Raford .... Some answers to your questions:

"What is scaring the horse?" That is typical of the campusology questions we had to contend with back in the day. These came mainly as "cush questions" at meal time to qualify for dessert. And a person had to be familiar with every square inch of the campus to answer them consistently. In addition to knowing state and national leadership ... and Corps officers ... Fish were expected to know admin and faculty leaders. Plus all inscriptions on buildings such as the dozen name around the top of Cushing Library, the Coach Charley Moran plaque at Kyle Field and Sully's monument, of course. How many flags around Kyle Field?, how many trees around Simpson Drill Field?, where is the West Gate Memorial? and who were they dedicated to. And chicken questions like "how many bricks in the smokestack" and "where is the nickle."

What's scaring the horse? --- The answer is a rattlesnake and that is on one of the three weather vanes on top of the old stallion barn. Don't know where the old stallion barn is? In 1950 the college horse pasture was converted to a 9-hole golf course. The stallion stable was located across the street from the club house, near the intersection of Lubbock St and Bizzell St ... (between the Commons Dorm and Teague Research Center.) The stable was converted to offices in about '52 and is still in use today (look at the building today and you will immediately recognize it as a converted stable.)

(Who scored the first A&M touchdown at Memorial Stadium?, Where is Prexy's Moon?) Had enough?

Hazing? I spent some miserable hours during the Fish year but not anything I would call hazing. We complained to no end about the "abuse" but that was because we did not understand what was taking place. Prime example and this happened several times during the year: Some misconduct usually involving an upperclassman or his room would occur. The Fish would be turned out and exposed to a long harrange ending with "now if you know who did this dastardly deed you can save yourselves a lot of trouble by turning the name of the guilty party over to the First Sergeant ... then the group punishment would start. the first couple of days would be daylight CQ (all time when not in class), then it would progress to include Class A winter uniforms all day for a few days, the to include wearing P-pots and ponchos with the Class As, loss of all privileges and passes, and if no one confessed or pointed out the culprit it would progress to carrying a suitcase full of bricks when going to and from classes, etc. This would go on for a couple of weeks or so with ever increasing "punishment." Then the subject would suddenly be dropped. The lesson? --- Fish never rat on their Fish Buddies ... Period. (And if the Fish held together and endured the worst, the Fish were elated at their "victory." I know it sounds sort of dumb now but it was important to us at the time. (It also explains why 300 of my Fish Buddies showed up at our 50th Reunion.)

Another point that 3GA made about her father working as a vendor at Kyle Field in the 30s.
Let me tell you how this worked. Bryan Coca Cola set up a station in the Horse Shoe at Kyle Field. Students who wanted to sell Cokes at the game would buy cases of 8-oz bottles of Cokes in the old wooden cases. We would pay something like $2.40 for a case plus 2 cents deposit on the bottles. They would give us a stack of 8-oz cups. We would carry the cases to a likely ramp and go upward in the stands until we sold out. The procedure was someone down a row would signal how many Cokes he needed. The vendor would pop the top on the bottle, pour the Coke into a cup and pass the cups down the row. Then the folks in the row would pass the payment back up the row to the vendor, and if change was involved this would be passed back down (we sold the Cokes for 25 cents.) I teamed up with a buddy and we would each buy two cases, stack them at the bottom of a ramp then take turns selling in the stands or guarding the stash. It was hard, hot work but the payoff was pretty good if one hustled. We could each sell 10-15 cases before we gave out completely.

I also sold corsages before the games. I would order 100 at $1.50 each and have them delivered to Shaeffer's Book Store. then I would stand in the middle of the street and hawk them. The selling price varied according to the size car stopping ... and whether it was Ags or their parents. I just "charged" the ticket when I received the order and paid the ticket off with cash after I sold out. that was a nice payout provided it did not rain.

Pocket money was hard to come by in those days and most fellows had some sort of job or gimmick for turning a few bucks. I preferred working out my own ventures rather than working for some department. (The gig I really coveted was selling brooms and mops in the Corps Dorms during the first week of school because no one showed up the first week with brooms and mops ... but some other guys had that locked up solid!) Good times.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 6/20/2006 11:44p).]

Before this thread veers off the subject of the Corps, I would like to pass judgement on a couple of variances in today's Corps procedures as opposed to the way it was done in earlier times.

I speak with some authority on this because my grandson completed his four years in the Corps in '02 and during that time I made every March-in, Review, Parent's Day, and every other event where parents were invited.

In our day, verbal chastising of Fish, questioning on campusology and discipline were confined to non-public venues, mainly within the Corps Dorms or area, and never in front of parents, friends or visitors. It was bad bull to put a Fish in a personally embarrassing situation ... and upperclassmen in the Fish's outfit would not permit an outside upperclassman to degrade or abuse one of the unit Fish. Public "crap-outs" were not done, Period.

Another thing. What is with the obsession for all the push-ups and runnings? That is New-Army for sure ... not many of us could have made one lap around Kyle Field. We were big on intramural sports and took that very seriously ... but running for the sake of running? No way.

But is Old Army dead? Not even close. My grandson's outfit started FOW with 15 Fish. Of those, three dropped out of the Corps and the other 12 graduated ... almost on time. And of those 12, they are closer than brothers today ... driving hundreds of miles to attend each others' weddings, showers, or just annual get togethers. And that is what it is all about.

My wife says there were more than 14 Project Houses, do you know for sure?

How many bricks in the smokestack?
Where was the nickle?

