The Pecan Park Eagle

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