The list for the inductees for the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame was released the other day and I was really pleased with at least one person going into the Hall. His name is Mike Kinsey. He is very simply the best defensive player I have ever seen at Brownwood High School. Now some might argue this name or that name because we have had some good, even VERY good defensive players at Brownwood High. You might even qualify some of them to be great defensive players. I won’t argue that fact. I will simply argue that the best of the best was Mike Kinsey.
Mike was not only a great football player, he was a great track star, as well. At one time, he may have held the state record for the low hurdles. If not, he was close to it. Just an unbelievable athlete. He wasn’t terribly heavy for the positions that he played, but he was quick as a cat and could outrun any or all of them. He was an absolutely fabulous player! I just enjoyed watching him play and the last time I saw him, which was a few months ago, he looks like he could still play. Mike Kinsey, going into the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame. He’ll join people like Gordon Wood, Jimmy Carmichael, Lawrence Elkins – it’s a short list – but Mike Kinsey is going in and he certainly deserves going in.
By the way, Mike was a part of the last Brownwood Lion football team to win a State Championship. They were a terrific team and I loved that ball club. I’ll never forget their State Championship game that year down in Austin, when they beat Fort Bend Willowridge by a score of 14-9. It was a terrific ballgame. Two heavyweights going toe to toe. The score was 7-7 in the fourth quarter when we were on the Willowridge three or so, and we fumbled the ball. Then, they fumbled it right back to us on the next play and we poked it in the end zone and went up 14-7. Then, very late in the ballgame – Willowridge drove into our territory and pooch kicked it down to about our two yard line. We ran a couple of plays and didn’t get much of anything.
Coach Wood, knowing we had a great defense and a very good punter, made the decision to give Willowridge a safety and give us the opportunity to win it without the ball. And, that’s exactly what happened. Jimmy Morris was the punter – yeah “The Rookie” Jimmy Morris. He takes the snap and runs out of the end zone, and its 14-9. At the 20 yard line we punt it back to them. I don’t remember the exact yardage, but Jimmy basically kicked that football the length of the field, and by the time Willowridge caught up with his punt they were deep in their own end of the field and didn’t make it close to our goal line. Time ran out and we won 14-9!
A GREAT State Championship ballgame!
And, the GREATEST defensive player of that game, and all of the others….
Mike Kinsey.
Congrats Mike, truly a deserving Hall of Famer.
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].