Raford .... I knew of the 14 Co-Op dorms built by the college in the area that later became tennis courts and parking lots ... and I am not aware of any others of that type and in that vicinity ... but there may have been. There was a great demand for apartments for married veterans beginning in 1946 and that would most probably be the time some were added if it occured. But the majority of married student apartments in the late 40s were in the old GI barracks trucked in from somewhere and set up in the area off University Drive (which were demolished in the 70s and replaced with the brick buildings now rented mainly by foreign married couples.) The WWII GI barracks were two story, frame, and probably had six apartments (my cousin and his wife lived there and the 1BR was tiny.) Off campus housing for couples was very limited then and many vets had to rent bedrooms w/kitchen privileges in Bryan. Through the mid-50s there were no apartment buildings, only one hotel in Bryan, and one motel in College Station (the Sands owned by Ed Garner built in '54 or '55.) When dates came in or when parents visited in those days we rented a bedroom from locals. It was not a case of "no room at the inn", there were no INNs.

Ahhhh, bricks in the Smoke Stack. First, the smoke stack was concrete and not brick. Legend was at the time that some characters in a light airplane ('sips?) made three passes over the smoke stack and dropped three bricks in it. Truth or fiction? I do not know for certain but that was the accepted answer.

And the infamous nickel. I never found it but it was told to me that it was embedded in the sidewalk in front of the Academic Building between the flagpole and the street. I searched for the darn thing but never found it ... but I was assured it was there somewhere. Sorry, no "cush" that meal.

Speaking of sidewalks, were you aware that there were very, very few sidewalks on campus until 1954. Since there was little vehicle traffic in those days we mainly walked in the streets going between classes ... When they replaced the few existing narrow sidewalks in about '54, and added new ones between buildings, for the most part they paved over the short-cut trails between buildings trekked by upperclassmen over the years (that was good thinking.) Fish walked in the streets ... no requirement but that was a good way to avoid most of the upperclassmen (that was good thinking too.)

And Prexy's Moon? That was a bare lightbulb on top of the Academic Building. When the college President was on campus, the light was on. When he was absent from campus, the light was turned off. We had to know whether the light was on or off for some unearthly reason. I noticed a few years ago the light fixture was gone. (That is another good question .... Where did Prexy's Moon used to be?)

I had always heard of Prexy's moon. Were you there when they supposedly made a great sport out of shooting out the light bulb (on top of the Academic Building)with their army-issued rifles? Was this even true?

[This message has been edited by raford (edited 6/22/2006 10:00p).]

In the late 60's those GI barracks at North gate rented for $40 per month unfurnished and $48 per month furnished. In 1969 I got a monthly check from the Army for participating in advanced ROTC, the last two years. These checks were for $50 per month, and were called "Contract checks". I could take my contract check and $2.50 and pay the rent in the more upscale $52.50 per month Southside Apartments.
The North Gate married-student apartment complex was commonly known as "Rabbit Village", appropriately enough.



[This message has been edited by raford (edited 6/22/2006 10:07p).]

My parents lived in Married Student Housing in the late 60's and said it was also commonly referred to as Sperm Alley.

I was priviledged to live in those WWII GI barracks. I was around 8 or 9 months old, 1954. Dad had gotten out of the Army and he, Mom and I called that home while he finished his degree. I can't say I remember much about it but it must have been great fun judging by the pictures I have. There were a gang of us kids playing outside and lots of wagons and trycicles. We lived close to John David Crow and his wife. Mrs. Crow babysat me while Mom was teaching in Kurten. John David taught me how to throw english peas and Dad would take me to football practice. One of my Uncles' was a freshman and lived with us for a semester. I would stealthly sneak up on him while he was trying to study, reach over and tear pages out of his book. He moved into the dorm the next semester, I still don't understand why.

I think it was a great time even though I don't remember any of it.

[This message has been edited by TERRY L (edited 7/27/2006 4:11p).]

John David Crow lived in one of the converted barracks at North Gate?

Yes, he and his wife did but that was in 1954 when he was a student. I don't think there was a lot of housing choices in C.S. at that time.

I remeber seeing those "barracks" still there in the mid 70's though I think they had torn some down .

The construction of the WWII GI Barracks was a colossal undertaking to house an army of more than a million trainees in the space of just a few short months, as was done at the beginning of WWII. And it did not stop there. By the end of 1944 the Army had built more that 30,000 of these "temporary" buildings in the United States housing more than 6 million troops. This subject is a good history lesson.

Thousands of these were built in Texas during the war. Texas during WWII alone had 175 major military installations and many minor ones that included 65 Army Air Fields and 35 Army Forts and Camps.

Typical WWII Army Barracks


The barracks construction boom was not a spur of the moment undertaking. The Army was ready with the blueprints of the buildings when the order for mobilization was received. The plans had evolved since WWI days and it was a matter of rounding up materials and carpenters. (This constructon boom effectively ended the Depression in Texas.) The structures above were the basic outline but there were several different floorplans depending on the planned use of the building on the installation. Some were single floor, others were two story. Floor plans ranged from open bay barracks for trainees, to office layouts, to 1BR apartment layouts, etc. (A hospital complex would be laid out by positioning 10 or so of these buildings and linking them with covered walkways.) The size of the standard building was determined by the amount of open-bay space required to bed down 63 troops (one half of a company.)

The Army was also ready to go with a revolutionary construction plan to speed up the process of erecting these barracks. Keys to the Army plan -- few standardized floor plans, prefabricated components, and assembly-line approach to construction (having teams specialized in each stage of construction.) Using these procedures, the average construction time for a BUILDING was one hour, with the record being 54 minutes.

And for the times, these were "state of the art design" having forced-air heating units and in-door plumbing, adapted as necessary with the individual floor plan. (President Roosevelt had promised American mothers that their sons would be housed in modern comfortable quarters ... and Eleanor Roosevelt had amended that to include exterior paint that cost thousands of unplanned dollars.)

These buildings were called "temporary structures" only because wars were not expected to last a long time (5-20 years) ... but because of solid construction and quality materials many are still serving is some capacity today. (Only in the early 90s did the military get busy demolishing the remaining WWII structures because of the looming 50 year mark that would qualify the old buildings for Registry of National Landmark status (thus blocking future constructon plans.) Perhaps they were overdesigned by the Army .... they served well in WWII, the Korean War, the Cold War days, and during the Vietnam War on the permanent installations that remained open during those periods.

