First off, I don't know "jack" about football.  But I do embrace legend ....and like the newspaperman in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" said...."when the legend becomes fact, print the legend".   For the real story...the Mac  Football team of 1966 has to weigh in...or at least ...our Class of 69 understudies do.   Recently Ken Pearce and Stan Shipley shared with me an interview done in recent years with former Mac Head Football Coach Bill Fox who is now in his 70s or 80s.  He said out of all the games he ever coached..... he is haunted by one particular game...the state championship game  played in Austin in 1966 when Mac nearly won it all. The old coach spoke poignantly about how he has replayed that game in his head again and again...reviewing his decisions....rewinding fate....trying to give those brave boys one more shot at immortality.  In his final years he still carries the weight of those decisions and that day.  I remember that season through my senses...  the cool temperature of the night games, the smell of wood smoke in the air, the stadium still out in the "boonies".  And today when I smell wood smoke on a cool fall night in south Texas it snaps my head right back to those "Friday Night Lights".  The perky cheerleaders in tight sweaters, up close and personal with us in front of the grandstands...leading the charge.  At halftime fruitlessly trying to hustle agreeable girls under the bleachers (I wish I could remember her name).  The pep rallys at the school auditorium where the team marched out in single file like young gladiators to a frenzy of teenage cheers. Their names even made good copy...."Rocky Self" ...."Dutch Riefler"...."Barney Harris"...and more I can't recall.  These guys lived up to their press.  Even if you didn't like football you stood there amazed watching a fireplug like "Dutch" plow through enemy lines.  My dad was a Fighter Pilot and could care less about football..but he loved "Dutch" Riefler..."I like the way he carries himself" my Dad would say.  (Ironically Dutch himself would later become a F-117A Fighter Pilot and die in an aircraft accident in 1984)  I remember Coach Fox had special words for various members of that team...how he foresaw their potential and used them in unexpected ways.  Whatever forces of fate were at play ...that turned that final game...it all came together that season for a legendary team .....and despite that heartbreaking loss... they gained an afterlife in the memories of those who were there.

Roger, I felt like I was reading an article out of the sports section of the San Antonio Express News from a special guest columnist.  That was one excellent job of describing that special season, particularly from your partisan, non-football  point of view.  Your senses were very much alive and well. 

I suppose you convinced me that those guys were like our own young gladiators since they really were placing themselves in harm's way of always being just one play away from a broken bone, torn ACL, or a concussion, etc.  But none-the- less, in order to keep things on a level playing field, I feel the need to share with my fellow Brahmas, the constant risks associated with being on a very competitive swim team.  We swimmers had to endure that initial shock of jumping in a very cold pool, very early in the winter morning.  Back in the day pool heaters had not been invented yet, and just in case they had been, they always didn't work so well.  Then there was the battle to fight off dry itchey skin, green hair, and red eyes (caused by the chlorine-not those other things).  Goggles hadn't been invented yet either; and if they had been, we all were too macho to wear them - not like the sissy swimmers of today.  So there.  Well, maybe that doesn't sound so convincing after all.  Court, you go ahead and finish what I'm talking about. 

I love football.  I always have.  Thank you team for all those "Friday Night Lights" evenings out in the "boonies".

I'll tell you one thing I missed by playing football: all the half time shows! While playing varsity football, the team was always in the locker room at halftime, so we didn't get to see the Bairns clapping in the stands; the Lassies marching on the field;  the Brahmadoras in their short-shorts, strutting their stuff;  the Spirit Jug handlers; the presentations; the baton twirlers and the flag carriers; or the precision movements and music by the band. I really missed out by not seeing and hearing all of that!

I don't have much time to reply to the above, so quickly may I please add my two cents worth....

First, the 66 team was in the quarter of semi-finals and not the state finals, but still it was a first for MAC, the following season with so much promise and with many returning stars like Mike Bunger, Rick Oberlies and Al Hook the Brahmas in 1967-8 were ranked Numero Uno in State by Texas Football magazine. We lost our first game in a blowout to Victoria and shattered all our confidence. We started our climb back with seven victories, but lost to Alamo Heights, a bitter rival. Then in a district championship showdown, we had an extra point blocked by Greg Dahlberg of Lee, and later UT fame, and lost, end of season, end of era

Prior the next season 68-69 Joe Bill Fox accepts a promotion to Athletic Directorship at NE and the school names Bobby jack Price as the new head coach but during the summer he dies of a heart attack (by the way, I think under the circumstances we should have the body exumed and reexamined for any possible foul play), and thus Vernon McManus is born as coach of the MacArthur Brahmas of 1969... I have to go now and will finish my story later...

Thanks for the kind words Bren, though some might not agree.  Robert Rivard did tell me once that I "spin a pretty good tale" then set about downsizing his reporting staff by about 25%....there went my shot at a "cup of coffee"

Thanks Gary for weighing in.  I knew you would... and set me straight...that was part of the plan.   Actually, even though I was intoxicated on Sloe Gin at the game, I did know it was not the final, final game....but recall people referring to it as "going to state" ....but I should have said it correctly as you did.  Al Hook was the name I could not recall and I believe a name Coach Fox singled out saying something, I think, about him being a track star and redirecting his energy to football as he saw great potential there.

