Things Get Complicated When You Get Past Eighteen

Friday G-man and I went to Mt. Pleasant to the Tiger football game. At the game they recognized the 1959 team that my dad played on as a sophomore. My dad played halfback. That team won district and went to the State semi-final game and were beaten by the ultimate State champions. They recognize that team as being one of the best in school history. They only had one guy over 200 pounds. There were several sophomores on the team. A lot of the players came to the get together before the game and the ceremony between the 1st and 2nd quarter. The amazing thing to me was that after 50 years the four coaches were there also. (See script from ceremony below)

Saturday night we were all back in MP to see John, Paul, George and Ringo, the Oak Ridge Boys. I really don't know any of their names, but it was the original four guys you would recognize from the late 70s and early 80s at the height of their popularity. Do any of you really know their names? (I'm pretty sure their electric guitar player was the blonde headed guy from Styx.)

My brother-in-law works for the college that hosted them and got us great seats. My mom and dad and both my sisters were there. The venue was fairly small and all the seats were good. They put on a great show. My favorite songs were "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight," "Trying to Love Two Women," Ya'll Come Back Saloon," "Bobbie Sue," and everyone's favorite "Elvira" aka "El Fireup."


Its funny how you get turned off to a group after a few years. I really liked the Oak Ridge Boys in the past, but for some reason, I didn't even have any of their songs on my ipod. I guess you could call it the "Vanilla Ice Effect" or "Billy Ray Cyrus Syndrome." They have a corny song or get over played, like Elvira, and you're done with it. Now I have three ORB songs in my playlist. There are many great lines I will be able to use in the blog titles.

Tiger Fans
Fifty years ago this fall the Tiger football team, under the leadership of head
coach Herb Zimmerman and assistants O. L. Colley, Sammy Morrow, John Moughon,
Dick Gilbreath and Richard Talley had something to prove. After being picked to
challenge for the district championship the previous year they finished third.
Competing in District 6 of Class AAA, the second largest classification in Texashigh school football, the Tigers were picked no higher than third in a six team district.

Led by eleven seniors, nine returning lettermen and nine starters 1959 was different. When the season ended in December, the 46 young men that composed the “A“ and “B“ teams, had not only proven themselves; but they had established a bench mark for future Tiger teams. After losing their first game to Kilgore, they won eleven consecutive games before losing in the state semi-finals to defending state champion Breckenridge. Playing in the state semi-finals was the farthest any Tiger team had ever advanced. During the season the Tigers outscored their opponents 251 to 95. They went undefeated in district, winning the first district championship in any sport at Mount Pleasant in thirteen years by out scoring their opponents 121 to 14 and holding three of the five scoreless. This was accomplished with only one player on either team weighing at least 200 pounds. The starting offensive team averaged 170 pounds and the defensive unit averaged 165. When the season ended the Tigers were recognized for their accomplishments. The 25-0 defeat of McKinney was ranked the number one upset in Texas High School football that season.

Herb Zimmerman was voted district coach of the year by his peers and the media. Two Tigers earned first team all state honors and two were honorable mention all state. Five Tigers were named first team all district, three earned second team and six earned honorable mention. This afternoon on the fiftieth anniversary of that season these men and their coaches gathered to remember those accomplishments. Tonight it is with great pleasure that we recognize them. I direct your attention to the track at the fifty yard line. Please give them a Tiger welcome.

Names were run on the scoreboard after the recognition.

Members the 1959 team were:

Seniors:
Shelton Price, Kelly Roberts, Bill Brown, Johnny Boatner, Donny Newsom, Johnny Hendricks, William Ferguson, Waylon Ward, Gerald Blackburn, Joe Temple and Robert Arnold.

Juniors:
Hiller Hess, Charles Masters, Donny Garrison, Phillip Henson, Donald Decker, Ray Martin, Billy Barrett, Chris Breedlove, Glen Onley, Ed Hord, Bruce Terrell,
Jimmy W. Jones, Roger Hobbs, Dicky Sloan, Lanny Hutson, Kenneth Smith, Phillip
Brown and Doyle Riley.

Sophomores:
James Morgan, James Smith, Mike Collum, Mike Marshall, Danny Brownlee, Burnise
Alderman, Monty Newman, Joe Mac Duncan, David Shortnacy, Kenneth Barrett, Bobby
Rhea, Ronnie Campbell, William Love, Jimmy Moses, Mike Blackwell, Gaylon Smith
and Jerry Alders.

Coaches:
Herb Zimmerman, O. L. Colley, Sammy Morrow, John Moughon, Dick Gilbreath and
Richard Talley