I don’t know how many ballgames I can think of off the top of my head, but I was trying to think of a few that would be the strangest things I’ve ever seen in football. Both of these are strange, and both of them involve of all people, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. Both games were in Stephenville.
I remember the one was, I think it was back in the 1970’s. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. We’re getting ready for the kickoff – we’re approaching kickoff time – and there’s been no sign of the Stephenville Yellow Jackets! So, we do our warm ups and everything and everyone is curious down on the field. Where’s Stephenville? They were supposed to come out of the same dressing room divided two ways and no Stephenville, and there’s no bus, and there’s just no sign of them. We finish loosening up, go back in the dressing room for the fifteen minutes or so that you spend in the dressing room, and then we come out for the ballgame. Still no Stephenville. Brownwood just continues to loosen up a little bit.
All of a sudden this charter bus – not a school bus – a charter bus – pulls up behind the field! Stephenville comes boiling out of this bus! I’m telling you what, cheerleaders going crazy, the band, the fans. I mean it’s big stuff! I mean it’s great stuff! Brownwood is just hanging around the field waiting for the game to start. When they finally start, we kick off to Stephenville. I think they fumble it the first play and it’s a mess after that. That pep rally lasted for, I don’t know, once the game started it lasted for about a minute. Thirty-five nothing Brownwood at halftime. The final was worse than that.
The other one I thought of though, that was REALLY funny, involved Stephenville again. It was 1989 and again it was in Stephenville. Now, Brownwood had won huge in ’87 but a long streak had come to an end in ’88 at Gordon wood Stadium and the game ended up a 7-7 tie. So, 1989 comes around and Stephenville has it figured out.
They learned how to win! Yeah, right! The first half ends up Brownwood 56 and Stephenville 7. Halftime! During the first half of the ballgame, I think one of the Jones kids (Kurt I think) ended up taking the punt off of the kicker’s foot and walking into the end zone to make it whatever it was to nothing! Funniest thing I guess, or one of the funniest, I’ve ever seen! He actually scooped the ball off the guy’s foot and tiptoed into the end zone. It was a humiliating thing to happen and I hated to laugh and make fun of it, but it was Stephenville and so I had to laugh a little bit. Fifty-six to seven at halftime.
The final was 63-21 and that’s probably the last real beating we ever gave them. We need to start that trend up again. I didn’t mean to pick on the Yellow Jackets but I was thinking of funny things that had happened to me during a broadcast. Oh well……
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].