CY FAIR BOBCATS: 1971 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Guest Column Introduction: Today’s column is an iconic story on local basketball history by Randy Foltin. Randy is a fine fellow, one I’ve come to know as a research colleague and a genuine grass roots force on the subject of historical preservation. He devotes countless hours to the most arcane subjects of historical inquiry because he understands that, if a subject has anything to do with the making of Houston, Harris County, and Southeast Texas, ii is the mud and mortar of the house we all built as our community on the way to 2011.
Foltin’s narrative on the 1971 arrival of Cy Fair High School as both a local and national force in basketball is such a story. Enjoy.
1971: CY FAIR “HOOSIERS” WHEATLEY
By Randy Foltin, Guest Columnist to The Pecan Park Eagle
On Friday, January 28, 2011, at the Cy-Fair boys’ home basketball game, Cy-Fair will honor the 1971 state basketball championship team as they take the court as a team for one last hurrah. There are aspects of this team’s accomplishments that are more than noteworthy, and those achievements were recognized as voters across the nation awarded them the votes necessary to lay claim to the national championship.
Prior to 1970, Cy-Fair had been playing varsity sports for about 30 years without any noteworthy achievement of any type, other than just fielding teams. As such, they had been nothing more than just a blip on the radar screen. Still a 3A team in 1970 when the chasm between 3A and 4A was as wide as that between high school and college, Cy-Fair did reach the basketball championship game that year losing to Kerrville Tivy.
Two mainstays of the 1970 team, Larry Matthews (lost to graduation) and Duck Wilson (“lured” to a “name” Houston city team) were now missing in action. Going into the 1971 season, Cy-Fair was very much still a rural area at the time, but they were being cast forward into 4A lvele competition, the top classification in the state, and also into one of the toughest basketball districts in the state at that time. Competition would include the still then thriving Spring Branch schools, Conroe, and Aldine. The braintrusts of high school basketball at the time held little prospect for Cy-Fair’s basketball fortunes to continue.
I had attended most of the games in 1970, and I also went to one playoff game that year, as well, enduring heartbreak at the championship game. In the fall of the 1970-71 year, I was playing over at a friend’s house one Saturday afternoon, when my friend’s mom popped her head outside to announce that Cy-Fair’s first basketball game was to be held that night at the Cy-Fair gym.
Starting that night, and for the remainder of the season, every breaking day was centered around the excitement of knowing that I would be going to a Cy-Fair basketball game, either that day or very soon. I was a 10-year old 5th grader and after basketball practice, my friend and I, without wasting a second, would pull our pants up over our shoes and kneepads (there was not a moment to spare to get to that gym) and run down the outside covered corridor to get to the place where our heros congregated to display their basketball wizardry before packed houses.
People would be sitting on and around the perimeter of the out of bounds area, from the baseline to the wall. Fans camped out overnight to buy tickets for most any game. We in our community knew we had something special, and the bond of community was never more palpable than when we were confined in tight quarters to pull for David, now toe to toe with the Goliaths from 4A at every jump ball.
So, as to let the naysayers be put on notice, Cy-Fair rocked the basketball nation by beating Wheatley, and snapping their 72-game winning streak, at the Arlington tournament that fall. Wheatley at that time was the basketball dynasty of all dynasties, and most certainly in Texas. How could a school that no one has ever heard of pull off such an upset? Surely this was just an anomoly on the road to the state tournament that Wheatley would surely recapture as they had year after year.
And Cy-Fair would be lost in the turmoil of the race to capture the vaunted 16-4A disrtict crown, certainly it would seem. Every district game that year seemed to be of such a critical nature. Spring Woods, Spring Branch, Memorial, Westchester and Cy-Fair all seemed as likely as the other to be in position to take home the laurels. And one must remember that at that time, only one team, that being the district champion, would advance to the state tournament.
