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Random Notebook Thoughts, 10/01/13

October 1, 2013

One of the Original 80 metal Buffalo Medallions from Buff Stadium in Houston (1928-1961)

Notebook Observations …

1) Stan Musial played his last game in the big leagues 50 years ago last Sunday on September 29, 1963.

2) Tampa Bay defeated Texas last night by a 5-2 count in a special one-game extension of the regular season to determine which club moves forward as the second wild card in the American League playoffs.

3) Evan Longoria in the Texas game was the 7th time he has homered in his club’s last regular season game, pulling him into a one-homer lead over the great Stan Musial in this arcane record category.

4) The Rangers‘ loss to the Rays assures their fans that their club will not disappoint them again in the World Series for the third year in a row.

5) The 2013 performance of the San Francisco Giants is proof that the World Champs in two of the previous three years (2012 and 2010) were not put together as a dynasty, but as a patchwork short-term peak champion that was capable of winning two World Series in three years and then going to seed.

6) Hopefully, the disastrous 2013 record of the Houston Astros has proven to club ownership and management that they can ill afford to let everything go to hell for a fourth year in a row. 2013 wasn’t merely a crash, but a total implosion of hope, awareness, contact, and caring among fans for the fortunes of their club. It was practically impossible to build any affinity for a roster that changed almost daily. All a fan could know for sure was that the new player coming in was going to be another minor leaguer coming in to try and prove himself. Most fans could not even follow the team because of the most screwed-up, greed-driven television plan in club history – and most of those who could get the games stopped watching sometime during the summer, leaving the team with a TV audience of an optimistic 900 fans per game by season’s end. Signing Lance Berkman and a few legitimate lower cost free agents could have been enough to avoid a third straight 100 plus losses season in 2013, but the Astros chose to gut every cost they could find and cast their fates to the widely whispered plan for returning to contention by 2015. That 15-game asteroid-weighted losing streak that took the boys to the finish line this year more truly suggests that the club will be lucky enough, George Springer notwithstanding,, to be even on a clear road to mediocrity by 2015.

7) There used to be a guy named Jackie Price who could do amazing things with a baseball. He made his living at ballparks showing off these skills and even made a motion picture short subject feature which played the whole country showing off his entire amazing routine. Friend Mike McCroskey saw Price in that movie at the late August showing of old baseball films in August at the Museum of Fine Arts, but neither of us could remember his name at the time we discussed it the other day. It finally bubbled up from the ooze of my ancient memories yesterday. (The ooze is always the first place I look for the answer needed for most ancient questions. Then I go to Google, if that fails – and also to check on my memory. I just went there for confirmation – where I learned that Price had been a seven game big leaguer, once upon a time, and to be reminded that he was known in his act as “The Clown Prince of Baseball”.

I saw Jackie Price perform at Buff Stadium once. He shagged fly balls in the outfield while also driving a jeep to catch up with the fungoed baseballs. He caught a fastball pitcher while his back was turned to the mound and he was bent over looking for the ball between his legs. He pitched three baseballs simultaneously through three separately hanging rubber tires from about 60 feet, six inches away. He did all kinds of amazing and dangerous things as the crowd “ooohed” and “awwwed”.

It was a simpler time. And our minds were more simply entertained.

8) Many times, when I start feeling a little disconnected from all the sweet spots of my happy times as a kid and young man in Houston, I think of the eighty metal buffalo medallions that once rimmed the high exterior grandstand walls at old Buff Stadium. They were there before and after my earliest of times. And a few have survived to this day. They are each permeated with the vibrations of all the organ music that ever played in the old park. They were there for all the peak up and down moments of my baseball kid fan seasons with the Houston Buffs. And when I think of them again today, I am no longer alone and disconnected from the heart of my early sandlot baseball joy. I am home.

9) Have a great Tuesday, everybody!

Tags:random thoughts
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Mariano Rivera in Quiet Classy Act in Houston

September 30, 2013

L-R: Jeff Luhnow, Reif Ryan, Mariano Rivera, Opie Otterstad, Roger Clemens and Milo Hamilton celebrate the end of Mario's great career

L-R: Jeff Luhnow, Reid Ryan, Mariano Rivera, Opie Otterstad, Roger Clemens and Milo Hamilton celebrate and honor the end of Mario’s great career

Sunday, September 29, 2013 saw the merciful end of a log baseball season for Houston Astro fans as the club shut it down with a live 15-game losing streak they will take with them into the 2014 season. It took 14 innings for a 1-1 ties between the Astros and the New York Yankees to melt down into a 5-1 Houston loss, but the guys managed to get it there in keeping with the way their abilities and luck have been playing out all season. As you undoubtedly know by now (and that’s a prefacing statement that begs the question of why I’m telling you again here), the Astros finished their first season in the American League with a record of 51 wins and 111 defeats, the worst team mark in the major leagues for 2013. May it now all rest in peace with a dose of team leadership resolve, one way or another, to put a major league team on the field in 2014 and to succeed in getting the Astros games viewable by audience that is larger than the 900 fans who were reportedly still watching the team via Comcast late in this 2013 season.

