Here it is, a week or so after I was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. One of the things I wanted to do before it’s too late, is recognize all of the people who went in. These are not going to sound familiar to most of you, but in the high school ranks, they have a ring of familiarity.
This year’s class included Dallas Kimball former running back Dickey Morton; Waco Richfield former quarterback Alfred Anderson; Hawkins High School former running back Edwin Simmons; and Southlake Carroll former running back and defensive back Dane Johnson; a guy who won three State Championships at three different schools including Bartlett, Commerce and Mart High School, and his name is Terry Cron; another guy who won three, this time at the same school in Canadian, and his name is Chris Koetting; then there was a Dave Campbell Contributor to the Game whose name is Mike Gerik associated with Texas Farm Bureau; and there was this old boy who could barely make it on stage who was a Dave Campbell Contributor to the Game whose name is Dallas Huston.
I wish there was a whole lot I could tell you about each one of these guys, but I can tell you this much, they all deserved it. I really didn’t meet and get to talk to them, but the ones that made their mark on me were Dane Johnson from Southlake Carroll, Dickey Morton from Dallas, and Alfred Anderson from Waco. I got to talk with them individually and it was one of the highlights of the weekend. Maybe I can run into the others and have a quick sit-down and get to know them a little better.
The Texas High School Football Hall of Fame is the real deal! Top notch thanks to Mike Anderson who is the President and Tiffany Wilkins who makes everything “go.” From the first phone call to notify us of the induction and highlights of what that entails to the last “see you later” after the banquet, they were there. They checked on us, provided just the right information at just the right time and literally thought of everything. They started out as the President and his daughter but quickly became dear and treasured friends! I don’t even have words to explain what a help they were and how much they mean to us now. The Texas High School Football Hall of Fame is absolutely in the best hands!
There are special THANK YOU acknowledgments that need to be made. Brownwood Independent School District, Howard Payne University, the City of Brownwood, and my family all provided a beautiful page of congratulations in the program, which by the way is more than a program. Not only that, but there was surprise after surprise of people who came from Brownwood, Abilene, Austin, Temple and other cities to be there for the induction banquet, including special friends from BISD and HPU, as well as family, my special family, that were able to be there and I can’t tell you what that means to me!
Then, there is Derrick Stuckly of BrownwoodNews.com. No one can cover an event like he can, then share it with the public to make them feel like they were there. There are pictures to be reminders of a special day and evening and an article that put it all together! I’m so grateful for this guy and his friendship.
I’ll close just saying how incredibly grateful I am to everyone who had a part in creating this induction, the memories and most of all, making it all possible.
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 hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at lindalh2@verizon.net.