Then it happened. Cy-Fair’s fortunes could easily hinge on what seemed a probable loss as they now trailed Memorial 71-69 with only 3 seconds on the clock. Cy-Fair would be taking the ball inbounds from under the Memorial basket with a full court and eternity to go. The Memorial fans were chanting, “71! 71! 71!”, during the timeout that preceded the play, as though the score of 71 was foretelling their “destiny” to go to state in 1971.
I remember where I was sitting, and I did not need to jump into the air as the fans that were jammed into the bleachers jumped so high that it thrust me into the air as if I had indeed jumped myself, when the ball was thrown in to Bobby Metcalf at halfcourt, he pivoted and launched the ball that ripped the net to tie the score at 71. To say that jubilation erupted would be an understatement. But this was 1971 and the 3-point shot was years away. Now the hardwood warriors would go to a 4th, a 5th, and now a 6th overtime period before settling the score with a Cy-Fair victory.
Why did it seem destined that Cy-Fair and Wheatley would meet again in the state finals? They were just Cy-Fair, and Wheatley was ”who we thought they were”. After all, even after the Memorial game, Cy-Fair still had several important district clashes and who was to say that they would even advance through the state brackets if the did win 16-4A? Well, the team and their coach believed it, and the tightly forged Cy Fair community believed it too.
And even up to the very last game some didn’t believe it when, after Cy-Fair had just won their state semi-final game by the score of 58-55, at Gregory Gym in Austin, a little old school, trash-talking took place between the exiting Cy Fair and entering Wheatley fans. The latter group was filing in for their own Wheatley club’s semi-final game and one of them needed to let Cy Fair fans know they weren’t worried. The Wheatley fan was heard to exclaim that 58 points is what Wheatley would score by halftime at any of their games.
The next day, Cy-Fair beat Wheatley for the second time that year to claim the 1971 4A state championship by the score of 72-58.
To say that I and all other Cy-Fair fans were in a state of euphoria would be understating the ecstasy that swelled within our hearts and launched the tears of sheer unbridled joy that ran down our cheeks. As I write this portion now, I can feel some sense of the memory even these 40 years later. It was a dizzying, swirling atmoshpere on the Gregory Gym floor that day in the aftermath of the final buzzer sounding. It seemed such an instantaneous outpooring of events and emotion such as one might see in our ever present video-documented world of today in which something unexpected and shocking happens while the cameras are rolling. I don’t remember any words being exchanged, just the chaos and mass of humanity moving in slow motion, where in the same frame the dejection and bitterness that embroiled the Wheatley players and fans was evenly matched by the Cy-Fair players and fans being lifted higher and higher into basketball heaven.
And there we forever have remained.
Those are the highlights of the season, and you cannot dismiss any school with a national championship banner draped across the rafters. Jerry Mercer, Ronnie and Donald “Red” Dunlap, Bobby Metcalf, Andrew Jones (now deceased), Pat Kasper and the other team members were not only one of Houston’s all-time great teams as a “team” is defined by the performance in one year, but in 1971 when Cy-Fair was an unknown, not only did they give an identity to a growing sports powerhouse when the “city savvy” Spring Branch district supporters referred to Cy-Fair as “Cy-Who” and “Hics from the Sticks”, but they forged a spirit for the school and the community that has never subsided.
You, I am sure, are familiar with “Bobcat Fight Never Dies”, an iconic phrase that symbolizes and captues the identity for all graduates.
I know that everyone in the Cy-Fair community who rallied around the team that year still carries a piece of that magic with them in their hearts and lives. That great things are possible, if only you will believe, and love one another.
Guest Columnist Randy Foltin takes a shot from downtown for the 1978 Cy Fair Bobcats.
As it concerns touching the lives of the youth and what dreams it would inspire them to achieve. Well, here’s a photo of that 5th grader from 1971 as he shoots a jump shot in a state semi-final game in 1978 against, of course, Wheatley. The 1971 team had a direct bearing on the 1978 Cy-Fair team that also made the final four state tournament on which I was a starter. Their legend and spirit still reverberate now through the halls of the school.
