It’s very hard to explain to people who weren’t alive and around in 1960 how important Gordon Wood and Morris Southall and the Brownwood Lion football team were. Brownwood had no history in football. They had been in the playoffs one time and that was in 1953 and it lasted all of one ballgame. I was in school back in the ‘50s. Back in the ‘50s only one team went to the playoffs and Breckenridge was the dominant team in this part of Texas. My sophomore year we won no games. My junior year in 1958, we had a record of six wins and four losses. Then in my senior year in 1959 we had, believe it or not, the biggest offensive line in the state of Texas and a pretty dog gone good football team. We went eight and two, losing to San Angelo on the road and at the end of the season losing to Breckenridge on the road. Now, the only thing that kind of scared us about that eight and two ball club was that it was a senior ball club. I think we had two starters who were underclassmen – two. So it was a senior dominated team and I got out of high school in 1960, right after Gordon Wood came to Brownwood.
Gordon’s first team, well, it was laughable. It was not a good looking ball club and I could go on and on, but won’t. A couple of good players, but just not a good ball club. Of course, we had never seen anything like Gordon Wood in Brownwood but we changed and changed pretty gone quick. A lot of folks were excited to see what Gordon would bring to Brownwood. I mean, the guy had won two State Championships at Stamford. A miracle worker, probably not, but a good coach. We thought he might be all right. Wood came and you could watch the kids work out if you wanted to in the off season. They did not look good at all. The first scrimmage, they looked bad. The second scrimmage they looked better and then we had to play a ballgame.
The first ballgame was against San Angelo Central. All they were was number one in the State in 4A, the biggest classification. Number 1 in the State and they were favored by an astronomical number as they came to Brownwood to open the season. I’ve talked about the game before – one of the most memorable in my mind! We scored early and often. We were ahead 28-0 at half time. At the end of the game, the score was Brownwood 34 and San Angelo 6 and the Brownwood Lions would never be the same again. They won the State Championship that year after they overcame the Breckenridge jinx at old Lions Stadium 18-14. Then, they won their first State Championship as they had a playoff run that included beating the Number 1 3A team, Monahans, and then we beat Jacksonville, and that got us to Port Lavaca and we beat them 26 to 6 to wrap up the title..
So, the reason I mention all this, as I have a couple of times before, is that when I look at all of Brownwood’s football history – all of it – it all goes back to that first game. Brownwood and San Angelo Central. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we had lost that game, or gotten blown out like we were supposed to. I don’t know and I don’t care! All I care about is that we won and we kept on winning, and we’ve done it for a long, long time. But I believe that what makes Brownwood special goes back to that first big win against San Angelo.
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].