I do remember reading retrospectives of that season occassionally in the SA Express-News over the years. I always enjoyed reading them.

On a slightly different tangent Roger, I had the privilege of going to A& M and playing on the team with a few of those guys from the "championship team". Rocky Self, Mike Bunger and Rick Oberlies (perhaps the best pure athlete of the bunch). Rocky ended up a transfer to Southeast Louisiana State and did pretty well I think, and Bunger played four years and started at defensive back some for the Aggies.  Rick was lost to a heart attack in just a few years. 

Roger, you are a gifted writer, and I appreciate reading your memories within a different clique of classmates, and I mean that sincerely. It allows me to go back in time and think of how much differently I could have related to other personalities. I was fortunate later in high school and as a freshman in college to get to know Fritz Knutz, Bob McWhorter, Mark Karpel and some others who were not within my "social" circle...so, anyway, I look forward with relish to your next entry...

Gary..thanks for the kind words.  I really am a mediocre writer and I know it.  I'm just having fun and try to  "first do no harm" in my musings.  I stand in awe of you guys who could deliver the goods on the field and survive the "Bear Bryants" out there in yesteryear. 

P.S. I do recall a funny incident in the Garner Locker Room with Eddie Bunger around 8th grade...where his unusual physical reaction "garnered" raucous laughter from the entire open bay lockerroom.  I remember Tommy Fowler was present.  Unfortunately, I cannot divulge the particulars of this humorous event as this is a family forum. 

Bren..while were talking about champions and glory days I feel compelled to reveal something I suspect most Brahmas don't know.  Your Mac Swim Team partner, Court Thielman, was the runnerup Breast Stroke (watch it boys) Champion for the State of Texas when he was 12 years of age.  He never told me this...but I remember it like it was yesterday.  His Mom showed me the news clippings one day when Court was upstairs getting ready for a Paragon's Concert.  How was I to know my lead guitarist was Johnny Weismueller reincarnated?

i want to finish my story that I began this morning about the Team I played on as a senior...

so, we followed a highly touted, but arguably underacheiving bunch, and in 68, our Senior season, we were rightfully not projected to finish in the top half of our district.

The team the '69 seniors followed was laden with seniors, and that does not bode well for your next team because no one plays and gets game experience. On top of that the successful head coach, Joe Bill leaves for greener pastures, his handpicked replacement dies in the preaseason and we end up with a really young coach with questionable mental imbalance (sorry Coach McManus if you are reading this-no one give out my address please).

To add to that we are to open against the number one ranked Temple Wildcats, whose star quarterback, Brad Dusek is on the cover of Texas Football magazine (footnote- I played with Dusek at A&M, he started at quarterback, but later switched to running back and then even later to defensive back, was drafted by the Washington Redskins and played 8-10 years as a linebacker-tells you what kind of athlete he was. What I remember most about him though was he took stuff from my room, and he cheated at cards).

McManus pushed us beyond our limits physically and mentally. I can remember doing hundreds of situps, all the while chanting "beat Dusek!" at the insistence of McManus. Not "beat Temple" or "go Brahmas", but "beat Dusek!". McManus had us as rabid as he was by game day and in a torrential rain storm at northeast stadium, we pulled off maybe the biggest upset in MacArthur history.

To prove that wasn't a fluke we won our next three as well and sat 4-0 almost midway through our season. I think we had scored a total of about 47 points in those four games, but that was enough. Then we began to suffer a string of injuries to key players. Jim Briscoe went down with a knee injury in practice, later we lost Rick Alexander with a shoulder, a couple of Juniors that were starting, and ...we played Abilene Cooper mid season, one of the best teams in the state perenially, and got blown out. We did come back to beat our arch rivals Alamo Heights in one of our best games, considering our depleted ranks. The rest of the games we competed in, but just didn't have enough offense to win, and we finished 5-5. Not a losing season, but not what we wanted to accomplish either. I felt pride then, and do even now over our ability to withstand some really incredibly hard practices, the physical abuse by some of the coaches, and the lack of talent, game experience and depth of our team to have a break even season, that in some of our minds anyway, given a break or two (or lack thereof) could have been special.

So, I know I sound like Bruce Springsteen singing, "Glory Days", but to all of my team mates out there, including the Class of '70 ers, I say "thanks for the memories".

Gary...it's really interesting to read the "back story" of those football seasons and hear it in retrospect.  I wasn't here so I really enjoyed hearing what happened to you guys after I left SA.  High School experiences, especially athletics, have a disproportionate weight in our psyche as we plow through our adult lives.  