Astros playing record aside, a couple of great things did happen at Minute Maid Park Sunday. One you probably know about. The other, I think not – unless you happen to be Mariano Rivera and his family, Mike McCroskey and his daughter, Meghan McCroskey, or a lady from Beaumont named Thompson and her little son, Elijah Thompson. It is a story that plays out in serendipity, on heavenly wings and a background of harps, about the hunger of a young kid for a souvenir from his hero, and through the heart of a champion who was just retiring from baseball today as the greatest closing reliever in the history of the game.

Serendipity lives.

Mariano Rivera Honored Pre-Game by Astros. Mike McCroskey and daughter Meghan McCroskey had gone early to the game to be there for the pre-game honoring of Mariano Rivera. They have four season seats on the ground level rail, just beyond the visitors’ dugout on the third base side. The “problem” was, the people who were to go with them to this last game of the season cancelled out at the last-minute, leaving the McCroskeys with two tickets to two empty seats. That was OK with both Mike and Meghan. As devout fans, they were prepared to ride it out with two empties beside them.

It was all right, that is, until they arrived to find themselves surrounded by Yankee fans and under some potential pressure from the thought of having to encounter a couple of obnoxious Yankee fan prime section seat busters at some point. In fact, a little Yankee fan boy with a sign was already in one of the four McCroskey seats when Mike and Meghan arrived. His mother was sitting in a seat behind them. Rather than wait for a pot luck discussion with less pleasant Yankee fan invaders, Mike took the initiative of inviting the boy and his mother to both join him and Meghan in those two extra seats they owned. The invitees were a Mrs. Thompson and her son Elijah, who turned eight years old today, Monday, September 30, 1913. The father was in the ballpark too, but he apparently was sitting some thirty rows back and there was no more field-side room.

The Thompsons were Yankee fans, as reported. but they were from Beaumont, Mike’s birthplace, and that made their presence OK. Little Elijah Thompson carried with him a sign that read: “Please sign a ball for me, Mario! I’m turning 8 tomorrow!”

Unfortunately for little Elijah and all other autograph hopefuls. that wasn’t going to happen. After being greeted at home plate by Astros President Reid Ryan and Milo Hamilton, former Yankee teammate Roger Clemens and manager Joe Torre, Mariano was presented with a beautiful original oil painting of his career by artist Opie Otterstad before he graciously spoke to the Houston crowd, asking for their forgiveness and understanding as to why he was not playing in Houston or signing autographs en masse on this special day. Rivera basically wanted that moment in Yankee Stadium when Jeter and Pettitte came out to remove him from his last mound stint to be his final memory of active play. He was also simply too exhausted to sign for the thousands he would have to please in Houston this day and was just too emotionally spent to start. Four or five people still got to him for autographs before his eturn to the Yankee clubhouse.

Old and New Yankee Stadiums were the places that Mario Rivera wanted to remember as the beginning and end of his baseball career.

The Houston fans took Mariano Rivera’s Yankee Stadium “last memory wishes” in stride and understanding. That is, most of them did.

The two Rivera sons came by to greet the MMP crowd.

Later, when no Yankee players of note came down the line to sign for people on the rail prior to the game, Little Elijah Thompson was still holding up his birthday signing appeal card when two teenage boys in black Yankee tee shirts came by the rail, talking with fans. It turns out that they were the sons of Mariano Rivera and they had been attracted into brief conversation with Elijah because of his sign. After no more than a minute, they went away, finally disappearing into the Yankee dugout. About the third inning of the game, one of the attendants came out of the Yankee dugout and approached young Elijah Thompson from the field side of the seating rail.

Little Elijah Thompson (back turned) gets ready to receive the surprise of his young lifetime from Mariano Rivera.

Little Elijah Thompson (back turned) gets ready to receive the surprise gift of his young lifetime from Mariano Rivera.

“This is for you,” the attendant said, as he handed to Elijah a brand new official MLB ball with an autograph on the sweet spot that read “Mariano Rivera.”

The last autographed ball signed by Mariano Rivera during the total period of his playing career went to Elijah Thompson of Beaumont, TX, one day prior to his 8th birthday.

This was not just any autographed ball. – This was the only and last baseball signed by Mariano Rivera on the the last day of the last game in his team career. Mariano the Man with THE BIG HEART, absolutely did the right thing.

Never underestimate the heart of a champion.

Happy 8th Birthday, Elijah Thompson, wherever you are. Hope you keep that ball safe forever.

And thank you, Michael and Meghan McCroskey, for being the turning wheels on seredipity – and the archangels that made little Elijah Thompson’s 8th birthday one for the ages.

Footnote on Serendipity: This whole chain of events unfolded yesterday, September 29th, which also happens to be the annual Feast Day of St. Michael the Archangel – and we had no idea of that additional spine-chilling detail until Tom Hunter left his comment below. Even that cartoon of Mike McCroskey as “Saint Michael” came before this writer even knew that yesterday was actually St. Michael’s Feast Day.

What’s it all mean? Who knows for sure. It was either an incredible collision of connecting serial coincidences in movement – or else – there was an apparently powerful run of spiritual forces going on in behalf of us all yesterday.

Believe it or not? As always, that decision is up to each of us, but you can put me down on the believer side.

Happy 8th Birthday again, Elijah Thompson. Your story was a gift to the world about love, and heart, and the the spiritual gift to the giver that only comes from unconditional giving.

Tags:Mariano Rivera's Last Career Era Autograph
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Goodbye and Good Luck to Andy Pettitte

September 29, 2013

Andy Pettitte flashes his homecoming retirement smile.

