RETIREDFAN1

Grave Consequences Legend of San Saba's football field alive, not as intimidating By MIKE LEE , Special to the Standard-Times September 19, 2006 SAN SABA - The Graveyard has settled into a quieter, gentler role befitting of a 71-year-old. The legend of The Graveyard isn't posted for everyone to see. It's not bragged about openly by most locals - unless someone else asks first. All it takes is one unusual happening during a high school football game at Rogan Field, and San Saba fans are cutting their eyes at one another and thinking the same thing. ''Everybody knows about it - the locals, the coaches and players, and fans from the other teams,'' said Johnny Clawson, who is in his 12th year as the San Saba school district's superintendent. ''It's still here, but it's not something people here talk about all the time anymore. ''There's no mystique about it ... well, there's some.'' The Graveyard's official name is Rogan Field, which in 1935 became the home football stadium for the San Saba Armadillos. Yes, it once was a cemetery. Yes, not all the graves were removed before it was converted into a football stadium. The graveyard-turned-football-stadium received national attention in 1990 with an article in Sports Illustrated. Regionally, Fox Sports Net did a television piece in 2004, and information about Rogan Field is available on the Internet. There are no tangible markings around Rogan Field informing the public of the stadium's unique history - at least not since Brad McCoy's tenure as head coach from 1990-94. The legend of The Graveyard is as real as the wall of trees that have lined each end of Rogan Field since anyone can remember. James Harkey, a member of the first San Saba team to play at Rogan Field in 1935, helped move tombstones from the cemetery during its conversion to a football stadium. ''There were a lot of people buried there,'' said Harkey, now 85. ''When we started playing there, we didn't think about the graves underneath us. We just needed a place to play. We were just interested in playing football.'' The Armadillos' previous home field had been on the infield of a horseracing track at the fairgrounds just north of town. In the early 1960s, San Saba players digging water ditches underneath the home bleachers unearthed three tombstones. Around 1990, McCoy said pieces of old tombstones were dug up when a new field house was being constructed. More recently, Clawson said some bones were dug up when a new watering system was being installed. ''They may have been animal bones, we're not sure,'' Clawson said. ''But given all the graveyard stories, it sounds better to say they were human.'' Last spring, the Graveyard won a statewide, Texas government-sponsored contest encouraging students to learn more about their local history. Tara Henry, a senior student, compiled a power point presentation about how a graveyard became the football stadium. It won for best use of images. Henry's interest in Rogan Field's history was easy to figure. Her father, John Henry, who played from 1980-82, still is San Saba's career rushing leader. A younger brother, also named John Henry, is the Armadillos' starting quarterback. Unexplained events Unusual happenings during high school football games - things forgotten in other towns after the Saturday morning coffee-shop sessions - become part of the enduring legend when they occur at Rogan Field. ''Sometimes a player from the other team will break into the open field, but he'll trip and fall for no apparent reason. We'll just laugh about it,'' said Ronnie Schulze, a San Saba assistant football coach for 30 years. Legend has it those players who fell were tackled by ghostly arms and hands reaching up from their graves to help their hometown boys. ''Sometimes we'll beat a team at home that we shouldn't beat. We'll just look at each other and grin about it,'' Schulze said. Never was that more evident than in 1993, when San Saba upset Goldthwaite 13-6 in a district game at The Graveyard. State-ranked Goldthwaite recovered to win the Class 2A state championship. San Saba finished 6-4 and missed the playoffs. Go figure. During the early 1990s, Goldthwaite won two state championships, but the Eagles lost four straight times at The Graveyard. ''A time or two in the locker room before the game, we burned candles and hung a plastic chicken with a rope to escape the curse of The Graveyard,'' said Tim Spradley, an assistant coach at Goldthwaite since 1985. Which is exactly what McCoy was hoping to accomplish when he began hyping The Graveyard legend during his tenure as San Saba's head coach from 1990-94. ''If we could get the other team thinking about anything other than the game, we felt that was to our advantage,'' said McCoy, now head coach at Graham. ''Our kids started believing in to, too. In that '93 Goldthwaite game, they had a receiver running wide open. It would have been a touchdown, but he dropped the ball. Our kids were saying, 'That was