Now, the question is, how did the barracks come to A&M? WWII ended in September 1945, and demobilization of the military occurred almost as quickly as mobilization had. Troops were released as quickly as possible, military equipment and supplies were transferred to central warehouses and boneyards ... with millions of dollars worth declared military surplus. If a base or camp was listed to be deactivated, as soon it was emptied the buildings were sold. Apparently colleges had first dibs on all barracks-type buildings because these buildings began popping up in droves at every campus to be used as dormitories and classrooms. And every one was put to good use as veterans by the thousands returned to complete their education under the GI Bill.

In early 1946 the highways in Texas were clogged with these building moving back and forth ... they were wider than the two-lane roads then. It was truly a sight to behold. Moving them through towns was also a problem because of the low hanging wires and treelimbs ... but the going price for the buildings was $1.00 to a college so a bit of inconvenience was well worth the effort.

A&M had a line of about 12 north of the Reed Building that were used as classrooms and others were scattered about the plantation. I would guess at least 25 were set up as married student apartments north of University Drive. The last of the old barracks on campus were demolished in about '76-'78. There was a lot of complaining about destroying all of the old buildings that had been such an important fixture in the lives of so many former students ... but in the end they joined many other old campus landmarks doomed to history.

TERRY L. Congratulations for having the good fortune of spending a part of your life in an important part of history.

(Another bit of history: The techniques developed by the Army in constructing the WWII buildings became the standard for home construction after the war. Millions of veterans were returning from the war, starting families, and looking for homes. Developers all over the nation adapted to the Army model for constructing the one story "ranch style" cracker box housing developments that encircled every city. And you can observe it today by watching construction crews as they build homes in laarger developments.)








[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 6/23/2006 11:27p).]

Thanks Fossil Ag,
Just wish I could remember some of it.

Up until the mid-1950s if you asked a lady in West Texas where she got the material for a beautiful dress she was wearing, chances are she would answer "from the feed store" or "the grocery store." This is a marvelous story that can teach many lessons.

In the 20s through the 50s homemakers were able to shop through a variety of fabric types and prints in the baggings that held food items such as sugar, flour, salt, dried beans, etc., and animal feeds such as chicken feed, hog feed and cow feed. This was not small scale enterprise and happenstance shopping. In 1941 there were 31 textile mills that manufactured bag goods. Materials of these bags ranged from cambric, chambray, denim, percale and towelling which could be fashioned by the home seamstress into clothing, aprons, bonnets, dishtowels, sleepware, underclothing, and any other items the inventive mind could conjure. One company introduced bags made of rayon that could be fashioned into dresses, blouses, slips and scarves. It was big business for more than 50 years.

Noteworthy also is that after a homemade garment from a "feedsack" had served its primary purpose as clothing, it was usually cut up into the various shapes to become pieces in a quilt. If you own one of great-grandma's quilts, most of those little squares of material were once part of a dress or kid's shirt, and before that part of a feed or flour sack. (During the Depression I was a big old kid before I had my first "store-bought" shirt or underwear.)

Food and feed merchants loved the marketing ploy of the millers to bag their goods in sacks that had sales appeal in their own right. A dress required the material from three 50 pound bags of chicken feed ... so repeat sales were virtually built in. And if a mill became known for a good quality and variety of bagging, loyal customers could be counted on for years. Darn! That had to have been one of the neatest marketing ideas of all time!

But it did not happen overnight ... in fact, it evolved over several years and required several intervening inventions to set the stage.

Before the 1850s dry goods were stored and shipped in wooden barrels, boxes or tins. Eash had draw backs. The South had lots of cotton and mills were turning out stout fabrics such as calico, denim and canvas but these had to be hand sewn. Some sewing machines were on market but these could only do a chain stitch that was not strong enough for heavy duty bagging. In the 1850s Singer and several others worked out kinks in a sewing machine that would give a locking stitch and this opened the market for cotton bagging for dry goods.

Cotton bagging started its own oddysey, beginning with the coarser weaves, but soon altering to a finer threadcount weave to accommodate finer particled goods like sugar and coffee. And in short order discovered the empty bags were in great demand for secondary uses in the home. So some millers began producing and advertising their bags as having inks in the lettering on bags that could be washed out. When this idea took hold, some mills began dyeing bags in pleasing colors.

The next major step occurred in about 1893 when the field of photographic engraving of copper cylinders to print fabrics produced the calico roller. This was a step forward but calico was unbleached and not a fully processed fabric and thus was considered low quality. By 1900 the process had developed to full color printing on finer fabrics and so print material was ready for a market. And ready for this fabric were new foot-treadle powered Singer Sewing Machines ready to convert those sacks into useful household items.

I am sure printed fabrics appeared first on sacks of food staples such as sugar, flour and corn meal, etc., because the market was readily available in cities ... and from there it found its way into the population-predominant countryside. And once the fabrics found its way to the farm, the next logical step would be for the nice fabrics to show up on animal feed sacks.

Merchandise bagging was not an isolated industry. Textile mills were very much involved in standardizing bag sizes ... but it took President Roosevelt to decree in 1937 that 50 pound feedsacks would measure 34X38 inches and 100 pound sacks would measure 39X46 inches when the seams were ripped and the material was flattened out. In addition, an industry was started up to create patterns for all sorts of clothing, dolls, quilts and other goods.

The demand for cloth bagging began to wane in the 1950s as millers began to demand sturdier containers for their goods to aid in insect and rodent control. So the aisles of grocery and feed stores took on a new look ... and the old Singer Sewing Machines fell into disuse.

