WACO – Perhaps the most distinct and iconic voice in all of Texas high school football history has found a home in the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.
“The Voice of the Brownwood Lions” for 58 years, Dallas Huston was inducted Saturday night into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 during a ceremony at Baylor University’s Hurd Welcome Center.
During his comments before the hundreds in attendance, Huston attributed his radio success over the decades to a pair of unlikely sources.
“What a privilege and honor it is for me to be here tonight, but if I was real honest, I probably have to thank asthma and a car wreck for me being here,” Huston said. “I was born in Corpus Christi and I was a very asthmatic young child, so at the age of 2 the doctors told my parents they had to get me out of the humidity and into a drier or climate or I was going to be in deep trouble.”
Reflecting on the car accident that occurred shortly after his radio career began, Huston said, “There was a night of heavy rain and I hit a car from behind that had no tail lights. Impact with the car caused me to go through the windshield causing injury to my head and my vocal cords. For six weeks I had no voice and when it returned, it was a new voice that fans got used to over 58 years for Brownwood High School.”
The injury never deterred Huston, who was on the microphone for six of the Lions’ seven football state championship seasons prior to his retirement in 2021. Huston graduated from Brownwood High School in 1960, the year of Brownwood’s first state title. He was then in the booth for the 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1978, and 1981 championship runs.
The 1965 team is the only squad to post an undefeated record in Brownwood history, and Huston’s favorite to this day. The 1965 Lions have been honored by the UIL as one of the Top 100 Texas high school football teams of all-time.
Regarding his relationship with fellow hall of fame Brownwood football head coach Gordon Wood, who led the program to all its state championships, Huston said with a laugh, “I owe a lot to Kathryn Wood. Gordon told me many times he didn’t give a flip about me broadcasting the games, but his wife loved me.”
For several years, Huston also worked in the broadcast booth with legendary Lions assistant coach Morris Southall.
“Then there’s Morris and his precious wife Lorene,” Huston said. “I have great memories of working with Morris in the radio booth after his retirement from football.”
Huston’s first experience in radio was as a “gopher” for KBWD while in high school in 1958 before joining the station full time in 1961, where 2003 Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductee Jim Pruett gave Huston his radio name.
Huston’s persistence over the years eventually led to Ken Schulze asking him to join the Lions football broadcasts prior to the 1963 campaign. His career spans from old Lions Stadium to Cen-Tex Stadium, which opened in 1972 and has since been renamed Gordon Wood Stadium.
During his time in the booth, Brownwood reached the playoffs in 52 seasons, with a winning record in 32 consecutive years, and earned 26 district titles to go along with the run of state championships.
In 1999, Texas Monthly named Huston as the state’s top high school football broadcaster. Huston is also a member of the Gordon Wood Hall of Champions, Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame, Howard Payne University Sports Hall of Fame, and he’s received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities from HPU.
Along with calling Brownwood sports, Huston called Howard Payne University sports for 57 years starting in 1964, the first year in which the Brownwood Coliseum hosted basketball games.
Huston expressed thanks to the City of Brownwood, Brownwood High School, and Howard Payne University.
“I’m thankful for the city of Brownwood, a great place to live, and also special thanks for the administrators of Brownwood High School and Howard Payne University, along with the coaches, the players throughout the years and especially the fans,” Huston said. “I wouldn’t take for the relationship that I have with them. I thank them all so much for allowing me to be a part of their lives. People put a lot of faith in me and I hope I didn’t let them down.”
A born-again Christian at age 47, Huston, who is now 83, has often stated his faith and the opportunity to become a pastor mean far more to him than any accolades he’s ever received as a broadcaster.
In 2025, Huston retired from his role as pastor at Center City Baptist Church, a position which he held since 2008. However, his weekly men’s Bible study on Monday nights at Fort Lemons is in its 23rd year, while his Christians in the World of Sports broadcast airs Sunday mornings on KOXE, and his column “Out of the Box with Dallas Huston” appears on BrownwoodNews.com each Monday.
“Nothing in my life is more important than my relationship with Jesus Christ,” Huston said. “Ballgames played are forgotten in a short time, speeches can only motivate for a while, but the gospel is for all eternity. I am one of the richest men in the world, even though radio was not the highest paying job, my riches lie in my relationship with Jesus Christ. He has made all the difference in my life.”
Dallas and his wife of 42 years, Linda, have four children, 11 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Attending the ceremony Saturday were two sons; one daughter-in-law; four grandchildren, one with a husband; four great-grandchildren; two nieces and two nephews, with their spouses.
“I’m so blessed to have the family that I have,” Huston said. “I have my wife here, my kids here, grandkids here, great-grandkids here, very dear to me nieces and nephews here, and friends – special friends – that have made the trip.”
Huston ultimately concluded his speech with the same catchphrase he used after every Lions’ broadcast, “Until next time, so long everybody.”