And for this author of this piece, though it is not a daily occurrence, I can say that I think of that team and that time more often than one would think. There’s always a little room for magic in our lives, especially real magic that isn’t hyped, contrived or false. The events that I witnessed in 1971 were all true and came true as if though a fairy tale. In some ways, as time has removed me from the realities of that life from 40 years ago, it does seem more and more though it surely could only have been a myth or a legend, but I know it is true because I, the team, and everyone else at that school and in the community lived it. And I know that for all of those people today, despite adversity and hardship, or when everyone else has abandoned hope in a “lost cause”, that if only you will believe, despite all naysayers, that your dreams can and will come true.
I love those players and all the Cy-Fair community from that time and place. Thanks for the day and a little time to live in that real memory again…………and again and again.
As to the surprise ending that I alluded to early on in this essay, and this is an understanding of that team and that time that I only came to know well after the fact. The coach of that 1971 team, Ronnie Truitt, a man that I admired but did not know as I watched him from afar as he guided the team for the two year of their glory, played on the Milan, Indiana basketball team on which the film “Hoosiers” was based. There would be no film, but Cy-Fair had pulled off one of the greatest “Hoosiers” of all time. Heck, they did it twice in one season.
It seems so natural for our society to honor an Indiana team, as was done through that film, and rightfully so, but it has been such a “tradition” in Houston for we Houstonians to defer to others when our own accomplish the same, if not more, than others.
This coming Friday we celebrate the team’s 40th anniversary recognition at the Cy-Fair, January 28th basketball game so we can celebrate our own as one of the greatest Houston basketball teams in the history of this area
We will give them their just due. They were NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.
Tags: 1971 High School Basketball Champions, Cy Fair Bobcats
The Pecan Park Eagle 
January 25, 2011 at 4:28 pm |
Great article and greater story. It sent a chill up my back as I read it, as if I was there. Thanks for the snapshot in time.How did Cy Fair do in the Jaycee tourney in 71 and 78? ” We were great in 78″ larry
January 25, 2011 at 5:38 pm |
Cy-Fair lost to Davis, 72-65, in the Jaycee Tournament that occurred in the 1970-71 school year. In 76-77, Cy-Fair finished second to Jones in the Jaycee Tourn., but then weren’t invited back the following year as the pundits again held low expectations for that team, so they went to the 4A final four in Austin again that year in 77-78 instead.
January 25, 2011 at 10:22 pm |
Good article. I had friends at Cy-Fair who had to do chores on the
farm before they went to school.
January 27, 2011 at 10:28 pm |
Great article! I was there, I was at all Cy-Fair basketball games that year and until 1975 when I graduated. My Dad, Tommy Ward was also coaching that team, I remember all of these players and how hard the team worked to be just that, a TEAM! Dad was always so proud of the work they did together, he and Coach Truitt (RIP Ronnie, I will never forget you and what you meant to my Dad and our family) cared for this team of players as if they were their own children. Dad has never forgotten Cy-Fair HS, and such awesome memories from that era! Bobcat Fight Never Dies!!!
January 28, 2011 at 12:09 am |
I enjoyed reading this article very much. As I read it, I could feel the excitement and euphoria of that night. All of us in the stands grabbed each other, rejoicing and crying at the same time. It was as though the first few seconds after the final buzzer were a blur of exhilartation, disbelief, and shock that we had actually pulled it off. We were up against all odds. It was truly a Cinderella moment, a dream come true. I am so proud of the team, coaches, and Cy-Fair community. There was a quiet determination and resolve that pentrated the atmosphere. It was a night I shall never forget…it was a once in a lifetime moment.
January 29, 2011 at 3:26 pm |
Well, for anyone who might revisit or read this column for the first time, please allow me a moment here to revisit last night’s reunion event for the 1971 team at Cy-Fair HS. To those who expected less, well Cy-Fair did it again. The turnout was fantastic. The event was run first class. And there seemed to be a consensus “feeling” that this event was good for the soul, even more than chicken soup, to all of us who have any attachment to The Team and the time. Even as I was readying myself to go to teh event, I had this brief feeling, such as when you hear an old song from your youth, that transported me back in time as though I was readying to go to one the games in 1971.