So you ask, "Then feed and flour sack materials just disappeared into the pages of history?" Hardly, the hottest thing in the craft world today is "Vintage Fabrics!" A person should be so lucky to find tucked away safely in an old barn a stack of old printed chicken feed sacks ... or digging through grandma's closet a stash of sacks she never got around to converting into dresses for the granddaughters.

I still remember how soft the play cloths I had were--an my grandmother would make them out of flour sacks.

my dad used to tell a story of going of to college and wearing a shirt that he was embarassed to wear made out of flour sacks or some such, he said the kids who didn't know what it was went crazy over it...

For those of you who receive the Texas Aggie magazine from the Association of Former Students ... you might be pleased to recognize in the article concerning new inductions of Distinguished Alumni of Texas A&M that the naming of the new inductees it prefaced by pics and bios of Dr. Giesecke (1886) and Col. Cushing (1880) as earlier uberinductees. Both were mentioned in my 1149pm/6/16/06 post about Sbisa Dining Hall (Page 7 of this thread.)

Remember that you saw it first on the Texags/West Texas Forum.



[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 7/8/2006 12:00a).]

your depth of aggie knowledge is nothing short of amazing

Way up in the top of the Panhandle is where the town of Plainview is located. And located in Plainview is a small college named Wayland Baptist University. The student body of Wayland now numbers about 1,000 and that is probably double or three times the average annual enrollment in the past 60 years.

You ask, "What is so special about Wayland Baptist and what is its connection to West Texas?" Having read past articles on this thread you know the answer is coming up shortly, and the answer typically will blow your socks off.

For the past 60 years, many West Texas girls have literally fought to be selected to attend Wayland Baptist ... and become a part of one of the greatest women's basketball dynasties in the nation. Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana Tech? Not close. Wayland Baptist is the only womens team in the nation to have won more than 1300 games. Never heard of them? Let me introduce you to the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens.

It all began in the 40s. Harvest Queen Mills, a Plainview grain mill (still in operation) volunteered to provide financial support for the Wayland women's basketball team and other members of the community pitched in to to buy uniforms and other equipment and supplies. In recognition, the team took on the name Wayland Harvest Queens and West Texas and Panhandle girls had a venue for their basketball talents.

In 1948, a local Wayland graduate, Claude Hucherson who owned Hucherson Air Service provided air transportation for the team to a game in Mexico. This event was so successful that in 1950 Hucherson signed on to full sponsorship of the team ... and to provide air transport to all away games. Now air transport of college athletic teams was unheard of at the time so instant national fame greeted the newly named Wayland Flying Queens.

Now in that early time Wayland Baptist knew their visibility in the junior or small college circuit would be limited to playing school teams in the Oklahoma, Panhandle, New Mexico region ... That venue was not suitable for a team known as the Flying Queens, so Wayland joined the Amateur Athletic Union in order to play on the national stage against the best club and "factory" teams in the nation ... teams that were stepping stones to the Olympics.

And how did this upstart from the Texas Panhandle fare?

From 1948 to 2001, the Flying Queens never had a losing season.

From 1953 to 1958, the Flying Queens won 131 consecutive games ... a national record winning streak that still stands.

Since 1948 the Wayland Flying Queens have won 10 AAU National Championships... and 10 AAU Championship Runner-up trophies ... and finished in the top 8 six more times.

Between 1950 and 1976 Wayland Baptist Flying Queens placed 73 women on the AAU All-American Teams.

From those great teams, Wayland Baptist placed coaches in women's basketball to high schools and colleges all over Texas and the nation.

But the Flying Queens' fame was not solely for their game skills. When the Flying Queens arrived at a local airport anywhere in the nation, it was an event. Much like the Harlem Globetrotters, the Queens took time to give demonstrations of ball-handling and shooting. They were a small college group of girls performing at the highest national and international level ... and much in demand for a spot on anyone's schedule.

But the situation changed for the Flying Queens in the early 70s when Title IX appeared in college athletics. Suddenly, big universities who had never considered women's athletics began ramping up their programs. The competition for top talent made it difficult for small schools to draw top players. Wayland dropped out of the AAU and lowered its sights to competing in the NAIA, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens teams of today do not measure up to their predecessors in their heyday ... but no other team in the nation does. The Flying Queens from the Texas Panhandle had a great role in developing women's basketball into a national attraction ... and set the stage for the Gary Blair, Marsha Sharp, Jody Conradt teams of today. In a way, one can speculate that the success and popularity of the early Wayland Flying Queens led to its own undoing.

So in case your travels take you through Plainview, tip your hat in the direction of the WBU campus ... they were the greatest at what they did in those early days and deserve out everlasting respect.

Fossil- More great info. If I am not mistaken, the Angelo State girls play them, or used to play them regularly. Never knew their history before. I would much rather input this type of info into the brain than some other crap that shows up in chain emails.

Thanks!!!!

EMc77 ... I am sure Wayland and Angelo State have locked horns many times. I think WBU left the AAU in 1976 and moved into the NAIA organization for smaller colleges.

And don't get the idea they lost their winning ways in the past 30 years. Since joining the NAIA, they have made 17 appearances in the NAIA National Tournament and were Runner-Up to the Champions in '86 and '92. The Flying Queens have produced 27 NAIA All-Americans.

that area and the panhandle in general is a hotbed of female basketball talent...one year, all five divisions were won by teams in the panhandle/south plains region, seems like it was in the late 80's or early 90's

one of the strongest teams is Nazareth who seems to have won state more times than not

after typing that, I decided to look it up...the Nazareth girls won state championships in
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1984
1985
1988
1989
1990
1991
1996
1998
2000
2001
2002
2005

and were runners up in 1986 and 1998

I also checked on the other stat and the panhandle area won all state championships in 2 years;

1987
5A - Plainview
4A - Leveland
3A - Slaton
2A - Morton
1A - Sudan

and

1991
5A - Amarillo Tascosa
4A - Leveland
3A - Tulia
2A - Abernathy
1A - Nazareth

a pretty impressive feet considering the population of the entire region could not compare with even Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio

powerbiscuit .... I will not hazard a guess at the significance but Nazereth is 30-35 miles northwest of Plainview. You think maybe the Nazereth used that neighbor connection to pump up his/her team?