Andy Pettitte flashes his homecoming smile.

Given a choice about how I care to spend some precious Sunday morning time writing a column today, I felt I had to pick between the Astros determined drive to end their worst ever season with a 15-game losing streak or just use the time and space to say goodbye to one of my favorite people in baseball, the great Andy Pettitte.

It was a no-brainer on my passion scale. I chose the latter

The famous Pettitte
Peekaboo Look

By taking out the Astros, 2-1, yesterday at Minute Maid Park, Andy Pettitte finished his season at 11-11, thus assuring himself of never having completed any of his 18 big league seasons with a losing record. It was also his first complete game since 2006.

Andy’s game also endowed Chris Carter with a couple of minor spots in the great lefty’s career record book. If Andy hereafter actually stays retired, Carter’s single to left in the bottom of the 9th will forever stand as the last relatively rare hit that any big leaguer ever recorded against the Yankee stud-lefty. Carter’s earlier RBI credit for the only Astros’ run Saturday also should hold as the last time anybody knocked in a run against Any Pettitte in an official big league game.

I was privileged to have met Andy Pettitte in the reception room of the Houston Baseball DInner back in 1996, but, in spite of his modest kindness toward this older fan, I doubt he would remember it all. I was just one of the many who clamored for the opportunity that night to greet and get an autograph from the then 24-year old pitching phenomenon.

How little we knew that long ago night just how great he was going to be over time. His record 19 playoff wins is a record too, among his many others, that’s likely to last for a very long time.

Everything on the field about the man’s pitching career, short of not reaching the magic 300-win total, says Hall of Fame candidate for sure, in my eyes. I also like the way his immediate honesty to one-time personal use of HGH for quick injury recovery set him apart from most others who faced public and congressional scrutiny as a result of the steroid use investigations. It seems that the pathway to resolution works faster with forthrightness and honesty.

I love what I know of the man’s character, family life, and value system and I thank him for all he did as a decent and talented man to make watching baseball the greatest game in the world.

Andy finished his career with an overall record of 256 wins against 153 losses and E.R.A. of 3.85. For additional statistical information about his entire career, please move your search from there to Baseball Refeence.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pettian01.shtml

Next, here’s a link to basic information about Andy Pettitte. It’s not everything, but it’s a good place to examine the man’s core accomplishments:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Pettitte

Good Luck and Godspeed to you and your family, Andy Pettitte – and thanks again for some great baseball memories.

Tags:Andy Petttitte Retires
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If “The Producers” Had Been About Baseball

September 28, 2013

The Producers
Max and Leo

Max Bialystock was the owner of a mediocre major league baseball club called the Houston Asteroids. “No matter how you talk them up to be in the spring,” Max used to say. “they always come crashing to earth by the Fourth of July. The only thing we’ve got right in twenty years is the name. They are asteroids all the way – and their reality is gravity. It gets them every time. I don’t know how much longer we can keep getting the fans to buy into this crap we pull every year. And now, worse than ever, we face going into spring with no prospects coming up and a bunch of over-paid and over-weight veterans who are almost too fat to walk over and pick up their paychecks, let alone pick up a bat with hits in it! – Mother of Mercy, what do we do now?”

Leo Bloom was the new President of the Asteroids, hired by Bialystock to work some kind of miracle for his beleaguered owner/boss. He heard his boss make that desperate statement and immediately felt the strong need to say something that would come across as both consoling and wise. “Well, Max, as I see it,” Leo said, “you’ve given Houston your very best for two decades – and now that effort has become a horse that’s finally brought you to a fork in the road.”

Max: “Fork in the road? Don’t serve me up a salad, Leo. What are you talking about?”

Leo: “You have to make a decision between one of two new courses because you now understand that you can’t keep doing what you have been doing. Nobody is going to buy the same old crapola for another season.”

Max: “And what are my choices?”

Leo: “Number One, you can sell the team. Find some rube who wants to be a major league baseball club owner and sell him or his group the club for about a gazillion dollars more than you paid for it.”

Max: “That sounds pretty good, but what else do you see?”

Leo: “Or you can do what it takes to put a winning ball club on the field, one that possesses the anti-gravity spine of talent that won’t allow them to fall to earth by mid-summer. You have the capital to do it, if you also have the will to let me run the show and pick the people who can get us there. And don’t be scared. Remember that there are always three gradient levels that define the phrase “winning team”: (1) Too good to lose. – This level’s almost unattainable. Only the Yankee Dynasty teams have come close to meeting the standards for perfection; (2) Playoff Competitive. – You build a club that can make it to the playoffs every year and hopefully crash the World Series once or twice a decade; (3) Fragrantly Competitive. – Now you’re talking. These are the clubs that smell like winners to the fans, even though they really aren’t. These clubs are the ones that hang close to August 31st every year, even though they have by then revealed a talent hole somewhere on the field that will keep them out of the playoffs. The challenge here is to do some personnel changes each off-season that are intended to look like improvement, even though they are mostly nothing more than a change of faces.

Max: “Those ‘keep the club’ alternatives all sound too expensive to me, Leo – and I’ve been doing this club ownership thing too long to run another sham on the fans. If I’m going to run a good sham again, I’d rather do it on a buyer for the club.