All the players who attended were most gracious to everyone in making themselves available for photos, conversation and hugs. It seemed as if they had decided amongst themselves as a team before the event that they would “give it up” for the community one more time, and then just the team would congregate at a local eatery after all the parting goodbyes had been setttled for this intimate joining of brothers who had scored another victory to their ledger.
The long-time school prinicpal, Carlos Watkins, was there. Coaches from that time: Tommy Johnson, Tommy Ward, Lawrence Kubiak and Larry Peal (current CFISD athletic director), it was great to see you all, and thanks for your service to the school and community.
Prior to this event, I had contacted two of the local media establishments in regard to what I thought was a great opportunity to cover this wonderful story. One, a rag, and the other a trio of booobtube pretty boys. But none showed. And really it’s just as well, and really never more appropriate. As Cy-Fair in some ways during that time had been discounted by one group or another, it never stopped the team, coaches, school and community from making the reality much more impressive and meaningful than the media hype. Then as now, it ONLY served to make US the National HS Basketball Champions of 1971.
One final note. I mentioned in the article that during the 1971 season that I was just a kid, certainly one that didn’t run around with juniors and seniors in high school, as if that has ever happened. But now as a grown man I was able to meet and see these players as, more or less, my peers. I have been a bit caught of guard with the kind response I have received from this article, and I am grateful because it makes me feel as though that, well, in the end, I was able to contribute in some small way. One player last night told me that he had been moved to tears while reading it. That is a very humbling thing to hear. So thanks to Bill McCurdy for letting me relate this story and pitching in my two cents worth, and even moreso for not only recognizing a great story when all the local media sensations ignored it, but for recognizing The Team.
After all, they were NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.
January 31, 2011 at 3:03 am |
Randy, Thank you so much for your story and the update! I am Cy-Fair ’72 and was a member of the Bobcat Brigade all four years. We girls loved following our team from game to game offering full-spirited support. To this day, I can close my eyes and see Bobby Metcalf making that miraculous shot in the last second of the game…Austin, here we come! And the rest, as they say, is history…
Thanks again for putting your thoughts and memories on paper!
BFND!
Diane Mabry
January 31, 2011 at 5:39 am |
Thanks for the kind words Diane. Yes, the Bobcat Brigade, the Bobcat Band, the cheerleaders, twirlers, etc., were all wonderful spirit groups in their own right, performing and achieving at the highest level. I know I am biased, but Cy-Fair at the time was a benchmark program in academics, athletics and beyond. The Indusrial Arts department won state so many years in a row that they changed the rules so as to preclude Cy-Fair from dominating, the student paper won awards, etc. The best part was that we just had an abundance of quality people in terms of students, faculty and staff on every level that were exceedingly proud of the school and community, and in the work they performed.
I promise this will be the last note of mine, lest Bill send out the men in their nice white suits for me, but I really never got the chance to mention some specific things regarding the individual players. When the reunion was held this past Friday night, it also congregated a collection of some of the finest athletes to ever have graced the playing field(s) at Cy-Fair, and that’s saying something because there have been many. Paul Carr, Kenny Pridgeon, Ronnie and Red Dunlap, Bobby Metcalf, Pat Kasper and Jerry Mercer were elite players not just in basketball, but football as well, and some played baseball also (Larry Mathews was certainly of that caliber and had graduated only a year before).
A quick antecdote, in the fall of 1970 Cy-Fair was playing a football game at Tully Stadium versus Spring Woods. Cy-Fair had the ball and Metcalf threw a pass in the flats to Ronnie Dunlap that fell short and hit the ground. All the Cy-Fair players relaxed with disgust at this misfortune, as did we in the stands, but what only the Cy-Fair players and coaching staff knew that everyone else including Spring Woods didn’t was that it was all a staged act. The ball had been thrown laterally and was still a live ball, Ronnie Dunlap, after initially acting with the disgust after having caught the ball as it one-bounced into his hands, turned and threw the bomb of all bombs. It seemed as if it went 60 yards in the air with one of the prettiest spirals you’ve ever seen into the hands of the Cy-Fair receiver, who had been streaking down the left-hand sideline, for a TD. Despite everyone’s stunned disbelief and delayed reaction, 6 points went up on the scoreboard. And Bobby Metcalf’s throw to Ronnie Dunlap was just as important. Well done Bobby, and well done Ronnie for one of the most spectacular thows and beautiful passes I have ever seen.
