I think on an October night in Fort Worth in 1982, Brownwood football fortunes took a hit and I’m not sure we ever fully recovered. You see, from 1960 until 1981, a span of 21 years, Brownwood won seven state championships and had a great opportunity to win about three more. They were THE dominant team in Texas.
Let me take you to that October night in 1982. Brownwood was playing Cleburne and Brownwood and Cleburne were the biggest of rivals in district play. It was the THE rivalry. These two had some great ballgames and some close ballgames back in those days, but 1982 looked really special.
Brownwood won state in 1981. Cleburne was defeated by a touchdown or 10 points that season by Brownwood but make no mistake, they were really, really good. The game in 1982 was scheduled to be played in Cleburne. But in the summer that year, the demand for tickets was so great that Cleburne made an arrangement with TCU to use their stadium in Fort Worth and the two schools got together and said ‘We can make some money on this. Let’s play it on Saturday night instead of Friday night.” And they did.
And on that October night in 1982, with the district championship and playoff berth on the line, Brownwood and Cleburne met. Both were in the Top 10 and the game had been pumped the entire season by the Metroplex newspapers, mainly because of the two coaches – Gordon Wood at Brownwood and Chuck Curtis at Cleburne. They were guys who had a level of respect for each other, but you certainly knew that neither one was going to be a pallbearer at the other’s funeral.
They didn’t like each other. Their coaching styles were totally different. Chuck Curtis dressed like a river boat gambler at every game. Gordon, well, he just dressed. They were almost like total opposites. The newspapers made it sound like they were going to meet at midfield before the game with guns. To top it off, Cleburne had turned Brownwood into the UIL infractions in ’81 while we returned the favor by turning them in prior to ’82. (We were found innocent; they were found guilty).
There was a lot of excitement surrounding that ballgame. It was a big game and Brownwood had always played big in big games and won the majority of them. But, on this night, things changed. Cleburne stood up to Brownwood and a football war broke out.
The attendance that night – 27,500 people. Cleburne scored in the first half of the ballgame and they led the game I think 6-0 at intermission. The Lions could do absolutely nothing in the first half. In the second half they drove deep enough to kick a field goal and make it a 6-3 game. Back came Cleburne and they had a long, time-consuming drive, and went up 9-3. With under 5 minutes to go, Brownwood ended up fair catching a punt inside their 5 yard line. Then, in the ensuing few minutes, they showed the huge crowd the heart of a champion. They drove the length of the field and had a first and goal at the 3 yard line of Cleburne. A touchdown and an extra point would win it. But, on first down, our fullback got the ball punched out at the 1 yard line. Cleburne recovered and took a knee and won the ballgame, 9-3. It was truly a gut-wrenching loss.
I may be wrong, but I think Brownwood’s fortunes changed that night. It was like somebody had gone toe to toe and face to face with the giant of Texas high school football and the giant had been defeated. Oh, we have gotten back up many times, but it’s just never been the same.
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].