Leo: “I understand, Max, but wait a minute. I think I may have hit upon the fact that your mismanagement of things has kicked open a rare third alternative to sell or rebuild.”

Max: “What do you mean, Leo?”

Leo: (musing to himself) “Heh, heh, heh, amazing. I’ve been looking over your books for the past three years and it’s absolutely amazing, Max. But under the right circumstances, a producer/club owner could make more money with a bad club/flop than he could with a winning-hit operation.”

Max: (eyes open in wild excitement) “Tell me more, Leo! I’m all ears.”

Leo: “It’s simple. You’ve been getting people to the ball park, but you’ve been paying too many over-the-hill bozos way too much money. Here’s what you do: (1) unload the fat cats on the payroll; (2) tell the fans we are going to rebuild the team from the ground up, starting with the farm system; (3) only hire or promote minimum wage guys for the roster next year; (4) tell the fans that they we need their patient support for the next 4-5 years while the club is being totally rebuilt; (4) sell the hell out of advance season tickets, offering small discounts for multiple year purchases. – Forget the discount. Tell them that multiple season ticket buyers will be protecting themselves from future surcharges for new seating licenses; (5) make sure the local TV screw-up never gets fixed. Make people come to the ball park if they want to see our losers play. Lay off all the unnecessary people at the ballpark and put some seat watchers out there to record which seats are being sold and never used. (6) Take all the purchased seat locations that are never used and sell them again. There’s no point in letting a sale go to waste on a purchaser who never shows up to use what he or she bought. (7) Go this route and the Asteroids will make more money with a guaranteed low payroll loser than they ever made with a team that was designed to only look like a winner.”

Max: (dancing merrily in a circle around Bloom) “Leo, You’ve just convinced me – and you’ve just earned yourself a 5% stock option in the club, as well. Now let’s do lunch and then call a media conference to reveal our rebuilding plans to the world.”

Tags:Producers Baseball Parody
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The SW Texas League: My Grandfather’s World

September 27, 2013

The 1910 Beeville Orange Growers
Southwest Texas League
1910-11

The Southwest Texas League: It started with the best of intentions

The Class D Southwest Texas League lasted only two years back in 1910-11. Its six teams included the Bay City Rice Eaters, the Beeville Orange Growers, the Brownsville Brownies, the Corpus Christi Pelicans, the Laredo Bermudas, and the Victoria Rosebuds. Brownsville won the 1910 pennant and was awarded a beautiful trophy as their reward. Beeville won the 1911crown when playoff opponent Bay City refused to play them in a championship series due to some still live grievances the Bay Citians held for Beeville and the behavior of their fans. By this time, all unresolved team feuds were moot to the fact that the league was now busted financially and out of business. Before the final death rattle, the league office tried to retrieve the championship trophy from Brownsville so they could transfer it to the 1911 winner. Brownsville reacted firmly, in effect, sending the league this message: “The 1910 trophy belongs to Brownsville. Go buy another one for this year’s winner.” It never happened. Beeville did not win their championship on the field. And their was no money left for a new one, anyway. The trophy and the league were done.

Round Up the Usual Suspects

W.O. McCurdy
Publisher/Editor
The Beeville Bee
1886-1913

It’s easy to make an unscientific case for the usual reasons for failure. When human organizations of any kind are governed by the driving forces of ego, greed, and a lack of concern for others, things can go bad fast. The variables attendant to keeping baseball trusted and credible also kick in like mules. Not surprisingly, gambling and drinking figured into the failures of trust and integrity between participating towns. Here’s what my grandfather, William O. McCurdy I, Publisher and Editor of the Beeville Bee (1886-1913), wrote about the situation following a three-game sweep of the visitors from Beeville down in Brownsville in 1911, as quoted in this re-print from the Victoria Advocate:

“As was expected, the Orange Growers lost all three games to the Brownies. Gambling on baseball has certainly played havoc with baseball as a clean sport. The national game is all right as long as all gambling is prohibited, and all who best on the game should be prosecuted. This condition is not so bad in Beeville as it is in the Rio Grande cities. Down there they bet a good sum of money and are going to do their best to win that money, whether they do so fairly or otherwise. These umpires are easily bribed and many a good ball team loses a ball game because the umpire is receiving a commission. One umpire can win more games than a lot full of Ty Cobbs.” – W.O. McCurdy, Beeville Bee, as quoted in the Victoria Advocate, 4/22/11.

Grandfather McCurdy was also convinced that baseball scouts who doubled as game umpires were also subject to calling balls and strikes in favor of the players they represented. If the umpire/agent’s client was the batter, he was likely to draw a four pitch walk. If the pitcher was the umpire-man’s client, he had a good chance of getting a three called strike “K” by pitching way inside or way outside. We may only suppose that things then got as fair as possible only when the umpire was the representative for both pitcher and batter – and he had no team money behind his game-calling choices.

Other complaints about play in the SWT League included widespread fan rowdyism and drinking at games that often spilled onto the field as fighting between home crowds and visiting teams, poor gate proceeds, and clubs missing paydays of their players due to the lack of funds.