In the late 40s through the 50s there were many small rural schools in West Texas that lacked the personnel to participate in other sports ... so they just played basketball all year long. A good example was little Hawley, north of Abilene, who annually whomped up on Abilene High men and women in their own tournaments (and teams going to Hawley to play in a tournament there knew they were venturing into a meat grinder.)

And there were a number of other small schools of the same size within 40-50 miles who were the only real competition for the likes of Hawley.

You can just imagine the attraction Wayland Baptist had for a small town girl who had an opportunity to demonstrate her basketball talent to a national audience. I suppose it would have been like a chance to play for a Big 12 school today.

To further portray the strength of the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens in international competition that I omitted earlier:

In the 1955 Pan American Games, Wayland Baptist produced 6 of the 12 member USA National Team that won all 8 games and the Championship.

In the 1959 Pan American Games, Wayland Baptist produced 8 of the 12 member USA National Team that won all 8 games and the Championship.

Definitely, the Flying Queens invented the term "powerhouse" in regard to women's basketball. In West Texas we followed them the way folks followed the Dallas Cowboys in later years.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 7/8/2006 11:39p).]

from the UIL website......girls basketball

http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/archives/basketball/tournament_records.html

4A
Most times in tournament: 17, Canyon (1969, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 81, 92, 96, 99-00 as Conference 4A team, 1976, 77, 78, 89, 94 as Conference 3A team).
Most consecutive times in tournament: 10, Canyon (1969, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78).
Most state championships: 8, Canyon (1969, 72, 74, 77, 78, 81, 96 as Conference 4A team; 1992 as Conference 3A team).
Most consecutive state championships: 4, Levelland (1986, 87, 88, 89).

3A

Most times in tournament: 10, Comanche (1951, 52, 73, 74, 75, 76, 79, 82, 97, 98).
Most consecutive times in tournament: 8, Spearman (1966, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73).
Most state championships: 5, Slaton (1974, 78, 79, 80, 87).
Most consecutive state championships: 3,
Slaton (1978, 79, 80)
Winnsboro (1999-00-01).

2A

Most times in tournament: 15, Moulton (1958, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 71, 73 as Conference 2A team, 1984, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94 as Conference A team).
Most consecutive times in tournament: 5, Moulton (1960, 61, 62, 63, 64).
Most state championships: 6, Abernathy (1981, 84 as Conference 3A team, 1958, 59, 86, 91 as Conference 2A team).
Most consecutive state championships: 3, Hardin (1981, 82, 83).

1A

Most times in tournament: 19, Nazareth (1976, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 96, 98, 2000, 01).
Most consecutive times in tournament: 7, Nazareth (1976, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82).
Most state championships: 15, Nazareth (1977, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 96, 2000, 01).
Most consecutive state championships: 6, Nazareth (1977, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82).

Sally Walling Brooks, Angelo's girls bball coach is from Canyon, if I recall and her dad coached there a number of years. She has turned ASU around, alot in part due to her kids she has brought in from the Panhandle.

Actually, before The Blair project was started in College Station, her name was mentioned in come circles. Shee had her girls in the top ten and has done some great things. I am very, very happy with Blair and glad she stayed at Angelo State.

Until I moved to the land of Pat Summit, I had season tickets to ASU bball and enjoyed the girls games as much or more than the men's.

Don't know what it is about those girls north of itt, but dang, they can play ball. So much heart, compared to some more talented girls from the big cities....

In the Outdoors section of the Sports Forum above on Texags is a thread about Coyotes. One visitor to the thread posted a picture showing hundreds of Coyote skins tacked to the walls of a building. I assume this bounty was the result of a Coyote population explosion in some area ... and the skins are the result of a farmers attempt to retaliate.

This reminded me of a similar population boom by nature in West Texas several years ago ... and probably still occurs from time to time. But in West Texas, in the 40s and 50s we endured a series of curious explosions that would be difficult to duplicate (without the intercession of someone like Moses in his famous bedeveling of a Pharoah with plagues.)

Our trials began in about 1947 when we began to notice increasing numbers of Jackrabbits in fields and pastures. The next couple of years became even worse as the numbers so increased that the rabbits were destroying crops ... a morning walk along young cotton end-rows would reveal where one Jackrabbit had cut down 30-40 feet of young plants (not eaten, just cut off an inch or so above the ground.) This was a common sight in cotton fields as many acres were laid bare. Summertime in '48 and '49, driving in pastures it seemed a Jackrabbit was resting in the shade of every mesquite tree and cotton plant.

The rabbits became such a nuisance that farmers organized large "Rabbit Drives." One line of men with shotguns would Stand in a line along one side of a large field or pasture and another line of men would be the Drivers, starting on the other side of the field about a mile away and marching toward the Stand line. In this manner a section of land could be cleared in a morning and hundreds of Jackrabbits would be sent to bunny heaven. At night, the favored pass time of high school boys was to drive the country roads at night, sitting on the front fender of old cars, shooting Jackrabbits. A two hour foray would yield 30-40 on average.

But hunters barely put a dent in the Jackrabbit population. What cured the plague was a rabbit virus that wiped out the Jackrabbits in just a matter of months. Suddenly they were gone ... and for the next 20 years hardly a Jackrabbit was to be seen in Fisher County. That was a strange happening.

But not as strange as what happened next. Apparently, unknown to us at the time, Coyotes were flourishing in the bountious time for them of millions of Jackrabbits to feed on. Then the rabbits were gone, and we were left with a multitude of Coyotes. Chicken houses were the first targets of the hungry predators but they would take on anything smaller than themselves. Cats, puppies, particularly ground nesting birds like quail, piglets, lambs were under seige day and night.

