Maybe the strangest football game I have ever been associated with occurred in November of 1983. It was the Brownwood Lions against the Vernon Lions for the bi-district championship at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene. It was a defensive struggle from the word go. In fact, late in the game Vernon was ahead 11-6. Keep in mind this was before the play clock. It was before a clock stoppage for a first down. It was before any of those rules were in effect.
We had the ball and we’re trying to beat the clock and pull out the win. We have a long play down to about the Vernon 25-yard line, then run up, snap the ball, and on the last play of the game our quarterback, David Pounds, rolled out to his left and threw the ball to Chris Loudermilk, who had enough speed to make it into the end zone. What a finish! 12-11 Brownwood or so we thought. There was mass confusion on the field. Brownwood kids were obviously celebrating and the Vernon kids were upset. The referee and the crew didn’t even get together, they just took off and headed to the locker room. In the radio booth, without sideline reporters, we had to wait on people coming up to give us information. One would say, “Vernon won because we didn’t snap the ball in time”. Two minutes later, another would yell “Brownwood won. They said it on the field”. So, you had both teams and their fans on the field and every time one rumor would start, half of them would be cheering and a couple of minutes later the other side would be celebrating. But, the officials were gone! We just kept getting rumor after rumor after rumor. I tried to get coaches up to the booth but they were out on the field trying to figure stuff out.
Finally, Coach Wood went to the dressing room of the officials to try get answers.
Some of their coaches did too. There was a long discussion. Every once in a while somebody would run out and hold up their hands in jubilation and the crowd would go crazy depending on which side you were on. Time wise, we’re talking about five minutes before I ever heard anything. Then, ten went by. Then fifteen. We’re talking about upwards of twenty minutes and nobody knows who actually won the ballgame. Even the Vernon radio station was coming to me saying, “Do you know anything”, which I didn’t. Finally, the coaches and the officials got together in the dressing room and the referee ruled that Brownwood did not get the ball snapped in time. Game over. Vernon wins 11-6.
It was a hard pill to swallow! You would think that the referee, if time expired – would have instantly blown the whistle and ended the game. He did not. Then we get the film of the game and it shows the referee watching our quarterback drop back and roll out of the pocket and he followed him every step of the way. Then the pass went downfield where it was caught and went for the touchdown and the referee never makes a signal. The side judge signals touchdown and all the officials headed out. Maybe they went to the locker room and talked it over, who knows.
But, on a very strange night in Abilene, where both teams and both crowds mingled on the field for probably the better part of an hour after the game, I found one of the most interesting things was that there was never a conflict once that game ended between any of the players or any of the fans from either team. Fact is, it was almost like a bonding experience – like they knew they would probably never see anything like it again. I certainly never did!
Until next time, so long everybody.
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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].