Failure to Communicate

Base Ball Today
Beeville, Texas
Early 20th Century

It happened when the league and Brownsville ran into different understandings about the temporary/permanent presence of the championship trophy down in the Valley town in 1910, and it happened again, big time, when Victoria withdrew from the league in 1911 because of what they felt was a blanket bias against their city by the other teams in the circuit. When they tried to reclaim their $500 deposit that all clubs had been required to put up at the start, they learned that only $100 was coming back to them because most of these monies had been used to help Corpus Christi make payroll and to take care of other unspecified league office expenses. There had been no clear discussion or written contract set up for how the deposit money could be used when it was collected.

Grandfather McCurdy chose a newspaer masthead that bore the full weight of his great expectations. He once wrote that "a newspaper must never grow larger than its search for the truth". I've always liked knowing that fact about the grandafther I never got to meet.

Grandfather McCurdy chose a newspaper masthead that bore the full weight of his great expectations. He once wrote that “a newspaper must never grow larger than its search for the truth”. I’ve always liked knowing that fact about the grandfather I never got to meet.

Goodbye, Southwest Texas League!

Beeville did enjoy having future UT great Coach Billy Disch join them as Manager of the Orange Growers for most of the 1911 season, but even that cherished figure could not offset the climate that killed this effort to cultivate organized baseball in South Texas. Sadly for my dad and me, Grandfather McCurdy died of tuberculosis in 1913. My dad had to grow up from age 3 without him. And I never even had the chance to know him – except through his 27 years of writing for The Beevile Bee.

Hello, Native Major Leaguers!

In spite of the SWTL failure, the 3,062 people who made up the population of Beeville in 1920 apparently had a baseball gene running through their bloodlines. Shortly before and after 1920, three native sons of Beeville had gone on to successful careers in the big leagues. They were Melvin “Bert” Gallia, RHP, Curtis “Curt” Walker, OF, and Lloyd “Lefty” Brown, LHP. For more information, check out this earlier column I wrote on the total history of organized baseball in my birthplace of Beeville, Texas on 6/26/2012. I have a little clearer idea today of what went amiss in the SWTL, but this is still a nice survey of organized baseball history in the place that is now a city of 14,000 people.

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/professional-baseball-in-beeville-texas/

Have a nice day!

Tags:Editor, Southwest Texas League, W.O. McCurdy
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Top 10 Reasons for Astros’ Record Losing Year

September 26, 2013

“What we have here is – failure to communicate.” – Cool Hand Luke.

Top Ten Reasons for The Astros Record Losing Year

10) The other teams had much better players in 2013.

9) Reason # 10 was also true during the club’s previous record losing years of 2012 and 2011.

8) The Astros are getting “better” at breaking bad.

7) The club is rebuilding. Nobody wins when they are rebuilding.

6) The club misses Carlos Lee, but Chris Carter is working hard at fulfilling that role on the cheap.

5) The DH. All the good ones play for other teams.

4} The Astros got to the World Series in 2005. That’s enough winning for one century.

3) It’s being in the much tougher American League that keeps the Astros down.

2) Baseball is a business. Sometimes businesses have to take a hit for the company profit line.

1) The Astros did their darndest to keep this horrible record year a secret, but, somehow, 900 people found a way to see their games on TV – and they told everybody else.

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If you have your own top ten list answers to this same subject, please post them below as comments on today’s topic.

Tags:Top 10 Reasons Astros So Bad
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Sept. 11, 1965: First Astrodome Football Game

September 25, 2013

UH had little to growl about in the first football game played at the Astrodome on 9/11/1965. The Cougars lost, 14-0, to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a day game.

In 1965, when the Houston Oilers pulled out of the plan to make the brand new Harris County Domed Stadium their home too, it may have been a decision helped along by Judge Hofheinz’s brainstorming choice to commercially rename the groundbreaking new facility in his own baseball club’s favor as the Astrodome. Regardless of the actual cause behind the Oilers’ pick to play their NFL home games at Rice Stadium that year. it left the door open for The University of Houston, the Dome’s other fall sport tenant, to play the first football game in the Astrodome.

The date was Saturday, September 11, 1965, and it was a big deal, at least, for one other reason. The game marked the UH introduction of Warren McVea, the first black player in the university’s history. And it wasn’t just that factor alone. McVea came wrapped in more great expectations than a fully trimmed and decorated Christmas tree.

It just wasn’t meant to be a great day for Warren McVea and the Houston Cougars. From McVea’s fumble of the game opening kickoff to the effective passing arm of Tulsa quarterback Bill Anderson, it was all Golden Hurricane Day in the first football game ever played in the air-conditioned Astrodome.

Here’s how The Ada (OK) Evening News handled the AP story on Page 11 of their Sunday, September 12, 1965 edition:

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GOLDEN HURRICANE WINGS WAY BY HOUSTON, 14-0

Anderson Hurls Two TD Passes

Houston, Tex. (AP) – Bill Anderson, a former defensive halfback, threw two touchdown passes Saturday in leading the 1965 edition of the aerial minded Tulsa Golden Hurricane to a 14-0 victory over the University of Houston in the air-conditioned Astrodome.

A crowd of 37,138 escaped 96-degree temperatures by moving indoors to witness the nationally televised game that brought football to the dusty turf of the $31.6 million (dollar) domed structure.

Houston was a narrow favorite, but Anderson’s passes, spectacular catches by Howard Twilley and Neal Sweeny, and a rugged Hurricane defense that caused four Houston fumbles permitted Tulsa domination most of the way.