I only had a small taste of the maltreatment you described.  In our sophmore year I was in the JV Baseball Program competing with Mark Fetzer for Third Base.  Joe Grahm was our main pitcher....Dietz catching....Moody trying out for First Base....Coons 2nd base, ....can't recall any more names.  Anyway....I was doing reasonably well in the program and then I missed practice one day to greet my Dad at the Airport who was returning from a 1 year combat tour in Vietnam.  The unnamed (but known to most jocks on board) coach called me back into his office and questioned my absence.  He didn't blink at the reason.  He merely told me to drop all my drawers and bend over.  Stunned and in disbelief I did what he said.   Of course you know what happened next.  Black, blue and bleeding fieldhouse justice.  He capped off the experience by telling me quote "if you ever miss practice again you'd better be on your deathbed".  At the instant that he told me to take all my pants off and get naked, with a weird look on his face, I had a flash that this was somehow perverted....and that has not changed.  As the season progressed and I did more time in the Field House I saw quite a few bludgeoned butts..from all sports.......so I guess I was not singled out for sadistic treatment.  I didn't tell my Dad about it until I was 50......80 plus years old he was furious and would have kicked the coaches ass yet today (or at least used his survival knife on him).  Of course, in retrospect I should have tried to get permission in advance and I probably had it coming (by the field house standards of 1966).  Today they'd call it child abuse... bucking for child molestation.

    I too have a "fieldhouse licks" tale to tell and, like Roger's, it involves my dad.

         I was injured our senior year, in the Roosevelt game, but the injury didn't show up until the next Sat. a.m when I fell over unconscious getting out of bed. (I played no more football, only a few basketball games and no baseball for the remainder of the year and I have a photo of me standing on the football sidelines on crutches for the one football game I was able to attend after the injury--that game was against Lee).

    I made the mistake of going to the fieldhouse after the last practice before the Lee game in order to encourage the troops. McManus was doing his usual last minute pre-game hype when I walked in--on crutches, mind you. He decided it would be inspiring to give me licks in front of the guys while shouting "Beat Lee!". As I balanced on my one good leg, holding on to a crutch with one hand and the pole with the other, it was brought home to me again what a maniac he was.

    When I got home, I was limping more than usual, and my dad asked why. When I told him, he was ready to jump in the car and go after McManus, but I implored him not to do so. Now, those of you who remember my father know he was only 5' 6" or so. The confrontation might well have been a mismatch, but I have no doubt who would have won that battle. Thanks, dad, for your willingness to take on the world's biggest jerk for me.

Ken...your Dad may have been only 5 ft 6 inches but he sure stood out in a crowd.  I remember him at the basketball games at Garner...in full Air Force uniform...taking on the referees, cheering, or giving you specific guidance from the grandstand (which may have conflicted with Coach Davis').  I had an aggressive Dad too and he was always making me want to crawl under a rock when I was a kid because he would drag anybody over the coals who stood in his way.  I guess the Great Depression and World War II gave them that ferocity.   Kids today have no idea about the fire we were forged in.

Around report card time each semester the jocks had to bring in their cards to McManus. He had us all in a group surrounding the pole that Ken mentions, and he would start with the F's. Anyone who failed a course got a few licks. Then the D's, got licks. Then absences got licks, then if you made an A you got a lick for thinking you were better than your teammates, then if you laughed at anyone getting a lick, you got a lick, if you didn't laugh you got a lick...and on it went until McManus had beat everyone in the room at least once, and I don't mean easy licks. He prided himself on his ability to raise a welt the size of Kansas, and it was even better if you bled... 

If I had told my Dad what had happened, I'm pretty sure he would have just shrugged it off as part of "growing up", becoming a man. Not that my Dad was insensitive (he did bail me out of the Bexar county jail and not leave me like Stephen John's dad left him), but because that was the law of the land then. Teachers and coaches had some kind of immunity against being wrong in many parents eyes. They were the authority. I think that changed during our generation didn't it? WE began to question authority. Man, I sound kind of radical don't I. Right on. Power to the people.

Bren my boy - You forgot the part about when those of who showed up for swim practice somewhat late, and then were given "licks" with that damn paddle, all the while in a wet brief.

I remember that myself, Roy Ison, and maybe Bill Barnhill and maybe you endured that from time to time.This post is not as well written as Rog does, but as I type, I seem to feel the "stinging" on my backside...Ahhh, those were the days!

Hey Court, I don't remember the few paddle licks quite as well as I remember the numerous kickboard whacks on the head for not flipping our turns.  If you needed that extra breath of air while you grapped the side of the pool to turn, you paid for it.  Oh well, it only lasted for those last 10 x 100's out of the 30.

Hey Gary, I didn't know anything about your moving on up to bigtime Division 1 football and playing for A&M.  I remember the Aggies during a +/- 10 year span, say from the mid 70's to mid 80's, that the wrecking crew rivaled Penn State for the nickname "Linebacker U".  I looked up on the internet and saw several 1st team All-Americans back then:  Ed Simonini, Robert Jackson, and Johnny Holland, all very high NFL draft picks.  Maybe you got the ball rolling there.  I enjoy hearing about the Mac locker room stories, but I'm really starting to not like that McManus much.  What a way to make an ever lasting impression on a bunch of kids giving it their all.  Going back to the days of having lunch in the Mac cafeteria, I remember overhearing Schwind and Shipley on more than one occasion painfully admitting "that McCaffrey can hit".  Jim and Stan, you guys need to speak up and defend yourselves.