Again in retaliation, farmers organized "Coyote Drives" that operated in the same manner as the Rabbit Drives. The hides were worthless so the results of a days drive would be hung on barbed wire fences. Along old Highway 80 between Sweetwater and Abilene, it was common to see 50-100 coyote carcasses hanging every few miles.

The Coyote plague lasted two or three years and suddenly it was gone ... not by disease, but by this time in '52-'53 the Seven-Year drought was in full bloom and the dry pastures did not yield enough food to supply a pack of foragers. So, for the next several years seeing a stray Coyote became a rare sight ... but unfortunately the reign of the Coyotes had obliterated the Quail populations and for the next 20 years it was a rare sight to see a covey of Quail.

And even the demise of the Coyotes did not end the strange cycles of nature we were observing and contending with. After the Coyote population in pastures decreased, our next critter to take over was a Short Tail Field Rat. Walking a pasture would reveal hundreds of them skittering through the dry grass. They were no particular problem to the farmer except for their making way for their close cousins, the Barn Rats. We had troubles with them primarily because the Coyotes had earlier eradicated the Barn Cat population. It took a couple of years before the Rat populations got back to normal levels.

A note in passing. In an effort to restore some natural balance in nature around barns and houses, farmers were eager to accept any donated cat. But it soon became apparent that a cat that had been born and bred in town had no chance on a farm. Usually those would be gone in the first night, compliments of Foxes, Coyotes or Bobcats. An old cat that had a country raising knew how to contend in the country setting and could do quite well on a farm.

Most of these events occured during the 1949-1956 time period, the time of the Seven-Year Drought. I never heard it discussed openly but I have a hunch a lot of West Texas church-goers were secretly comparing their trials during that period to the Plagues that the Pharoah endured in Egypt before he got his business together with the Lord.

Those were strange and trying times in West Texas and I hope nothing like that happens again.

I have enjoyed reading all of your posts. I live in Midland now and love it out here in west Texas. I grew up on the Gulf Coast (Texas City), but I'll probably never leave Midland, at least not by choice.
I do have roots out here though, my Dad was a Hamlin Pied Piper. Grew up on a farm between Hamlin and Anson.
Keep up the storys (especially Fossil), they are very interesting.

MidlandAggie, since you're the son of a Pied Piper, I'm not sure whether to be welcoming or suspicious of you.

Funny you should say that, my Dad gave me some advice before I left home:

1)Never trust a man that wears too much gold nugget jewelry.
2)Never trust a man that has the Christian Fish on his business card.
3)Never turn your back on anyone from Stamford.

Fossil
It's time for another story!

past time, I check this thread 2-3 times a day

I suppose it is time for another tale. I have had a subject on my mind for a good while but I am having trouble figuring a way to tell the story without appearing overdramatic in the descriptions. Yes, I have heard the groans before, "Oh no, another spiel about how I used to walk five miles in the snow to school each day, up hill both ways."

Well, what I have to describe this time is sort of in that vein: Growing Up on a West Texas Farm in the 1930s -- About Ages 2 to 8. For most of you, this would catch the early years and experiences of your grandparents, particularly since about 90% of all Texans at that time lived on farms.

I picked the ages 2-8 because that was a snapshot of the average pack of kids in a household in those years ... about four, one or two years apart. The previous generation of farm parents, those arriving West Texas from 1880-1900 aimed for 7-9 boys in the brood because that free family labor was the key to expanding farming operations. The next generation, those grown kids starting families between 1900 to the 1930s had come to realize that having a herd of kids did not always pay so they settled for smaller broods ... as a rule a maximum of 5 or 6.

I picked the ages of 2-8 because that encompassed the normal brood, plus raising little kids in those days was so dramatically different than how the same ages are raised today. In those days kids were not treated as houseplants but as soon as they hit two or three were considered able to tag along with the older kids. The term "baby sitting" would not be invented until the next generation ... turning the youngsters out at 2 or 3 might be delayed a year or so if a grandmother or some other female relative were in the house, but as a general rule, if just a mother was available, her chores of keeping house, cooking meals, washing clothes in a washpot and rub-board, taking care of the flock of hens and fryers, and frequently looking after the milk cows and calves ... and sometime with another baby in tow took most of her time and attention.

It wasn't really that dangerous for little farm kids ... we were farm-wise just like dogs, cats and kids growing up in a city are street-wise. Early on we knew to watch out for rattlesnakes, wasp nests, cows with new calves, the Rhode Island Red rooster, cactus and mesquite thorns. And we were warned to stay clear of the mule corral, the windmill, the cistern and the stock tank. And we also knew that any violation of rules meant the oldest kid in the pack would receive the collective punishment, either by swats with the well rope, or grandad's razor strop or bridal reins ... or, worst of all, if Mother was doing the punishing "Go break off a mesquite limb about this long and bring it to me."

I spent my years age 2-7 on a farm about 3 miles south of Capitola in Fisher County. My dad had run onto a good deal to buy the place and with good weather and luck it would pay itself off quickly (good deals for farms were readily available in those Depression years ... if only the Drought would break.) The place had a fairly new two room house with a lean-to built on the back, a good barn with corral and a windmill near the corral. It had a good pasture for livestock with a spring fed stock tank, and adequate land in cultivation to feed a family. My dad also bought a new Farmall F-12 lugwheel tractor in order to work additional land that was available for rent. We were about average for a startup farm family.