Houston crossed midfield only three times – under its own power in the third and final periods and after a Tulsa punt traveled only 18 yards in the fourth. The Cougars got no deeper than the Tulsa 30.

A few fists flew and two players were ejected as the former Missouri Valley Conference rivals met for the 16th time.

Referee John Overby stepped in quickly to end a third period flare-up by ejecting Calvin Enderli, Houston tackle, and Sheldon Moomaw, Tulsa guard, before either connected with a damaging blow.

Anderson specialized on defense last year while serving as a seldom used understudy to Jerry Rhome, the collegiate ebon champion, but his passes triggered every offensive threat as the Bluebonnet Bowl champions moved to their seventh consecutive victory.

Both of Anderson’s touchdown passes came in the second period, a six-yarder to Twilley and an eight-yarder to Sweeny. The scoring drives were good for 67 and 42 yards with Anderson contributing 119 yards by completing 10 of 12 pass attempts.

Starting from his own 41, Anderson got another drive under the way in the closing minutes, before a fumble by Twilley, after a five-yard pass completion, enabled Houston to take over on the Cougar six.

Twilley was the favorite receiver as Anderson completed 25 of 47 passes for 230 yards. He had only one interception. Twilley’s 11 receptions covered 111 yards.

Four Houston first half fumbles were charged to Warren McVea, a sophomore speedster who scored 591 points during his schoolboy career at San Antonio’s Brackenridge High.

McVea carried 11 times for a net of 21 yards. Dick Post led Houston with 37 yards in 10 plays, while Ken Parsons led Tulsa with 34 yards in 10.

Game Stat Categories	TULSA	HOUSTON
First Downs	15	11
Rushing Yardage	91	111
Passing Yardage	230	109
Passes: Comp/Attempts	25/47	8/20
Passes Intercepted By	1	1
Punts-Ave Yards	8-36.1	7-40.3
Fumbles Lost	1	4
Penalty Yards	56	35

Scoring	1^st Quarter	2^nd Quarter	3^rd Quarter	4^th Quarter	FINAL
TULSA	0	14	0	0	14
HOUSTON	0	0	0	0	0

Scoring By Players	TULSA	HOUSTON
1^st Quarter	0	0
2^nd Quarter
Tulsa– Twilley, TD, 6 yard pass from Anderson (Twilley, PAT)	7	0
Tulsa– Sweeny, TD, 8 yard pass from Anderson (Twilley, PAT)	14	0
3^rd Quarter
4^th Quarter
FINAL SCORE	14	0
ATTENDANCE ->	37,138

– Ada (OK) Evening News, Sunday, September 12, 1965, Page 11

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Tags:1st Astrodome football game
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Sept. 23,1967: Great Day for Cougars!

September 24, 2013

UH 37 – Michigan State 7.
East Lansing, Michigan
September 23, 1967

UH’s Wondrous Warren McVea (with his number 42 only visible as 2) takes off to the right on a 50-yard run in the second quarter that will result in several faked out jock straps strewn one by one on the grass of the Michigan State side of the field as he winds up eventually scoring near the far left side pylon.

Here’s how The Port Arthur News handled the Associated Press story on Page 14 of their Sunday, September 24, 1967 edition:

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GREAT DAY FOR COUGARS!

Mighty Spartans Fall, 37-7

East Lansing, Mich. (AP) Long bomb artist Dick Woodall and slithery Warren McVea led Houston to a smashing 37-7 football upset of third-ranked Michigan State, the defending Big Ten champions.

It was the first loss for the Spartans since the 1966 Rose Bowl and their worst beating since 1947, when Michigan pounded them 55-0.

Coach Bill Yeoman of Houston, formerly an assistant to Coach Duffy Daugherty, was asked if he was surprised by the 30-point victory by his unranked Cougars.

“Man,” drawled Yeoman in the dressing room, “that’s like asking Custer if he was surprised about all those Indians.”

Daugherty said the team tutored by his former aide deserved to win.

Warren McVea

McVea, a 5-foot-8 halfback who averaged 10 yards per carry the past two seasons, zipped away on a touchdown sprint of 50 yards, (earlier) cut loose on a 48-yard run deep into MSU territory and piled up 155 yards rushing in the rout.

“You had to be close to him to appreciate some of his faking,” Daugherty praised. “He’s the quickest runner I’ve seen in a long time.”

Woodall, a 6-foot-1 senior, came back from an ankle injury last week to hit touchdown passes of 77 yards to end Ken Hebert on a 77-yard play and flanker Don Bean on a 76-yard play, both in the second half.

The Cougars, fresh from a 33-13 trouncing of Florida State last weekend, posed the first test for the Spartans, who had a seasoned offense built around quarterback Jimmy Rae.

But the 6-foot-1 Woodall, also a senior, outsparkled Michigan State’s attack, and McVea, who cut loose on a 48-yard run in the first quarter, had a 105 yards rushing in the first half.

Spartans Fizzle

The Spartans offense fizzled at several key junctures, including advance to the Houston three and 10, where a penalty helped the Cougars halt the Spartans.

But Houston throttled Michigan State’s passing game at key points, too, turning an interception by Mike Simpson into a 59-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left in the game.