Bren-the only guy from my class at A & M ('73) to make it to the NFl was Dusek, like i mentioned. I did play in 1970 on the team with Dave Elmendorf who was a senior and who played in the NFL for LA (I thinK) for a number of years. I wasn't around when Dusek was drafted, having flunked out in the spring of '71. To my credit I got married, enrolled in SAC, got back in to A&M and graduated with a degree in Animal Science in '75, but I had to pay for the last three years myself. Big screwup.

During my brief career as a college player, I did get to play in stadiums in Baton Rouge (LSU), Columbus Ohio (OSU) and Ann Arbor MI (Univ of Mich.) my sophomore year enough to letter. Interestingly, our first game of the year was against Marshall (yes, the team that went down in the plane crash-we were playing at Ohio State, our third game, and on the bus leaving for the airport for our return trip when we got word of that disaster). For the season, we won our first two games (beat LSU on the final play of the game), but lost the next nine, including all seven conference games. Gene Stallings was the coach when I was playing, then he was replaced by Emory Bellard (of UT triple option fame), who began the turn around in Aggie football fortunes, which led to signing those players you mentioned as pro-players.

At A&M my roomate and I, and one-or two other guys became good friends, but by and large the team was nothing like high school for togetherness and freindships.

For what it's worth I thought all the swimmers were pretty radical for shaving their legs, and Court and the rest had that V-shaped bod that attracted all the good looking girls...

I suspected there was a "Lick Fest" going on at Mac.  The thing that was weird to me was the bare ass back room alone with the weird coach experience.  At least Drawhorn let you keep your pants on and occassionally asked his secretary to watch to protect himself from potential lawsuits from upper middle class kids with attorney parents.

Re the "Dad" issue.  The only thing that fired my Dad up was the fact that I got hammered for seeing him return alive from Vietnam.  I spared him the details of the assault.  He had no qualms on flailing me himself when the occassion called for it (as you may recall Court).  I can't speak for Ken but I suspect his Dad didn't like seeing the "walking wounded" kicked while they were down.

Ken...what kind of injury did you sustain that short stopped your jock career?

     With regard to why my dad was incensed over the licks from McManus, I think Rog hit it right on the head--even a hardnose like my dad knew you didn't pick on the wounded--a lesson any decent person knew intuitively. There is no honor or bravery in being sadistic.

      My injury was caused by a staph infection that lodged in my hip. (I was told it could have originated from a bruise. If so, I am convinced that the bruise came from a late hit to the back of my leg during the last football game I played. The injury manifested itself almost a week later by causing me to fall over unconscious). That ended my football season. I had my hip drained but could not walk and was in a wheelchair at home for some time, then on crutches at school for another period of time. I had residual difficulty in walking, so I couldn't play basketball. Some of the staph apparently remained in my system, and manifested itself in a bone infection in the spring, several months later. I had to have surgery for that and was again out of school for awhile. That ended any hope of playing baseball. (And all of the foregoing is probably TMI).

Ken...your story is absolutely not TMI.  It's tragic that you were cut down in your prime..in your senior year.  I watched you play at Garner and Soph year at Mac and you were a ball of fire.  It had to kill your soul to be on the sidelines.  Hearing the details about your injury makes McManus seem like an even bigger jerk for wailing on your backside.  What a shitheel he was.

I am curious about the "pre Brahma" teams at Garner.  A non-football player, one could not help but absorb some of that experience by osmosis simply walking the halls in Texas schools.  I seem to recall that the "horses" or "studs" from that era...in terms of running the ball were Gene Hickey and Don Haines.  I lived close to Don Haines (visited him and his Mom on occassion) and I remember his Dad was an AF NCO and that Don had to move for a portion of our time at Garner.  However, Don returned in our 9th grade year.  He was also a track star as I recall.  I also remember Jimmy Briscoe, Jimmy Neugebauer (sp), Randy Dietz, Royce Wells, Tommy Fowler, Tim Alexander being some of our stalwarts.  Seem to remember that Coach Davis and Coach Smith were in charge of the Football Program.  Also interesting is that as guys rate of physical development varied that certain players excelled when younger but others caught up with them by the time we got to Mac.

Help me out filling out the roster and what the teams win/loss records were like.

Gary McCaffrey wrote:

I always thought Hollywood should make a movie based on McManus' life. You just can't make up a more sordid tale. Jeanne thinks I should tell the McManus tale again for those who may not know what happened to our '69 head football coach.