The Graveyard helping us there.' '' With help from a woodshop class, McCoy in 1992 approved the hanging of a wooden sign over the entrance to Rogan Field that read: ''Welcome to The Graveyard.'' The sign didn't hang there long. The First United Methodist Church is across the street from the Rogan Field entrance, as is the back of First Baptist Church. ''Some of the church people thought it was inappropriate and disrespectful to have the sign over the entrance,'' McCoy said. ''So we moved it over the visiting team's locker room (underneath the bleachers). It was where the other team could see it, but not the general public.'' The sign disappeared altogether in 1993 - rumored stolen by Goldthwaite students during the week of their annual grudge match. Sign or no sign, the legend of The Graveyard continued. McCoy's graveyard ploy worked for him. He compiled a 38-13-1 record in five seasons as the Armadillos' head coach. In the 11 seasons since McCoy left, the Armadillos are 29-82. Ironically, McCoy had to return to The Graveyard as Jim Ned's head coach in 2003 and '04. He found himself downplaying to his Jim Ned players - including his quarterback and son, Colt McCoy, now the starting quarterback for the University of Texas - the legend he spent five years playing up to his San Saba players. Recent struggles McCoy's Jim Ned teams easily won both games played in The Graveyard by a combined score of 108-6, supplying a microcosm of what happened to the San Saba football program and The Graveyard legend over the past decade. Once a larger Class 2A school, declining enrollment at San Saba has aided the decline of the Armadillos' football fortunes. San Saba's enrollment is 242, leaving it as the only school in District 6-2A with fewer than 300 students. Longtime observers blame declining enrollment for the Armadillos claiming only one winning season and one playoff berth in the past 11 years. As long as the Armadillos are struggling in football, talking about The Graveyard and its legend simply isn't trendy. ''I don't want our football team to be about hocus-pocus or mystique. I want our team to be competitive and win,'' said Owen Parks, a 65-year-old San Saba native who rarely misses a game. ''I don't have a perspective about The Graveyard thing. My perspective is that we need to drop to Class 1A so we would have a better chance to win.'' Some opposing players, coaches and fans thought Rogan Field had enough built-in home field advantages without The Graveyard legend. The field sits low in the San Saba River valley, and being surrounded by trees, breathing can be difficult. Before the chill of fall arrives, everyone in the stadium is usually smothered by sweltering humidity. Since San Saba practiced at Rogan Field, its players were used to the humidity and lack of air. The grass was left to grow higher than at most fields, which probably had something to do with players tripping and falling in the open field. Rogan Field also was tough on opposing fans, who had to sit in makeshift bleachers amid hanging pecan tree limbs that dripped thick sap. The visitors' bleachers typically seated only a fraction of the crowd. Even that has changed. Changing times The lush green turf, always one of the finest around, is cut short these days. New aluminum bleachers have been erected, and there's enough seating to hold most visiting crowds. There are no trees behind or hanging over the visiting bleachers. San Saba practices football at its track facility several blocks from The Graveyard, where there's plenty of air. So having Rogan Field feel like an oven is no longer an advantage for San Saba players. Thus, the Armadillos' home field has become a kinder, gentler graveyard that's more fan-friendly for visiting teams. That puzzles Tim Gates, a longtime San Saba sports historian. ''The Graveyard has lost a lot of its luster,'' Gates said. ''There's no home field advantage any more. We used to dominate at home. We don't any more.'' Like most San Saba head coaches before McCoy and all of them since, Joel Johnson has chosen not to use The Graveyard as motivation for his team. Johnson has endured back-to-back 1-9 finishes, but his focus on rebuilding the program centers around the players, not the history of the stadium. ''If it traditionally had been big, and there was still a sign about it being The Graveyard, I'd be all for playing it up,'' Johnson said. ''But that's not the case.'' In 1995, San Saba built a baseball park and track facility behind Mill Pond Park. A bond election for a new high school and football stadium at the same location failed, prompting Clawson to say San Saba's football games will be played at Rogan Field ''for a long time to come.'' Which is fine with Johnson. ''The field is right where it needs to be,'' the San Saba coach said. ''As long as San Saba plays football, the games should be played at Rogan Field. I think that means a lot to the alumni. There's a lot of history and tradition there.''

