Daughter Editor noticed KETK, East Texas TV station, conjured The Best High Mascots in Texas and that we had blogged about Mascots over a year ago. If I had a patent on that subject, would have sued. But Chris Barbee in El Campo had already noted his ‘Fighting Rice Birds’ bore that unique name. When you view the KETK list of Unique Mascots in Texas, my Hamlin ‘Pied Pipers’ comes in seventh. I played trumpet
Category: Sports
Mascots
Daughter Editor noticed KETK, East Texas TV station, conjured The Best High Mascots in Texas and that we had blogged about Mascots over a year ago. If I had a patent on that subject, would have sued. But Chris Barbee in El Campo had already noted his ‘Fighting Rice Birds’ bore that unique name. When you view the KETK list of Unique Mascots in Texas, my Hamlin ‘Pied Pipers’ comes in seventh. I played trumpet
Mascots
Daughter Editor noticed KETK, East Texas TV station, conjured The Best High Mascots in Texas and that we had blogged about Mascots over a year ago. If I had a patent on that subject, would have sued. But Chris Barbee in El Campo had already noted his ‘Fighting Rice Birds’ bore that unique name. When you view the KETK list of Unique Mascots in Texas, my Hamlin ‘Pied Pipers’ comes in seventh. I played trumpet
Doing-well student
Enjoy watching the four commentators between March Madness Basketball games. Kenny Smith, sitting with two analysts to his right, took a summer college course from this old professor. Kenny also played basketball at Chapel Hill. Coach Dean Smith recruited him from New York. Kenny played guard. Called plays. Was one of his best, Dean told me. Course was a survey of sports broadcasting. Fun part, each student demonstrated an on-air technique. Kenny read a commentary.
Conjuration
Peanuts and Crackerjacks fans are fretting because the baseball moguls can’t get the major-league game started this month. Not to worry. I know an ‘Old Scotchman’ solution. His name was Gordon McClendon. He operated an Oak Cliff radio station. Oak Cliff exists between a one-time flooded Monkey Ward building in Fort Worth and Neiman Markup in Big-D Dallas. Over the air the Old Scotchman recreated his announcement of games by conjuring up baseball diamond descriptions. All
Curling
Winter Olympics over, members of the family voted for favorite events. The daughters chose figure skating, no surprise. But this Dad’s last choice. My remembrance of my one jump and spin was horizontal instead of vertical. I still feel the first—and last—time I tried to skate on ice. Makes my tailbone ache. Skiing also made my tailbone hurt, plus I had to scrape lots of snow off my rump. That ski and shoot event looked
Ask Sammy
We old, and new, sportswriters coin clichés, forecast future outcomes, and glorify gladiators. So when All-American, All National Football League quarterback ‘Slinging’ Sammy Baugh retired (1950s) from quarter-backing the Washington Redskins, moved to his ranch in the county west of Abilene, agreed to coach the Hardin-Simmons University Cowboys football team, and was going to speak at the Kiwanis Club luncheon, we couldn’t tell you the news in a short paragraph. But Sammy didn’t deliver a
Sumo Wrestling
Son Kelson and I watched sumo wrestlers on TV at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Before the hefty Japanese men tried to push each other out of the ring the night before in Tokyo. You could do that impossible feat in 1975… if you lived in Honolulu, watched film flown in from Tokyo, and finished your day studying and teaching at the University of Hawaii. International Dateline lies just west of Hawaii. Afternoon in Honolulu
Mornings with Morrow
Olympic Gold Medal winner Bobby Morrow, who died this week at age 84, and I met after he returned from Melbourne Australia. The Abilene Christian College, now University, sprinter had won three gold medals and his 400-meter relay team set a world record. Sports Illustrated named him 1956 ‘Sportsman of the Year.’ We ‘howdied’ a couple mornings each week before we both worked out at Phil Kendrick’s Abilene gymnasium. I was Mister Elam, eleven years older.
Recruiting Earl Campbell
If you watched the recent National Football League draft of college stars, and you were a Texas fan, you waited three rounds to see a Longhorn drafted. Didn’t have to wait but just a few minutes to see Earl Campbell drafted. Back in the 1970s…before Earl was All-American, then All-NFL running back, then voted the seventh best college player of all time, Associate Dean Richard Elam helped recruit Earl…well, sorta. First heard of Earl, a