The house was about standard for the time on West Texas farms. It was just large enough to shelter two adults and four kids. One of the rooms was the bedroom with three beds ... one for the parents and two for the four kids. Beds were "iron" frames, open springs and a cotton mattress. Later on as the folks could afford it another mattress was added to the beds so that when company visited the extra mattress(s) could be pulled off and placed on the floor to accommodate extra sleepers. We had a cast iron wood burning stove in the bedroom that was only fired up in cold weather. The other room was primarily a kitchen with a kerosene 4-burner cookstove, table and chairs, a dish cabinet, an upright pantry, and a washstand. That room was also sort of a living room with a couple of rocking chairs. We had an ice-box but since we only got to town to buy ice once a week the ice only lasted 2 or 3 days. We lived seven miles from Sweetwater but cranking up the Whippet automobile and cleaning and loading four kids was such a hassle, we were lucky to make that trek once a week.

This was in the days before electricity (it would be 15 years before we received that luxury) so that meant no electric lights, water pumps in wells or cisterns, radios, or appliances for the kitchen or laundry chores. Water for drinking, cooking, face and hand washing, shaving, etc., was in a three gallon bucket located on the washstand and drawn from the cistern. A wash pan was located there also for morning ablutions (kids were exempt from that except for school and church mornings.) The outhouse was located out back and stocked with last year's Sears Roebuck catalog. Younger farm kids usually exempted themselves from even that convenience since they were totally immersed with nature so mostly parents were satisfied with just housebreaking younger kids and could delay other customs of civility until an older age.

So my memories of that early age between 2 and 8 are mainly snapshots ... but collectively they give a pretty good picture of life at that time. I guess the best description of young kids on a farm then would be free-ranging. Most of the time was spent playing in the dirt under a big mesquite tree in the yard. The entire yard was bare packed dirt ... no grass or flower beds ... just a little stand of Four-o'Clocks my mother tended and a big Lilac bush. Little cars and other toys were non-existant as far as we were concerned so in the dirt we graded little roads with a brick, constructed fences with small sticks and had a large collection of small bottles we variously identified as cows, horses, tractors, etc. Over time as long as the rains held off we constructed bridges, tunnels, streams and ponds for our make believe farm. Dad was in the field most of the day and Mother was busy so we were left to our own device for the most part.

And kids left to their own devices could create some interesting situations. The stock tank was a major attraction particularly if neighbor kids showed up to add some manpower we might need. One time, with the help of neighbors my brothers realized their dream of skidding a water trough from a windmill near the stock tank to the tank and launching it as a boat. It had to have been quite a chore, and they must have had some reservations about the seaworthiness of their craft because I, at 3, was elected to be the first passenger. Well, they got me launched but my boat just sort of drifted to the middle of the pond and stopped. Fortunately, one of my brothers, age 5, had the gumption to run to the house, and fortunately, my Dad was at the house to come rescue me. The highlight of that event for me was watching my dad chasing barebutt naked kids through the brush with a willow limb. He had to get a neighbor to help him move the water trough back to where it belonged.

Another major event in our life was one day we saw cowboys bringing a herd of cattle down the road that ran in front of our house. When they got even with our house two of the cowboys called to us ... they each had a baby goat in the saddles with them. Of course we were delighted to relieve them of the goats. With an unlimited amount of cows milk and interminable feeding by us kids we had those goats grown in no time ... and as you might expect, as those goats grew in stature we had deviled them into meanness. We had to keep our eyes on them because they could clobber the daylights out of a kid. But we discovered a secret weapon ... the goats were easily startled by a loud noise and would by nature flee to get on top of the highest object in sight. Great, we had the weapon ... about a four foot diameter steel Gulf Oil sign that my dad and uncles used as a domino board ... and we could bang on that thing with a stick and goats would go flying. The bad part was that the highest object available was that 1930 Model Whippet sedan ... and that car had a design flaw that was our undoing ... it had a cloth top that was waterproofed with a tar like substance. And when the goats bounded up on top of car their sharp hooves pierced that cloth top slick as a whistle ... so both goats were stuck up to their belly on top of the car with their legs on the inside. And that was where they stayed until my dad got in from the field and lifted them out. Of course when he got in we were no where to be seen, all four kids ages 2-8 hiding out in the deepest, darkest part of the pasture ... because we knew what our fearless leader was in for.

Wash day for Mother was an event that always got our attention. Early on, that meant she would position an 18 gallon wash pot on three bricks and build a fire under it to wash clothes. Dirty clothes would be dumped into the boiling water and stirred around with a long paddle. Lye soap was the detergent. Then she had a couple of Number 3 washtubs with cool cistern water for rinsing the clothes before hand wringing them out. Some of the clothes had to be transferred to a bucket of warm water and rubbed on a rubboard to get them clean. The cleaned items would then be hung up either on the clothesline or on the barbed wire fence to dry. Dust storms or rain storms would require a hasty run to gather the clothes before the cloud hit. After the laundry was done kids were corraled and dumped into the tubs to get maximum use of the water.

Isolated from civilization was fine for us kids but it did pose a great hardship for my Mother. Sick kids at night was always an event because we had nothing but home remedies to give relief. Croup, tonsilitis, diarrhea, coughs and colds, toothache and the like were common miseries. But occasionally life threatening emergencies arose that had to be dealt with.

One time when my youngest brother was about a year or so old, my mother was ironing in the kitchen with a gasoline heated iron (it had a tank about the size of an orange and a small pump and the heat was about like a Coleman lantern.) She had a cup of gasoline nearby to refill the tank when needed. Unnoticed, my little brother found the cup and drank from it. I don't know how much he drank but he went out like a light. My mother, 21 at the time and mother of four kids, panicked ... no phone, no near neighbors, Dad a few miles away working ... she first broke an egg and put it in a cup and poured that in his mouth then began blowing into his nose. When she got no response she did the only thing left ... she ran out of the house with baby in arms, up that dirt road, on her way to Sweetwater hospital seven miles away. Luckily two men were passing along that road in a car and overtook her and carried her and the baby to the hospital. At the hospital the baby's stomach was pumped and after a bit he was released. The two men who carried them to the hospital waited during the treatment and brought them back home.

