Here a day ahead of time with apparently bad weather on the way, I can’t help but think about the TexasBank Holiday Classic. This is an annual deal here in Brownwood and it makes money for individual places. It is a labor of love for Nadir Dalleh, Heather Hohertz-Perez and a lot of other people. I think he told me last year he didn’t want to play as many games so he had cut a few teams down – bull – it’s close to, if not more, than the many, many games that were played last year. They played something like eighty-five or ninety but he’s still chomping at the bit. It’s unbelievable when you look at the boys’ bracket and the girls’ bracket, and then big schools and small schools and it just goes on and on and on.
I can’t believe that a single person could do this and a single person can’t. That’s why they have a staff of many, but to figure out the logistics is just almost impossible. But, it is possible because they did the thing last year and it went well. It is one of the biggest and best Holiday Classics you will find anywhere in any state. It is something special! It is played in four gyms I think, the coliseum, the high school gym, the middle school gym and the auxiliary gym. So, it’s four locations and it runs literally Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
It is really something special and I think it is important that you go to the games. Why? It’s because that’s what makes it special. You can see all kinds of these with no people, I mean zero people, but when you get a big crowd there it just makes it that much better. A big crowd we should have whether it’s Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
Coleman, Santo, San Saba, Sidney, Gorman, Thrall, Hamilton, May, Albany, Meyer, Wellington, Richland Springs, Zephyr, Goldthwaite, Cisco, and Bangs makes up the boys’ small school. Then you can make it bigger than that if you want to. The big school division for the girls includes Brownwood, Georgetown, East View, Waco Connally, and Jarrell in pool A. Pool B includes Hereford, Little River Academy, Fort Worth Lake Country Christian, and Wichita Falls Legacy. It just goes on and on and on and I know I’ve said that more than once.
I just can’t get over all the participants. On the boys’ side in the Gold Division, which is one of four or five divisions, there is Brownwood,
Bryan Rudder, Big Spring, Gatesville, Alvarado, Garland Lakeview Centennial, Jarrell, McKinney Christian, Maine-Endwell. Yeah, I said Maine. In the Silver Division there’s Early, Bangs, Comanche, Dublin, Goldthwaite, Cisco, Little River Academy and Wellington. The schools just keep coming and coming.
I think this will be a good tournament, NO, how about VERY GOOD or how about GREAT! I’m telling you when you pull something like this off it is unbelievable how many teams you have participating. It is really unbelievable and I tip my cap to all the people who put these games on, the officials, the coaches, the players and this numbers a lot of people!
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].