An interception by Tom Paciorek gave Houston possession on its 39 while the Cougars trailed 7-3 in the second period. Ken Bailey, in relief at quarterback, passed 29 yards to Hebert. McVea, a swift, squirmy sprinter, (then) broke for 50 yards up the middle and scored the touchdown that put Houston on top to stay.

On the second play after an MSU punt, Woodall hit the streaking Hebert for the 77-yard touchdown that gave Houston a ten point lead, 17-7 (in the third quarter).

Spartans Pass

The Spartans came back passing, with Raye hitting end Al Brenner for 13 yards, but successive passes went incomplete and Michigan State punted.

An exchange of punts followed and Houston set up on its 11. McVea ran for 14 yards on the first play. Then Woodall lofted a bomb to Bean, who sprinted in on a 76-yard play. (UH now led, 24-7.)

Six plays carried 66 yards in Michigan State’s only scoring march. Thomas took a pitchout from Raye and skirted the left sideline on his 44-yard touchdown trip (1st Quarter, giving MSU a 7-3 lead.)

Daugherty had worried about his defense, which was riddled by losses from graduation. Bubba Smith, George Webster, and Charlie Thornhill were among the veterans who went to the professional ranks. Daugherty learned his fears were not unfounded.

155 for McVea

McVea, only 5-foot-8, did ballet steps as he slithered easily through the MSU defense on his 50-yard scoring run. The little zipper, who average 10 yards per carry in his first two seasons as a college player, had 155 yards rushing for the afternoon. Paul Gipson was (the) second top rusher for the Cougars with 58 yards.

Thomas led MSU statistics with 60 yards rushing – most of it in his touchdown bolt. Raye, who been noted as a running quarterback, was held to 45 yards on the ground. Dwight Lee made 38 yards for MSU.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve taken our lumps like that,” MSU Coach Duffy Daugherty concluded in a sidebar comment after the game.

Game Stat Categories	HOUSTON	MICHIGAN STATE
First Downs	13	15
Rushing Yardage	200	174
Passing Yardage	216	133
Return Yardage	120	227
Passes: Comp/Att/Int	5/12/1	10/24/3
Punts-Ave Yards	7-44	8-36
Fumbles Lost	0	0
Penalty Yards	25	67

Scoring	1^st Quarter	2^nd Quarter	3^rd Quarter	4^th Quarter	FINAL
Houston	3	7	7	20	37
Michigan St	0	7	0	0	7

Scoring By Players	HOUSTON	MICHIGAN STATE
1^st Quarter
UH – Hebert, FG	3	0
2^nd Quarter
MS – Thomas, TD, 44 yard run (unreadable PAT)	3	7
UH – McVea, TD, 50 yard run (Hebert PAT)	10	7
3^rd Quarter
UH – Hebert, TD, 77 yard pass from Woodall (Hebert PAT)	17	7
4^th Quarter
UH – Bean, TD, 76 yard pass from Woodall (Hebert PAT)	24	7
UH – Bailey, TD, 2 yard run (Bailey PAT)	31	7
UH – Simpson, TD, 59 yard pass intercept (kick block)	37	7
ATTENDANCE ->	73,000 PLUS

– Port Arthur (TX) News, Sunday, September 24, 1967, Page 14

Tags:1967 Houston-Michigan State Game, Warren McVea
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1963: The Brightest Ever Friday Night Lights

September 23, 2013

Warren McVea

The Dallas Morning News called it the Game of the Century. On November 29, 1963, two San Antonio high school powerhouses, the Lee Vols (10-0-0) and the Brackenridge Eagles (8-2-0), met in the quarter-finals of the state “big school” championship playoffs at venerable old WPA-built Alamo Stadium in the Alamo City.

“Brack” was the defending state champion, but that accomplishment bore no weight on this game. Lee was big and powerful and undefeated and hungry for the 1963 crown. – And, they had a powerful and smart running back named Linus Baer who had almost personally kept them perfect over the season in their pursuit of a championship destiny.

“Brack” had Wondrous Warren McVea, the arguably most elusive, quickest running back in State of of Texas high school or college football history. The wily little water bug was only 5″8″ and 165 lbs., soaking wet, but he could incredibly weave his way through a line of massive grabbing arms and bumping bodies and then come out the other side on his rabbit-running way to the other team’s goal line.

“Fear the Water Bug!”

If they had talked that way in 1963, that’s what all past foes of McVea would have said to the upcoming ones.

It was a strange time too. The game took place only one week past the assassination of JFK and most of America was still very much in grief and shock over that horrendous act. A certain level of hesitation still came with the business of getting on with life and matters like playing a high school football game, even one for high stakes. Eased by the knowledge of JFK’s love for the sport, the games went on. Only his heart had died. The heart of America beat as strong as ever.

I just happened to have been at my parents’ house in Beeville that weekend, home from graduate school classes at Tulane due to a brief suspension of university activities in mourning respect for the deceased president. As a result, my dad and I got to watch the highly touted Brack-Lee game on television. JFK would have approved.

It was amazing! Not in the hackneyed current misuse of that word we’ve come to expect from Reality TV participants, but truly amazing, leaving a recognizable blur for one’s long-term memory. And my memory was no exception. It was a black and white, fuzzy rural reception picture we watched and it featured two football-warring ant hills, each with a king ant who scored every time he got his pincers on the ball. A lot of running took place, by McVea through and around tacklers, by Baer through and over tacklers. In the end, and that only came with seconds to play and Lee scoring the final TD, it went to wrap for all time as Lee 55 – Brackenridge 48.

