correct way with proper finger positioning and I was off and running! I wrote lots of short stories, poems (ack!), and even typed up all the songs I had written up to that point. I also typed up a book I had written back in the eighth grade that was called My Girlfriend the Quarterback. I mentioned this little book on another page on this website. Once, I even wrote up a little newspaper that my brother, Mike, took with him to Jr. High and sold. The principal at the Junior High, Joe Tyson, put an end to that quickly after the second issue. The stuff I was writing in the little paper was sort of tacky. It was sort of written in the MAD MAGAZINE style. Lots of satire and just plain poking fun at people. God, I loved Mad Magazine.
My family moved to a nice brick house on Bankhead Drive about this time. My stepdad began making a little more money so they decided buy a house rather than renting as we had been doing. It was a nice house and it was home for many years to come. In fact, I considered it home until my mom passed away in '93. We had lots of good times in that house. There was a creek within walking distance of the house and we spent lots of hours exploring it. Kids in the neighborhood that I remember include Craig Johnson, Kenneth Bailey, Jerry Haggerton, Cheryl and Brian Williams, Norman Edwards and his brothers, Herbert and Nathan, and there were other people.......... Mike Barnard??? ........ the Scott's lived right down the road (Bankhead Drive).......... Mike Wiggington lived close........ and, there are others I can't recall.
My freshman year was a little scary sometimes. First of all my class was the youngest in high school. And, most of the seniors really looked down on us. I remember the third day of high school I almost got in a fight with a senior. I was walking down the stairs between classes and accidentally bumped into this guy. He dropped his books on the floor. I thought, no problem, so I helped him pick up his books and apologized. I turned and walked away. I had taken about three steps when I heard him call me a punk freshman. He then hit me as hard as he could right on the top part of my back. It hurt like heck but I had already made up my mind that I wasn't going to fight him, so I just kept walking. I never broke stride. I saw him often after that and he never said a word or made eye contact with me. I was in pretty good shape back in those days and he probably thought I never even felt his hit. I did.
The football team was really good my freshman year. I'm not sure why but I suddenly wasn't the quarterback anymore after starting for four years in a row at that position. Paul Dowd became the quarterback and I was the starting wide receiver. I also started in the secondary on defense. I have to admit it was a lot easier to sleep at night not having to play quarterback. It's a very difficult position. The best players on the team were people like Joe Brown, Jessie Gilley, Bill Robinson, and David Rogers.
Barney Shackleford, Paul Escobedo and Bill Miller were good, too. We only lost one game that year and that was against Brownwood. I personally had a pretty good game against them. I caught several passes and even burned their speedy defensive back, Richard Riggins, a couple of times.
In track that year I was the only freshman to travel with the varsity. I also participated on the Freshman track team as well. I only participated in the pole vault event with the varsity team, but I ran the sprints, relays, broad jumped, and pole vaulted on the Freshman team. The last I heard I still held the Freshman pole vault record at 11 ft. 0 inches. Jessie Cantu and Bobbie Williams were upper classmen who taught me to pole vault. It's a very dangerous. I would not recommend pole vaulting to anyone. You can't predict with a hundred per cent accuracy where you are going to be thrown when the pole unbends.
My sophomore year was pretty special. In football, only four or five of us sophomores were chosen to be on the varsity. That was an honor, but the team was really bad. A new coach, Harold Barrett, had just arrived and ran an extremely disciplined program. I think the Weatherford players were spoiled by easier coaches in the past. Several players quit when they saw that football wasn't just a game to Coach Barrett. I began the season as the backup quarterback, but I was starting on defense by season's end. The one highlight for me on the year was when I intercepted a pass in the zone. I was covering an all-state tight end from Iowa Park. I just happened to be in perfect position on the play and it kept them from scoring. One thing that helped me out being a sophomore on the varsity was the rigorous practices I had to endure. Being a sophomore and expendable, I was chosen to be the quarterback on the practice squad. This meant that each week it was my job to run the opposing teams' offensive plays against our first team defense. This is how I developed a knack to run with the football. Actually, I did it as a matter of survival. I was tackled and hit hard constantly during those drills. But, it made me tough and I developed a pretty good ability to find holes as they opened. I often scored against the first team defense just out of sheer determination and fear. It was a pretty hostile environment. To close, it was a poor season at best, but there were some standouts. Brooks Worthington was the workhorse on the offense. On defense I recall Gerald Brunson being really good. Brad Stroud, our first string quarterback, was really talented, too.
Being a sophomore was much easier than being a freshman. I hung out with Paul Escobedo, Jerry Fuller, and Paul Burnett mostly. I was a pretty popular kid and I was involved in lots of activities at school and at church. I was spending lots of time playing my guitar and writing songs. I didn't care much for the news and rarely watched it, but I do remember it was about this time we learned that U.S. troops were going to start pulling out of Vietnam. I was happy about that, knowing that the draft might soon be over. But, I would have gone to war if needed. The way I was raised I saw no other option. I did have to register for the draft when I turned eighteen, but the draft itself was over.
My Junior Year.......was a lot of fun. It was my first year to start on a football team as a running back instead of at quarterback. The stress of being quarterback was gone. I did very well in 1972 season and received quite a few awards and honors. I was quick but small standing 5'7" and weighing only 155 lbs. I had been timed earlier in the summer in Merkel at 4.5 seconds in the forty yard dash. That season I averaged just over 200 yards rushing per game. I played nine games (I was hurt one game) and had a little over 1800 yards rushing. I also started at cornerback on defense and ran back kickoffs and punts. I was a busy fellow during the games. I remember "relaxing"
sometimes on defense so I'd have enough energy to run with the ball when we got back on offense. Games were really exciting and the crowds were really behind us. Pep rallies were spectacular! Our cheerleaders were great. I do remember how hard practice was. Coach Barrett believed in conditioning so there were lots of windsprints after each practice. I don't know how we survived those practices. That was back when you were given handfuls of salt tablets to keep dehyrdation at bay. Practices were so hard that the games were usually pretty easy in comparison. We were all in great shape. Some of the "stars" on the team were: Brad Stroud (QB), Mike Patterson (FB), Steve Jenkins, David Rogers and Barney Shackelford. Derrell Harris should also be mentioned here as a running back whose blocking helped Stroud and I get so many yards.
Track Season was fun and I had success. I ran the hundred yard dash, the 220 yard dash, ran on the sprint relay, broadjumped and pole vaulted. I won lots of medals and I was the high-point scorer at several track meets that year. I went to the Regionals in Pole Vault and in the Sprint Relay. I still, after all these years, have most of the medals and trophies that I won way back then. Brad Stroud was about the fastest guy on the team at short distances. John Walker was about the best at the longer distances. Mike Wiggington was exceptional at throwing the shot put. Marian Howard and Randall Ames were both showing lots of promise as long distance runners. Chuck Moughon was getting decent on the hurdles.
This is me running for daylight in a varsity game my Junior year.
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