I’ve been reminded in the past couple of months or so about how great two kids were here in Brownwood, Texas. A couple of months ago I got word that Perry Young had passed away. Perry was a terrific football player! At Brownwood High School in 1969, I would have hated to try to accomplish anything without him. I remember two games in particular, one against a Stephenville team that couldn’t beat anyone, but they were ahead of us late in the fourth quarter until we eventually came back to win. Jimmy Carmichael hit Perry in the end zone and we got the touchdown. We beat them like 13-8 and we went on to win the District Championship. Then we won the State Championship in December of that year and what a game Mr. Young had! He caught passes for over two hundred yards in the title game. For a long time – a long time – it was one of the best ever performances in Texas High School playoff history. He was a great player. He didn’t have great speed, didn’t have great leaping ability, didn’t have a whole lot of stuff, but did he ever have hands. Great hands! Probably as good a receiver as Brownwood, Texas has ever had. Jaxon Shipley was awfully good and they both accomplished much.
Perry Young also played basketball, and baseball – a terrific player, but professionally, it was softball. He was so good that they recruited him to play for the USA team which travelled around the world for several years. They were truly some of the best in the world.
The other one that hit me hard the past few days was the death of Terry Southall. He was probably, along with Carmichael, as good at quarterback as we have ever had in Brownwood, Texas. In ’62 we really had one of the best teams in the state, or at least we thought we did. We won our first eleven ballgames. Then on a sunny afternoon up in Lubbock at Jones Stadium we played a great first half. We led Dumas 10-0 but then Dumas scored thirty-eight in the second half and won big. The Demons went on and won the State Championship in 1962.
Terry Southall was a terrific quarterback though. Probably my fondest memory of him was on television back in the mid ‘60s. Terry was the starting quarterback at Baylor. On a Saturday afternoon, they played a nationally televised game against 7th ranked Syracuse. It was the national game of the week and it was in COLOR. It was one of the FIRST nationally televised COLOR telecasts! Baylor had Terry as quarterback. I will never forget the announcers in the ballgame. Whoever was announcing the game couldn’t resist it because Baylor also had one of the first black players ever in the Southwest Conference. He was on the sideline most of the game, but somewhere in the second half, they put him in at receiver. The announcer, so help me, said, “We have a colored person on color TV. Isn’t that something!” I’m not sure if he got fired or got reprimanded or whatever happened, but Baylor won the ballgame. Color television was here at long last! Terry Southall had a terrific game for Baylor that day and had a terrific couple of years at Baylor. He was a great quarterback and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts after his senior year.
Two of the really greats at Brownwood High School. Great, great football players. Perry Young and Terry Southall. Two of the best that EVER played around here!
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].