OK, this is really the last, but certinly not the least. In my junior and seniors year while on the basketball team at Cy-Fair, I wore number 50. A bit of an odd number for a basketball player, and I took some razzing about it to the tune of something like “50/50 split”. But what my teammates then didn’t know was that I was the pround inheritor of the number 50 that Pat Kasper had wore while a basketball player on the 1971 team and for his remaining years at Cy-Fair. In 1971, Pat was the 6th man, more or less, off the bench.
Now let me say this, to be an underclassman on that team as the 6th man was no slouch by any means. Just knowing the level of the talent of the 5 starters would have made all of us into pine jockeys, and to be the 6th man was honor in its’ own right. Pat Kasper was the best looking, most well-built guy that I ever saw as a kid, and I wanted to be just like him. I was pretty sure that he was getting all the ladies. If the state of California had put out a travel poster during this time with the intent of luring young ladies to the state, Pat would have been on it.
Now as it concerns basketball, let me say this about Pat. This guy came to play. He was, and still is, a fighter at a level that us mere mortals could only hope to simulate at 50%. Now I am not talking about a fighter in the sense of a dirty player or someone who instigated fisticuffs on the floor. I am talking about someone who gave it all with a desire, commitment and passion about what he was doing that was only upstaged by the look in his eyes. When they talk about the tenacity of a bulldog, or even ratchet that up to a pit bull, they could all learn from Pat. We all can learn from Pat, as he along with his wife Debbie, are the greatest fighters of all time. When they talk about Bobcat fight, Pat and Debbie are the metaphoric personification of that to say the least.
I had the chance to see Pat on Friday, along with Debbie, their two beautiful daughters, and a handsome Mr. King, being a friend to that family. I didn’t get to tell him everthing I did in the above. But when I did say he was the best looking, most-well built guy I had ever seen, he did smile. Along with all the guys on the team from Squid to Larry Strait to Larry Cress and all the stars I have named, they are all my heros, but being an old number 50 such as I am, I would have to say that Pat is my hero above all the others. I know I am not the only one who holds those sentiments, as I am sure that most all his 1971 teammates feel that way as does countless numbers of old school Bobcats. Pat, you were my hero then and even moreso now, and when I grow up I hope to be just like you.
January 31, 2011 at 9:43 am |
[…] 1971: Cy Fаіr Hoosiers Wheatley […]
February 21, 2011 at 6:20 pm |
Randy, I was a 1st grader back in 71′ attending Lamkin Elem. at the time. I wish I was older then to remember all of this. I wanted for years to meet the players that meant so much to my family. I was not able to go to the event because I was out of town that weekend. I do remember well though, even though a loss, the semi final match between Cy-Fair and Wheatley in 78′ Seeing you, Felix, Hermin, Peppercorn and the rest was something I’ll never forget. I remember well when seeing the game with my older sister – Sabrina Smith 73′, she stood up when ya’ll took the lead by 2 in the 3rd quarter and yelled, “Come on Boys!, lets do a re-run of 71′”. Unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t the same, but it provided memories I’ll never forget. When I finally got into Cy Fair in the fall of 78′, Cy- Creek just opened and it was quite a while before Cy-Fair did anything close to the years of 71′ and 78′. Peppercorn’s little brother attended Creek and I believe took them to the semi-finals in 79′ or 80′
One thing that I would like is if anyone who could do this is to e-mail me back and tell me what they knew of the 5 dribblers in 71′ that travelled 145 miles dribbling the basketball to state. I know of the event quite well, but 1 in particular is special to me. You see, as stated earlier, I was only 6 years old in 1st grade when all this happened and I never really got to know this 1 person very well. He was killed in an automobile accident on his way up to Texas A&M in February of 72′. If anyone knows any stories about him, how he was, what kind of person he was, things you remember him ever saying to you or anyone, I would be forever in your debt. You see, that person, Bill Smith, was my brother. I still miss him – Rest in Peace Billy.