The other three of us (3,5 7) knew nothing of the emergency and had waited around home for Dad to arrive. He could not imagine what was happening until Mother returned home. In the excitement, the folks never got the names of the good Samaritans. But that same dash up the road I am sure would have had to be replicated had the emergency been rattlesnake bite, severe burn, broken limb or other accident that could have occurred. We were lucky to have endured those time in tact.

And there were other emergencies, not life threatening, but nonetheless potentially devastating. In 1936 my Dad had given my Aunt, a single mom of two, a calf early in the year. In the late Fall he sold that calf, now a fat steer, to an order buyer for $8.00. My Aunt drove out from Roby to collect the $8.00 because it was all she would have for her two kids for Christmas that year. My Dad felt for his wallet and it was missing. The entire family searched high and low around the house and barn, and the only other place he may have lost it was when plowing a Sudan patch that morning. We fanned out and began searching every row. We found the wallet and the $8.00. I think that was the most joyous occasion I ever witnessed in the family.

For the most part, our living in those years as we progressed from the 2-8 stairsteps to a few years older in the wilds of Capitola country was best described on reflection as feral kids. But we could be controlled when we went somewhere in civilized territory ... Church on Sunday mornings in starched shirts and blue and white striped overalls were pure misery, as were trips to town but we could tolerate that as long as we got to stop by the T&P tracks and watch the trains come through. And one memorable time when we were dressed up to go meet some new neighbors who had moved into a vacant house down the road. The reason for the dressing up was because the neighbors included four little girls just our age. After a minor rebellion and quick attitude adjustment my mother marched us down the road. The young ladies were present and it was obvious they were under duress also. And even though the hostility was very obvious we reluctantly followed them into a side room they asked us to join them in. Us boys, about 3-9, went in as a tight group to the back of the room since the girls were close by the door. As soon as we were inside, the older girl slammed the door then all four began digging into a big sack of salt and throwing handfuls at us. Now nothing hurts worse than salt in the eyes and us four boys were squalling like panthers. The mothers opened the door and we shot through it and were gone up the road. I can guarantee we avoided those girls like the plague for the rest of the time we were neighbors. Treacherous little devils!

Those were hard times ... but not uncommonly hard as all our neighbors and friends were in the same boat. We never considered ourselves underprivileged or anything near a poverty level ... heck, everyone was at the same level. It is just the way things were and we all just abided and endured.

But there were good times when we went to Sweetwater on Saturdays that made up for all the things we missed on the farm. While Mother shopped for supplies at the Piggly-Wiggly store my dad slipped into the L&L Cafe for a beer. Some Saturdays he would get a haircut at Long's Barber Shop across from the L&L and other times at the Barber Shop in the Bluebonnet Hotel where my uncle worked (that was a grand place with all marble floors and walls and barbers with white shirts and ties.) And when all the necessities were taken care of we all went to Tom's Ice Cream Parlor ... what a wonderful place.

And late on Saturday afternoon we would load up in the Whippet and head back to Capitola. And that is when I discovered another design flaw in the Whippet automobile: Suicide Doors.
I was about 5 years old and curious, curious about what would happen if I opened the rear door on the right side. (Whippet rear doors opened to the front.) We were going down Nunn Hill, about 3 miles north of Sweetwater and I opened the door and I was immediately ejected onto the gravel roadway. Luckily the Whippet could only travel about 25 miles per hour so I survived with only a minor loss of skin ... which to a Capitola kid was all in a day's work.

I live in Sweetwater and read with interest the stories about Cap Newman and the other Sweetwater trivia. Newman's granddaughter is a friend of mine. I will pass these stories along to her. Terry L, how do you know Jerry Bob? He is a great guy and lives about 2 blocks from me. I also enjoyed reading about A&M from back in the '40s and '50s. It is absolutely amazing how A&M has changed, physically, over the years.

SW AG80 ... Your being from Sweetwater is all the connection I need to recognize a couple of residents of that fair city who figured largely in my early life.

First is a gentleman I greatly admired, Paul Cain. Paul was a banker in those early times, down to earth and a good person. He was a good friend with my dad and would often visit in our home at Capitola. (His wife was named Juancie and he had a son about my age, John Paul.) One evening after supper, I was 6 and was struggling to read my Dick and Jane first grade reader by the light of a "coal oil" lamp. Mr. Cain came over and sat me in his lap and asked me to read for him. I started reading but used my finger to point to each word I was reading. He corrected me and said I had to learn to read without the finger pointing ... and he gave me a nickel or so when I read the next page without pointing. Before he left, he said if I did not use my finger any more he would reward me again next time he saw me. Some weeks later that we were in the car passing down the street in front of the Bluebonnet Hotel entrance and barber shop. I started screaming "Stop, Stop" and as the car slowed down I bailed out. I had spotted Paul Cain talking to another gentleman in front of the barber shop. I ran up to him, interrupting the conversation and said "Mr. Cain, I don't use my finger anymore!" He, without hesitation, stopped his business, patted me on the head, and said something on the order of good work, way to go, or something ... and fished a couple of coins out of his pocket. When I got back to the car my dad was mortified at what I had done ... but Paul Cain remembered his deal and remembered me. He was a good man.

Another interesting West Texas connection I made while at A&M and it involved Mr. Long who had Long's Barber Shop in Sweetwater. He was a friendly person and I like to listen to his banter while my dad was getting his hair cut. A few years later while at A&M, I met a Mr. C.D. Long ('34) from Shreveport, LA, who was instrumental in fellows like Crow, Gay, Broussard, et al, from north Louisiana coming to play football at A&M. I was part of a sort of student welcoming committee for the prospects Mr. Long would fly in to campus. One day we were visiting and discovered that C.D. Long was the brother of Mr. Long at the barber shop. That was a nice connection of two fine gentlemen.