I'm not sure if it was one or two years after the '68 season, our senior year, that McManus was fired as head coach at MAC. He returned to his alma mater, Lamar University, in Beaumont as a coaching assistant. I played at A & M with Todd Christopher a player from Beaumont, and he told me of this guy he saw at one of the Lamar practices just going berserk on some player for some foul up...McManus

Whatever, McManus didn't last as a coach at LU and had to give up coaching and ended up in Houston in the plywood brokerage business. He was still married at the time to the same woman he was married to when at MAC, but he began to have an affair with the secretary he employed in his business. It turns out that this secretary has some parents who have a $250K life insurance policy naming their daughter as beneficiary, so McManus and his secretary conspire, and one night McManus goes to their house, breaks in, conks them on the head with a steel pipe and slits their throats. Kills them in cold blood- in their own home- with the knowledge and consent of their daughter- for the insurance money.

Needless to say, being the clever person that he is, McManus is caught readily and jailed. He posts bond and while on bail fakes his own death (by taking a syringe of his own blood and squirting it on the seats of his mustang and smearing it around-didn't fool the cops or bailbondsmen at all) and hightails it to Florida, where thanks to a tip the police catch up to him in a motel room shacked up with a waitress he met the night before, ready to hop a sailboat to the Bahamas.

They extradite old McManus back to Texas and he stands trial for capital murder. In the meantime his girlfriend, the secretary/daughter, cops a plea for a life sentence to avoid the death penalty, and turns states' evidence against McManus. With her direct testimony and the evidence against him, McManus is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die by lethal injection. He is sent to death row in Huntsville. During the lengthy trial, however, his lovely wife had divorced him, and once McManus is safely away in Huntsville, she eventually remarries, and you may have guessed-to McManus' defense attorney!!!

So, after seven years on death row McManus successfully appeals his conviction on the grounds of conflict of interest by his attorney, and the judge rules for a retrial. But, to put a snag on things, the judge also rules that no transcript of the original trial may be admitted as evidence in the new trial. This puts the onus on the secretary/daughter who is serving the life sentence for her part in the killing of her parents for insurance money. It is only with her testimony that there would be a likely reconvict of McManus, and guess what? she refuses to testify, and without her testimony no one is willing to prosecute the case.

So, McManus walks out of prison, off death row and returns to Beaumont, and moves in with his aging mother, where he lives to this day (as far as I have heard)! To make matters more intriguing, there is no statute of limitations on the retrial, and as long as McManus' secretary is alive there is the possibility of a retrial and conviction.

See Roger, you could tweak this story just right and write an Oscar winning screenplay. Hugh Jackman could be cast as the younger McManus and Clint Eastwood as the elder, current one, haunted by his past...true story, I didn't make any of it up.

         I will add my $.02 worth to Gary's tale.

    Some 20 years ago, before Vernon's conviction was overturned, I ran into a Houston attorney who was a former Harris County DA. While in his office, I noticed a commendation for having prosecuted McManus for the crimes Gary describes.  I told the guy "hey, you are not going to believe this but McManus was my HS football coach." He said "I can go you one just as good--Vernon and I played football together at Lamar U. One year, he was a Little All America and the next year, I was. Later, I prosecuted him for the Derese murders."

   Here's a link to a  2007 Beaumont newspaper article on the subject: McManus article.

Gary...thanks for posting that story on McManus.  I just sent it to my daughter who is a Prosecutor in South Texas.  Maybe she can dream up ways to nail his ass (so much for those malicious licks he doled out)  She works with the former head of the Texas Rangers.

As far as the screenplay...to paraphrase a character in the Cormac McCarthy novel,  "All the Pretty Horses",  I'd go bow-legged and blind before I could tell a better story than you just told.

Now, sometime when the moon is right...and a respectful interlude has passed....I'll tell you the true story of Tony Degges' life.  Which, I have, by the way, submitted to both NPR's "This American Life" and various news sources...and a homeless guy I met near the BBQ joint at the corner of IH-10 by Leon Springs. 

McManus was crazy, but Bobby Jack Price was a sadistic idiot who loved to torture us. When I was a junior he was the line coach and I lost count of how many times he gave me the "Claw". For those of you who don't know, the claw was Bobby Jack's way of getting your attention. It consisted of grabbing you around the throat, lifting your feet off the ground while squeezing until you couldn't breath. That SOB terrified me. I remember one early morning practice during two a days when Coach Price got Bob Huffman's attention. It was really foggy and you couldn't see 20 yards away. Well Huffman took this opportunity to do his impersonation of Bobby Jack. Right in the middle of his act, Coach Price comes running full speed out of the fog and grabs Huffman by the facemask and starts swinging him around in a circle while holding onto that t-bar section of the face mask. Huffmans feet were coming off of the ground. Then Booby Jack throws Huffman on the ground and pounces on his chest and starts giving him the claw. He was yelling "Huffman you're supposed to be the leader of this team you "friday night hero". I thought he was going to kill him right there on the practice field. Then he gets up off of Huffman and starts kicking him. It was brutal. There are many more Bobby Jack stories, so many that the Booster Club started monitoring practices. Amazing!