Warren McVea finished with 215 yards rushing, 6 touchdowns, and 38 points scored. Linus Baer called it a night with 150 yards rushing, 5 touchdowns, and 37 points. The two stars were also friends as well as respecting rivals. They walked off the field arm and arm that night in some kind of shared youthful awareness that their game this evening had been a special one in Texas high school football history.

Indeed it was.

Warren McVea was moving on to the University of Houston as the first black player in the school’s history. Linus Baer was heading for the University of Texas where his collegiate accomplishments were somewhat diminished by an injury he sustained in a post-high school career all-star game. Among may other great accomplishments at UH, McVea led the Cougars to a 37-7 upset of Michigan State at East Lansing in 1967.

For those of us who saw the game, the memory lingers forever.

For more information in-depth on the “Game of the Century”, please check out this article from 2008 by Randy Lankford:

http://www.saisd.net/dept/athletics889/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=1004

Tags:1963 Game of the Century, Brackenridge vs Lee
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“Last” Bayou Bucket Goes to UH

September 22, 2013

UH Coach Tony Levine accepts semi-final (?) possession of the Bayou Bucket from Program MC Butch Alsandor on 9/21/2013 at Reliant Stadium.

The Bayou Bucket is a wrap, for now, at least. Yesterday, September 21, 2013, the Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls closed the door on their annual intra-city college football game between the two major universities of our town due to foreseeable future scheduling problems. With Houston leaving the C-USA membership they have shared with Rice and also moving to the American Athletic Conference, neither school can now see a clear way to keep their own annual playing date on the tab for years to come, but both schools expressed hope that they will find a way to get together again someday.

1:30 PM, 9/21/2013: The Bayou Bucket started under foreboding skies and a major chance of heavy rain. Fortunately, Reliant Stadium has a roof.

As a partisan alumni supporter of UH, but also a Houston childhood fan of Rice, my hope follows the flow of both schools. The game is good for both universities and also for the City of Houston. The amicable rivalry between UH and Rice has been an excellent model for the condition we usually describe as good sportsmanship – and also for community focus on these two jewels of higher learning that always belong by their shared roots to life quality in their City of Houston.

The Bayou Bucket game between Rice and UH has been played almost annually since 1971. Except for a daunting three-year hiatus (1996-98) that followed the collapse of the Southwest Conference, the two schools have met every other season since, through their game of yesterday. With UH winning, 31-26, in 2013, the series record wheel stops with the Cougars leading in wins, 29 to 11.

Wikipedia does an excellent job summarizing the history of the Bayou Bucket Series, but they have yet to update their “All Time Series” totals to reflect that UH has 29 wins now, not the mere 27 wins they show. The game-by-game chart has them there all right, but some website tender simply failed to do the upkeep math on the tote board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayou_Bucket_Classic

As per usual, the Owls and Cougars mixed it up with a lot of fire for the local trophy bragging rights.

As per usual, the Owls and Cougars mixed it up Saturday with a lot of fire for the local trophy bragging rights.

Yesterday’s game itself was a thriller, one made possible by defensive errors, sputtering offenses, and some tactical late play decision-making and poor time management by UH.

Leading late in the fourth quarter by 31-20, UH could have run out the clock had they run the ball in bounds more and kept the clock moving for a couple of first downs, starting from about their own 25. Instead, they use first down to run a sweep right for no gain that stops the clock when the runner has no choice but to be pushed out of bounds. That’s followed by a second down long pass up the middle by freshman QB John O’Corn that is totally uncatchable, stopping the clock again.

An abortive third down forces a punt. UH gets the ball back after a “three and out” by Rice and UH drives to about the Rice 32 before the drive stalls with about two yards needed for a first down on fourth. Instead of going for it to possibly ice the game against a Rice club with no timeouts remaining, UH Coach Tony Levine elects to try a field goal from the 39.

Meanwhile, waiting on the kick, I’m thinking: “Tony, is this really a good idea? The worst that could happen on the running try for a first down is the loss of the ball on downs to a club that now has to go nearly 70 yards in about two minutes with no timeouts – just to get within one score of catching up. Whereas, the worst thing about a field goal here is ….

“Whereas” happened.

Alex Lyons of Rice blocked the UH field goal try and ran it back 61-yards for the Owl TD. They missed the extra point, but now Rice trailed by only 31-26. If they could get the ball back on an onside kick and then score another TD against a tired UH defense, they could win the game.

“Nightmare on Cougar Street” was delivered.

The Owls pulled off the most beautiful onside kick I’ve ever seen. The Owls recovered the ball on their own 47 with two minutes left to complete the job, but they could not do the miracle full cycle.

Houston won, 31-26, before 34,831 real fans of both schools, allowing the UH Cougars to keep the Bayou Bucket trophy until, if and when, the two same city schools meet again.

Goodbye, Rice Owls! We’ll see you again – somewhere down the road!

“Who?”

I said, “Goodbye, Rice Owls! We’ll see you again – somewhere down the road!”

“Who?”

6:00 PM, 9/21/20i13: Same day, different sky. By day’s end, the heavens had changed. This is the sky that UH fans saw at game’s end.

… Have a nice laid-back Sunday, Everybody!

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