Thank You, Mike Smith 82′
December 1, 2011 at 5:52 am |
We (Jeff Davis High) enjoyed defeating Cy-Fair during that season. I still remember that game. I have a pix of me slapping Ron Dunlap all on his wrist and no foul was called:)
October 2, 2012 at 3:20 pm |
Randy,
Great story and article. I was looking on-line after receiving some Facebook e-mails from Coach Hargett about our upcoming 35th reunion. It’s had to believe it’s been that long; it seems like yesterday in many respects. Hope to see you at the reunion. Did you make that shot vs. Wheatley. I’ll never forget going 0-7 and fouling out in that game which still haunts me as well as Peppy playing at half mast. What if?
November 8, 2015 at 3:35 am |
Great article; it did capture the flavor and excitement of the community during that magical season.
I was on that team at the beginning of the season but my shoulder kept dislocating (football injury from that Fall) and I had to have surgery and miss being on that dream team and being coached by one of the finest coaches. I went to almost all the games though and enjoyed cheering with the rest. As a student I can still remember hearing the excitement in Carlos Watkin’s voice as he gave a blow by blow description of the Memorial game (including Bobby’s “shot”) during the morning announcements over the speaker system. (By the way, I thought the end score of that game was some ridiculously low score due to Memorial’s ball control offense as there was no play clock at that time.)
Another memory of the excitement of that final game at Gregory Gym. My grandfather who was in his seventies was with me at the doors of the gym as they opened before the game and a strong push from the crowd to get seats caused him to lose his balance and fall sliding along the wood floor. As I checked on him, he quickly rose to his feet and said “I’m not hurt, let’s get to our seats!”
That was the era of integration and Wheatley folks were not glad to lose a game they were sure to win and some of the shouting and rooting was easily misunderstood for some level of threat. Everything smoother over and it was a Houston state final that the papers covered from every angle with many pictures.
That beautiful pass in the Spring Woods football game referred to above was fantastically caught on the fingertips by Paul Carr. Somethings else most do not know, but we saw on game film was that an alert defensive tackle began running early on at Ronnie and as he released the ball he was obliterated. I couldn’t believe he still threw such a good pass.
December 17, 2016 at 2:19 pm |
Thank you Randy for a story well told. I never get tired of reading about it. But the highlight of this thread to me is reading your follow ups and the memories of those commenting.
Bill Smith was my friend from when we were 11 years old on the Tigers baseball team. He was a tough “blood” end on our junior high and freshman football teams before I lost track of what he played on the junior varsity and varsity teams. His achievements as a distance runner in track and field were probably the highlight of his athletic career. I never heard him speak and unkind word to anyone. He was everyone’s humble friend. To see him dribble in to the gym that day in Austin is still unforgettable to me.
As much time as I spent with the athletes on this team in four different sports, the one I spent the most time with was Pat Kasper. He was smart, funny, encouraging, and tenacious in making sure that Jerry Mercer and I are punished on our own practice floor before we had to face some tough opponent.
Regarding the “Texas Special” The coaches ordered and Pridgeon pulled from a Texas – Texas A&M game during the same era: it was the second year in a row we had run it. Both times Dunlap’s were involved with the play. in 69, Larry Mathews triggered the bounce pass to Ronald Dunlap who threw to Donald Dunlap for a touchdown against Elmore. In 70, I was the “hurried” QB, Ronald the “frustrated” receiver 1/thrower 2, and Carr the final receiver against Spring Woods. Ironically, these were miracle plays that went under-reported because they were the last plays in the half of games we lost in the end. Spring woods did sniff out the play. However, the speed of Carr and the tremendous arm that Ronald Dunlap had would have made it a good play even if it had not been a trick. It was humbling to me to play quarterback on a team with a guy with a better arm (RD) playing running back and a sophomore back up (Kenny Pridgeon) who was a better runner than I was.