-Roger, at Garner I don't think we lost a game. We could score anytime we wanted by running one play, which was a double reverse with Don Haines running the ball. He was the fastest man on the planet in junior high and nobody could catch him and if they did they couldn't tackle him.

Gary, I'm sure you remember Old Smokey and Old Tandem. When grade reports came out there were always so many guys getting licks that they came up with Old Tandem, which was a two person paddle that was swung like a baseball bat. The two victims would grab on to a table and bend over and end up getting knocked up on top of the table. You had the choice of two licks from Old Smokey or one from Old Tandem. Old Smokey was a more traditional paddle wrapped in white tape. Everytime I remember Coach Price yelling "to the pole" it sends shivers down my spine.

I've had pets thoughout my life. Dogs and cats, but I'm not much on naming them. I've had "white" kitty, and "grey" kitty, "momma" dog, "pup", etc., except in H/S I got a young german shepherd. As that dog grew over the months it turned mean and would chase kids on bicycles and bite them on the ass. Mom got lots of irate calls.

So, I named the dog Vernon, after McManus. Not the brightest thing I ever did.

One day McManus calls me into his office and says sit down, and scowls at me. "I "hear" you named your dog Vernon, son., are you trying to embarass me?', he says.

Man, I didn't know what to say. I thought I was a goner for sure, so I just said the first thing that popped into my head. I said, "he's a German Shepherd, bites people and he's mean, so I named him after you".

McManus looks at me and smiles. "I guess that's OK then. You can go."

Man I beat it out of there and didn't look back, and got rid of the dog.

I'm glad you told that story. I had heard about that dog, but I thought it was just what we now call "an urban legend".

Jim..I've got to say...I can hardly believe the brutality that was commonplace with Texas coaches of that era.  Bobby Knight chokes the hell out of an Indiana player and what's the outcome.....send Coach Knight to Texas...no problem here.  I don't see any redeeming aspect to choking, beating, and otherwise brutalizing our kids in the name of discipline.   I would not want my son or grandson (if I had one) in that system and I surely don't see it as any kind of route to manhood.  There's enough ugliness and brutality in this life without instituionalizing it in our athletic programs.

Just to take the edge off a little...

You all may have seen the "Junction Boys" on the tele. You know the story of Bear Bryant's infamous trip with the '56 (i think) Texas A & M footballers, out to that Texas garden spot, for summer preseason two-a-days. As an aside, Jim, and Tom and Ken, and the rest of you guys, I don't think MAC two-a-days (remember those fun times?) were much different than theirs, but I digress from the story I want to tell...

Gene Stallings was one of the surviving "Junction Boys" and he was know to idolize Bear Bryant. Well he was the head coach when I was at A&M, and he adopted a lot of the "Bear's" philosophy of coaching toughness. We all lived in fear, because rumors always circulated that he wanted to return to Junction with a team he coached, and teach them toughness, so in 1970, the only season I played at A&M, we won our first two games. Against Marshall and against LSU, but lost our next two to Ohio State and Michigan (who put that schedule together?), and conference (SWC at that time) play was about to begin with our first game against Arkansas, a ranked team and perennial conference bigwig.

So on the Monday practice day before the Arkansas game, as we arrive at the stadium for practice in the early afternoon, we come upon two or three school buses parked outside the locker room. and their windows are blacked out..oh, oh.  We are told to load up on the buses, and we head out into the Brazos Valley countryside, going down dirt roads and paved farm-to-market roads- to who knows where? We're thinking -"Junction" practice here it comes. So after what seemed an interminable time we arrive at a farmstead. In the middle of nowhere. The buses stop and everyone is silent in fear and anxiety. The coach stands up and says, "unload boys". Reluctantly we begin to debark...

...as we begin to file off the bus, here's what we encounter...S.M. Meeks, the 80ish year old equipment manager for A&M, is greeting each of us as we get off the bus, and he's dressed in nothing but a jock strap and razorback hog thingy on his head, and he's yelling suiee pig, pig!, and the rest of the coaches are grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, and there are volleyball nets, etc. So, it turns out to be not a "Junction" experience, but a nice, morale boosting "fun" time.

So what happened in our game against Arkansas?

We fumbled our first four possessions, and they scored each time. I don't think we ran two offensive plays before it was 28-0 Arkansas. The largest first quarter deficit in A & M history. We never did score the whole game, I don't think, and we went 0-7 in conference play. 2-9 for the season. The best laid plans of mice and men...

Stallings was eventually fired, but wound up with the Dallas Cowboys and St Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals, later returned to college coaching at Alabama, eventually following in Bear Bryant's footsteps, and won a national championship. Yippee-Ki-Yi-Yo.

So now everyone should know that Vernon bites.  That’s a great story Gary.  I haven’t stopped laughing since reading it.  Just goes to show that you can find a little humor in almost any situation.

