I’m riding around several years ago and just happened to drive by the football stadium in the dead of summer and saw some activity. So, I pulled around by the dressing rooms to see what was going on and there’s the Freeman family, all the guys, all the gals, putting up a tunnel-looking thing. Lots of steel. Lots of welding. I didn’t even stop. I just thought, “Man, what’s he up to now?”

Steve, seemingly at that time had a project a week but this one was taking a wee bit longer. I’d go by every day, and I finally stopped. I said “Steve, what’s going on?” He said, “How do you like it?” I told him, “I don’t even know what it is.” He said, “Well, it’s something I think we’re going to call it ‘The Walk of Champions.’” I said, “Okay. What’s it for?” He said, “It’s for the team to come out and go onto the field.” I said, “You’ve got to be out of your mind!” His reply was, “If you’re not going to help, get out of here.” And I did, but I came back every day to see the progress. My wife was with me one day and I said, “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. Who would do something like that in the dead of summer?” I’m talking about from early morning until dark. His whole family was out there as well as some helpers he had enlisted. Many times, it was over 100 degrees. The sides and all of the rest were finished and eventually they got to the roof. If you’ve never noticed, the roof is metal.

Later, I went out there and Steve Freeman looked like a chicken on a rotisserie. It was absolutely unbelievable heat. He was up on top of that metal roof in the dead of summer and had both of his hands totally wrapped with rags. That was the only way he could stay up there. He would push up on one hand and then the other to keep them from burning, all while working. He would do it hour on end.

Well, it eventually got finished but I still wasn’t very impressed – until he called me and said, “Come out here.” The finished product was very impressive looking, but I still thought he was crazy for doing it. Then, with his family there he told me, “You know, I’ve been thinking about what to call this and we’ve decided that we’re going to call it the Dallas Huston Walk of Champions. All of a sudden it didn’t sound like a bad idea anymore. I was very touched by it.

If you aren’t familiar with it, I want to share a portion of what Steve wrote about the Walk of Champions: “The Walk of Champions honors the most storied program in the history of Texas High School Football. From the multitudes of opponent gridirons that our boys have made their own, the dominance of Old Lion Stadium to the present home field, the walk into the arena presents a personal experience. That experience is shared by Lions who have walked before, those who walk now, and those who visualize making the walk in the future.”

It is still something that means more to me than I can even put into words. Fact is, it means even more to me now than it did when I watched it being constructed, and to know that every Brownwood Lion player walks through that tunnel on the way to compete in every game, every year, thrills me to the point of tears.

Coach Freeman did so much for Brownwood High School. The monuments at the high school are another of his visions fulfilled. He never got the recognition, in my opinion, that he deserves. I hope someday he will, but nevertheless, he is still a friend of mine with or without the Walk of Champions and I will forever be indebted.

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].