Thanks again for the memories. I hope to meet you someday Randy.
February 21, 2017 at 1:45 pm
Great stuff Bobby. With all respect, as a player on the team, I have a different memory from the game itself and the film, since we are naming names on the A&M bounce pass, that was thrown by Ronnie in the Cy-Fair/BC Elmore thriller in 1969. I am fairly confident the receiver of that pass was the state winning 120 yd 3A hurdler Glenn Schmidt, not Donnie, who was completely uncovered on that play. That was one of the craziest football games I ever witnessed, with Elmore winning 54-51, under questionable circumstances and high tensioned crowd involvement. All this said, many of my classmates greatest memory was your 3/4 court shot with 3 seconds left in Memorial high school game that led to a must win for playoff qualification. The whole basketball state championship run of 1971was riding on that unbelievable shot. By the way, can you share what happened in the time-out before and what you were thinking when you shot it?
November 8, 2015 at 3:53 am |
One more post:
What inspired me to write in the first place was the request of Mike Smith to know more about his older brother Billy.
Billy was a backup on the ’71 football team and was a friend to many, my self included. I was not a close friend but conversed him a lot about team matters. He was one of those rare people that are harmless, upbeat and very positive towards others. He complemented me to the point that in my immaturity I took him for granted. I should have been appreciating him for his rare humility, open-ness and kindness. Anyway, in my experience he was a fun person and one of those crazy dribblers from Cy-Fair HS to Gregory Gym for the state class 4A final four and he was captured in a big picture on the Cy-Fair reporter the week of the game.
As other students, I was shocked at his untimely death and can feel Mike’s loss of not getting to know his fine brother.
November 8, 2015 at 4:21 am |
One more personal account about the excitement about the Cy-Fair/ Wheatley final:
Before the game, my grandfather was with me at the exterior doors of Gregory Gym and as the doors were unlocked and opened to the inside there was a very strong surge from the many that were waiting behind us. Being young, I was able to adjust to the surge but my “Pappy” was thrown off-balance and fell sliding across the floor on his back. As I checked on him he quickly rose to his feet and said he was okay and that we needed to get upstairs to find good seating. A good thing we went swiftly, for that gym became packed to the gills with Houstonians from Cy-Fair and from Wheatley. What a game.
March 31, 2017 at 12:38 am |
I just wanted to pass on that in Carmine, Texas (West of Brenham on 290 there is the Texas High School Basketball museum worth seeing. It has a display commemorating Coach Truitt and the ’71 Cy-Fair team. The museum is very interesting and worth the time taken to visit. Coach Bob Springer, the museum curator, and who was the basketball coach at Sam Houston HS in Houston that played Cy-Fair that year and was a good friend to Coach Truitt, will schedule a visit for you. Bob is a pleasant and interesting man and if you are fortunate, he will be able to visit with you. Next time you are on the road to Austin, take break a get something at the fine bakery around the corner and see it.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.poundingtherock.com/platform/amp/2011/3/16/2052735/photo-essay-texas-basketball
June 18, 2021 at 11:29 pm |
Thanks for the article. I was telling my husband, who was a bobcat @ Refugio High, (a big time football high school, as you are probably very aware) about the year we won state in basketball. He’s driving. So I “googled” & found your article. I read much of it to him. He appreciates a good sports story. Great article, I appreciate the personal details.
Robyn Lawrence-Detert
Bobcat, 1973
Oh & I was fortunate enough to attend the winning state championship game & ride home on the bus.
My husband retired & we moved to Central Texas, just wks before CyFair won state in football for the 1st time.
I also accidentally happened upon the last inning of a Cyfair baseball game, tagging along with my husband who was at the park to watch one of his teams. They won, it was the state game! Cyfair did it again!
My husband own & live on a little horse ranch.