Your S.M. Meeks story cracked me up too.  Even though Arkansas left the old SWC years ago, I can’t stand the sight of those “razorback hog head thingys”, and even more offensive to my UT senses is that repulsive “suiee pig suey” whatever cry.   Everyone knows you just shoot good for nothin’ wild pigs.

Talking about good rivalries, I’ve always wanted to see a Michigan vs Ohio State game in either Ann Arbor or Columbus, and a Yankees vs Red Sox ballgame at Fenway.  When 40,000+ Buckeye fans descended upon Austin in early September, 2006, the year Barnhill had our season tickets, they started arriving on MONDAY and by mid-week had taken over all the Longhorns’ usual tailgate spots, they were somewhat taken aback by how well they were treated as opposed to Michigan fans.  Of course beating us convincingly 24-7 helped out their good moods.  That day their All-American QB, Troy Smith, hooked up with WR Anthony Gonzalez (now ex-Colt WR Marvin Harrison’s replacement at Indianapolis) pretty much at will against our young, inexperienced secondary.  Another All-American, LB James “Mc”Laurinaitis tackled everything in sight.  So much for our good southern hospitality.  Next time making a good “PR” impression won’t be as important.  

I just noticed this root topic...football...has exceeded the # views of every other topic on Brahama Tales.....including lust etc....so I guess a person could deduce that this group likes football better than .....well....you know.. just about anything....

Jim..I remember that Don Haines was dominant at Garner.  Whatever happened to him?  Did he move prior to playing at Mac?  Does anyone know if he continued his athletic career elsewhere?  He was so exceptional at that age.

Roger,

I think some folks may be reluctant to talk about Don, because we are unsure what became of him. As seniors, we tried to reach out to Don, to make him a part of the "team", but just weren't able to connect. Sad, but true.

At Garner, Don was bigger and faster than anyone. He must have matured earlier because as I remember he was shaving in the 7th grade. I think his Dad got transfered and when he came back in high school he was smaller than most and not exceptionally fast. He wasn't the dominant athlete he was in jr. high. He was such a great guy at Garner and when he reappeared at Mac he was just "different". As Gary said we all tried to reach him, but somewhere there was a disconnect. I don't know what ever happened to him, but he was always one of my favorites.

I think Don may have moved and come back to our schools more than once....I see him in our 9th grade class photo next to Leslie Dalke...so he may have moved after that year.  I do recall Don lived about a half block from me..over on LaRue...a couple houses down from Nancy Fletcher and a couple down from John Mullins.  I distinctly remember going over to his house once and hanging out (I don't know why because I wasn't a jock).  I remember sitting there talking to him and he was telling me about his athletic diet.  He was eating a huge bowl of quartered tomatoes and telling me how this was going to give him the juice he needed for twice a day football practices coming up.  I remember his mother kind of doted on him...I think he may have been an only child.  I also recall something about his Dad being stationed somewhere else and the coaches talking his parents into letting him stay here with his Mom for the good of his education etc.

I remember Don from as far back as elementary school. I went to Coker and I think Don went to Serna (correct me, those that know for sure). Anyway, at my first *Field Day*, in the 5th grade, I was in the stands and I heard some guys say "There's Don Haines". He the fastest guy around. Nobody can beat him".....and the guy was correct. 

I enjoyed being around Don, although we didn't hang around much.....since I lived out in the *boonies* by the Airport. It was fun to see him run at Garner. At Mac, he was still pretty fast, but as either Gary or Jim said, something was different. In our senior year, things sort of got worse.

While preparing for one of our reunions (the 20 or 25th), I discovered where Don was from one of our classmates. The classmate had spoken to Don on the phone. I don't remember all the details, but Don was in the VA hospital. 

I also seem to remember that Don had joined the Marines shortly after high school. Does anybody remember anything about that?

On a different topic, I was thinking the other day about Harper Smylie. He would always stand up on the bench in the locker room before the game and commence his rallying cry of "Onward the light brigade".....stirring us into the appropriate frenzy........then lead us out of the locker room yelling and screaming. 

Another McManus story….my senior year, during the Abilene Cooper game, I separated my shoulder (on a side note, my brother John tore up his knee just a few minutes after my injury, Ken Corder got some serious injury and was *out*, Ken Pearce was in the hospital, Jerry Neugebauer was out  for some reason, a sophomore (Tom Cusick) was starting quarterback, and at least two other starters were out before kickoff…….anyway, we were pretty beat up before the game, and even more so after the game. But I digress….So, I got my shoulder separated that night and the next Monday morning, I went in to see Coach McManus in his office. I remember Coach Porter being there, as well. Anyway, I was standing there in front of McManus, with my shoulder in a sling, and he said “You don’t look hurt Snider”. I told him that my shoulder was separated and that the doctor had told me “No contact for 3 weeks”. McManus looked at me and said “I separated my shoulder in college and never missed a down”. I turned and walked away, thinking “You are a crazy SOB and I don’t think I’ll be letting you advise me on my health”.