They are definitely headed in the right direction.

I'm going with Sabine Pass in this one.

I know that they've got a huge fullback and he runs hard when he gets the ball. Their QB was not bad either. Sabine Pass is going to pick up a few victories this year.

Newton 24 Silsbee 20

Port Arthur Memorial Livingston Lumberton Newton Bridge City East Chambers Kirbyville Woodville Anahuac Groveton Deweyville Hull-Daisetta West Hardin High Island Hardin Sabine Pass Evadale

Colmesneil 56 Sabine Pass 20

Colmesneil/Chester.

FSN on my DirecTv has the Rangers on at that time...however, I did see it listed on several other of the FoxSports networks.

09/13/2006 Jasper track & field coach dies of heart attack at 52 By: CHRISTOPHER DABE , The Beaumont Enterprise Scott Eslinger/The Enterprise Jasper High School track coach Lloyd Weatherspoon stands by as Jordan Patton passes during a May 2005 practice in Jasper. On Tuesday, Bryan Bronson recalled a time when Jasper track and field coach Lloyd Weatherspoon could have left for another high school. It had better facilities, perhaps making his job a bit easier, but he didn't go. "He liked Jasper too much to ever want to leave," said Bronson, a former Jasper sprinter who later achieved world-class status. Bronson said the window of opportunity opened after Weatherspoon coached Jasper to a UIL boys track and field championship in 1991. Instead, Weatherspoon stayed and the school won another title six years later. All told, Jasper won 19 district, five regional and three state championships in 24 seasons under Weatherspoon, who died Tuesday morning at his home in Jasper. He was 52. A Jasper Police Department spokesperson said Weatherspoon died of a heart attack in his sleep. He is survived by his wife, Lillie; their son, Lloyd III, 25; and a stepdaughter, Nakia, 33, and her husband and three children. "One thing he told me that I'll never forget when I left the house is that I'm not only representing my God, but I'm representing my parents, my school and my community," said Lloyd III, who now is working on his master's degree in theology at Baylor University. "I've always stayed in touch with him," said Bronson, who competed at the 1996 summer Olympic games in Atlanta. "The last time I talked with him, he was talking about retiring either this year or next year." Former athletes and colleagues remembered Weatherspoon for his coaching and contributions away from the track surface. "Everybody knew about Coach Spoon's barbecue," said Tony Allen, a former Jasper sprinter who completed his first season as Weatherspoon's assistant on the track and field team last spring. "He was always volunteering to help in the community at different events." Weatherspoon was born and raised in Pineland and played football at Prairie View A&M. He began at Jasper in 1979 as an assistant football and basketball coach and started coaching track and field in 1983. He coached 25 high school All-American track athletes and dozens of others went on to compete in college. "He was one of the better coaches I ever had," said Bronson, who anchored the school's since-broken national record-setting 400 relay of 39.9 seconds in 1991, the year Jasper won its second state title under Weatherspoon. "We didn't necessarily have the best facilities, but he always found a way around that." Allen, a sophomore when Weatherspoon took over, was among the first boys he coached in track and field. "He was a person who knew how to get along with kids," said Allen, also a member of Weatherspoon's first state championship team in 1985. "He could relate to kids at the time. He taught us that track is a day-by-day experience." Weatherspoon also had been Jasper's head cross country coach in recent years. A cross country meet scheduled for Saturday at the school will go as planned, but will be named in Weatherspoon's honor, Jasper Athletic Director Danny Lauve said. "We're going to call it the Lloyd Weatherspoon Memorial Cross Country Meet," Lauve said. "We originally cancelled it, but Lloyd's wife said to go ahead with it." A girls volleyball match between Jasper and Orangefield was rescheduled from Tuesday to Thursday, and a match Thursday between Jasper and West Orange-Stark was moved to Friday, Lauve said. "There isn't a dry eye in the school today," Lauve said Tuesday. "That should tell you what kind of impact he had here."

R.I.P. Coach Spoon.

Iowa LSU Notre Dame Miami Oregon TCU Arizona State Tennessee USC Florida State

Bridge City 34 Lumberton 14

Rushing: Travis Fuente 8 carries 100 yards 3 TD's Daniel McHenry 3 Carries 162 yards 2 TD's Passing Travis Fuente 7 - 16 153 yards 2 Ints. Recieving Ethan Thompson 4 receptions 82 yards Daniel McHenry 2 receptions 34 yards

Anahuac West Brook Port Arthur Memorial Nederland PN-G Central Vidor LC-M Dayton Huffman Bellville Newton Bridge City Orangefield Hamshire-Fannett Liberty Woodville Buna Kountze Deweyville Hardin Houston Furr Hull-Daisetta Ozen West Orange-Stark Colmesneil

Colmesneil 52 Oakwood 6

Colmesneil 52 Oakwood 6

I wish. I HATE waiting for game time on Fridays.

Congratulations and best of luck the rest of the season....