I know that he was trying to make me feel bad, but it didn’t work. I hated playing for him. We did not have that much talent on our team, but we started out having a lot of heart. He drove that right out of me, for sure. After the Austin or Harlendale game, both wins, we had to meet up at the school early the next morning. I remember that my chin had 6 stitches in it and I still had a headache….the ground was still very wet and sort of muddy……then he took us to the baseball field and ran us until we dropped.

While McManus was just plain mean, and not funny…..Bobby Jack Price was mean AND funny. So, he did make us laugh (always at some other poor fool’s expense) and that made for some good entertainment over the years. Somebody has to help me on this, but who remembers the time that the *center* had a hole in his pants and his asshole was showing whenever he bent over to snap the ball? Bobby Jack spent 10 minutes on that comedy routine. I found that it was never a good idea to make eye contact with Coach Price. That never ended well.

Here's another Friday night hero that didn't get the recognition he deserved. Lloyd Wakefield. For a little guy he was a heck of a player. Of course we were all pretty small by todays standards.

Tom, since you brought him up, I agree that Harper was the "juice". His sense of humor, wit and "sticktoitiveness" were unparalleled. The Smylie household is as much a part of my adolescent years as my own family, and during senior year, I probably spent as much time at their house as I did at my own too. Thanks to Bobbie, Ben , Harper, Mrs Smylie (and I forget Harpers sisters name), there was never a dull moment if you were at the Smylies. There was humor, drama, romance, fun, mystery and youthful indiscretions abounding..."Old Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine, he never drank whiskey, he always drank wine..."

Gary, amen to Lloyd being a player. He could hit. I never figured out how he hit so hard and was just a stick.

Since I had to move in my Sophomore year I never saw our Varsity Football team play.  I've looked at the online yearbook but it's hard to read.  Can anyone tell me who our starters were?

We had *starters*, and we had guys that played as many downs as the *starters*, and would sometimes start games themselves. The starting line up at the beginning of the season was very different from the end of the season. We had, as previously discussed, a butt-load of season ending injuries. We also had several sophomores that played a bunch later in the season….John Snider, Ron Duvall, Brian Keys to name a few. And we had lots of juniors that started and played all the time, especially after the injuries hit us.

The following guys are the ones I remember starting and playing significant downs, but I’m old and forgetful and need a GPS to find my way back home. Any help from you footballers will be appreciated.

Defense

Gary McCaffrey

Lloyd Wakefield

Tim Alexander

Randy Dietz

David Wylie

Tom Snider

Ken Corder

Jim Briscoe

Stan Shipley

Jerry Neugebauer

Ken Pearce

Offense:

Jim Briscoe

Tom Snider

David Wylie

Jim Schwind

Rick Alexander

Gary McCaffrey

Jerry Neugebauer

Lloyd Wakefield

Ken Corder

Randy Dietz

Roger Kies

Add to that the Juniors

Gerfers

Rick Sheldon

John Garner

Sheets

Bush

I think Don Haines was the Punter/Place kicker for a while anyway

Thanks Tom for the lineup.  I am trying to recall who your QB was at Garner....and later at Mac?  Wern't Gary and Roger Kies running backs?

Yes, Don was the P/PK during our senior year--I know b/c I was the holder (at least the 5 games I played). I also played a little QB and RB, in addition to Safety.

I believe you recovered one or two fumbles in the win over Temple.

That was long, long ago--in a galaxy far, far away.

Interestingly enough, my mom kept a scrapbook on the '68 football season and I still have a program from each of the football games played that year. They will make interesting perusal at the reunion, if anyone is interested.

Ken, you were qb at Garner, right? Was Roger Kies running back?

My favorite memories of you at Mac, Ken, are the things that would come out of your mouth after about the 15th wind sprint after practice. I learned alot from you. Ok, I'm kidding, they are not my FAVORITE memories of you, but they stand out. I remember one time, during those dreaded sprints, that I made myself *fall into* the long-jump pit on the sideline....trying to get some *down time*.....but Coach Davis just tapped me on the head and said "Good try, but get your butt off the ground". Oh well, I had to try it anyway.

Nobody has helped me out with the name of the guy that Bobby Jack was *clowning on* with the hole in his pants. Who was that?

You and Schwind seem to have the same memories of whatever it was I said during those windsprints--maybe one of you was on one side and one was on the other. It must have been like what happened to Ralphie in "The Christmas Story" when he got fed up with the bullying and beat the hell out of his oppressor, all the while screaming bad language--anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, since I have no recollection otherwise.

On the second topic: I didn't play football at Garner until 9th grade. When I did play, it was on defense, since Don Haines played QB. My first year to play QB was on JV our soph year.

As for the "hole in the wall gang": I don't remember that--as I recall, the linemen/linebackers/ends and the backs didn't do drills together--you guys worked harder than I did.

Are you thinking of "Fat" Harry Lott. But I recall he poohed in his pants, but was it a hole instead. Maybe I have two incidents combined.