Don't sell athletics short. (This is a GREAT article. ) Don't sell athletics short By JEFF KING Special to the Star-Telegram Growing up in a small rural community in the North, I was not given many of the educational benefits that students receive in Tarrant County. I had a hard time sitting still, so I was often put where I would bother the least number of people. I was told that I did not need to enroll in biology as a high school freshman because that was for students going to college. In my sophomore year, I was again told not to worry about taking any more science classes -- it wasn't going to be necessary. In my senior year, I was scheduled into shop, agricultural mechanics, art, chorus and physical education. My dad was a truck driver, and my friends' dads were truck drivers or farmers. The school system was setting me up to do what the generations before me had done. What the "school" did not know was that I had an older brother who was able to continue his education because football opened a door to college. I knew I was going to college because I had to: It was the only way to the National Football League. The coaches did not mind that my motor never shut off. They took an interest in me and seemed to care about me. Coaches were always checking to make sure I was passing my classes (not that a monkey could have failed the classes in which I was enrolled). But the coaches did so much more. They made me believe that through hard work, dedication and determination, I (we, the team) could overcome any obstacles that stood in the way. I became a leader (team captain) and gained self-confidence. My parents started coming to football games by my senior year (though to this day, neither Mom nor Dad knows the difference between a field goal and an extra-point attempt). When I started college, I had to draw on those lessons from high school athletics to have success in the classroom. My family did not prepare me for college, nor did my high school education. Art and chorus were educational but did nothing to prepare me for college anatomy and physiology. Shop and mechanics serve me well to this day, but college algebra was a bear because I completed only general math in high school. Thank goodness those coaches taught me to believe in myself, work hard and be dedicated to my goals. I found out quickly that the NFL was not on my horizon. I was not quite big enough or fast enough, and the injuries started piling up. I met with the head coach of the university I attended and told him that I planned to become a coach. My playing days appeared to be behind me, but I wanted to do something that would help me become a good coach. I asked if I could follow him or the other coaches to learn what it took to be a good coach. He agreed on the condition he could count on me every day. I started by getting his coffee, making copies and opening the mail. Later, I was taught to break down film, coach linebackers, greet and recruit potential players and (most important) how to be a professional. I graduated from college and moved to Texas to start my teaching/coaching career. I wanted to be a coach because coaches always helped me become a better person. I coached for two years before realizing that teacher/coach pay was not providing the lifestyle that I expected as a college graduate. I went back to school and received a double master's degree two years later in business. But to this day, I've never used it. I found that when you remember that the kids are the reason you get up early and stay late, the paycheck becomes a bit less important. A Star-Telegram columnist recently suggested that athletics shouldn't get more funding when the student dropout rate and academics need attention first. I disagree. I easily could have become a dropout if not for the athletics support group that existed throughout my educational experience. I've also seen a number of different student-athletes achieve success because of the extracurricular activities in which they were involved. Even though the majority of the success stories I can talk about are athletic, nothing sends a chill down my spine like hearing that marching band for the first time each fall. Many band members are learning the same discipline, work ethic and confidence that are taught in athletics. Please do not forget ROTC, cheerleading, drill team, drama, debate and similar activities. Each program has a caring educator trying to reach the students in his or her own way. I wish that when one program or another receives special funding or recognition, support would be the first response rather than jealousy. I wish that when one side of town is able to put something special together, others would celebrate the success, and envy would subside, so that both sides could work together for the benefit of all students regardless of geographic location. A former student-athlete recently visited with me. This young man had traveled a difficult road from a tough neighborhood with limited role models. He was working out in anticipation of the NFL draft. I congratulated him on a great collegiate career and wished him the very best with professional football. "Coach, I'm going to graduate this spring whether I'm drafted or not," he said with the proudest look possible on his face. I don't know what it's like to receive a $100,000 raise. For that matter, I don't know what it's like to make $100,000 a year. But at that moment, I felt like a million dollars. When I met this young man, he was just a boy. Many people in his life had given up on him. Some of them were teachers. When he started excelling athletically, he had to pass academically to perform in the games. Then he had to take classes on the college preparatory plan. Then he had to go to a junior college because he had not quite made the required academic standard for a four-year school. Now he was about to graduate from a major private college in Texas. I have coached athletes who had to ride the city bus -- not a school bus -- to get to practice, just so they could be part of an athletic team. Two of those boys had been in trouble in school before, for both academics and behavior. One of them was on or near the honor roll all last year, while the other passed his classes, many of them with A's and B's. Both worked hard at becoming the good role models we often discussed. Today, they thrive as student-athletes. With proper encouragement, most educators will go above and beyond to help students reach for the stars. It does not matter what department that educator's title falls under. We all need resources. We all need to strive to become better because we all can have an impact on improving student performance.

Central Port Arthur Memorial Nederland PN-G Lumberton Vidor WO-S Dayton Barbers Hill Huffman Silsbee Orangefield Hardin-Jefferson Carthage Hamshire-Fannett Crockett Splendora Groveton Warren Burkeville Deweyville Anahuac Hull-Daisetta High Island Hitchcock Colmesneil

Orangefield 24 East Chambers 20

Not getting too many replies there either...too bad, I really like reading these threads on Friday....

Nope. The Friday fights are a regular time honored tradition on theoldcoach.....