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WHAT RECORD NEXT PIRATES? 1964?

robanadana

By robanadana
in High School Football

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robanadana

robanadana

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You have all exceeded the expectations of us family and fans. Not supposed to make the playoffs, picked in the bottom third, IH10 - Vidor 0. Too small, too slow. We heard all of that this year. Read the Vidor vs. Crosby (Stallworth) thread...you might as well not show up. After the first 10 games of the year you're 8 - 2, you won at Bulldog Stadium for the first time in 35 years, you won a district championship for the first time since 1978 by beating the #11 team in the state rankings. I'm reposting the Kenny Chesney video from the Nederland pump up not because of the song but because what some of the coaches on there have to say. Listen to them, in particular, one of the last coaches at the end. He says and I'm paraphrasing, "for a lot of you this might be your last game of football. How do you want to be remembered?" You've made the playoffs, do you want it to end now? 2011 went 3 rounds deep, 1964 three rounds took them to the state semifinals. After the video is an article about the 2011 Pirates compared to the 1964 Pirates. Read the article!!!! How about adding the 2016 Pirates to that list? Win, lose or draw, we love you guys and are extremely proud of you...how do you want to be remembered? Play every play like it's your last boys, PLAY HARD!

 

BEAUMONT — 

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 gently rests the green Army uniform he wore during his two tours of duty in Vietnam on his couch, pointing out a brown badge on the right pocket that he won for expert marksmanship. With the touch of his hand, he notices that one side of the badge has come loose — he doesn't see it because his eyesight has deteriorated to the point that he's legally blind. Next, he opens up a gray box holding the Bronze Star he won for superior performance as a teletype and cryptographic repairman, helping the Army break down Morse code to keep track of where the North Vietnamese were located. It's one of his proudest accomplishments, along with his wife, 11 children, 28 grandchildren and being a starting defensive tackle on the 1964 Vidor football team that reached the Class 3A state semifinals. That team is well-known in the small Orange County town for being the final Pirates team to reach the third round of the playoffs. That is, until this year's team, which lost 55-30 to Angleton on Friday in the Class 4A Division I playoffs.

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The untold story of the 1964 team has been somewhat of a lasting legacy for the players.

Some have gone on to success in the corporate world and other fields.

And then there are four, like Sellers, who served their country in Vietnam, and one — Don Minton, a Marine — who never came home from the war. At 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, Minton was undersized as a fullback but was great at running one of the team's favorite plays that year — the quick trap. His talent was enough to impress the coaches at 

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 in Abilene, who offered him a spot on the football team after he graduated. “They told him they'd make him bigger,” said 
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, Don Minton's uncle. Minton never got the chance to play college football. He was drafted in 1965. His induction group for the Army was told they needed two people to volunteer to be Marines.

 

When no one volunteered, Army officers decided to pick from the group of close to 100. Minton was selected — a decision that would put him on the front lines.

A photo on the Oct. 28, 1966, cover of 

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 showed Minton helping a wounded fellow Marine. In May 1967, Minton was shot in the leg by a sniper and bled to death. Word spread quickly to his former football teammates. While most found out by word of mouth back home, Sellers got the news in a letter from his wife. A large crowd attended Minton's funeral that year at Memorial Funeral Home in Vidor. “He was very likable, a best buddy, friendly and cheerful,” said Sellers, who couldn't make the funeral because he was still in Vietnam. “That whole senior class (of 21 players) was very close, so it was hard on us.” Beamon Minton named his son after Don as a tribute. His son's birthday is the same day Don Minton was scheduled to return from the war. Sellers, 65, is the only surviving Vietnam veteran from the team. 
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, a guard on the team, died in a crash in California on his way home from his first tour of Vietnam with the Navy. Starting center 
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, who served in the Army, died at 41 of lupus. Many of his former teammates, however, speculate that his death was caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Sellers said Agent Orange, which was widely used where he was stationed in Da Nang, may have caused his blindness. Doctors diagnosed him with retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye condition, but Sellers said he has a hard time believing that diagnosis because no one in his family has ever had the condition. He said he had perfect vision before he entered the Army in 1965. After he returned from Vietnam, Sellers said, his vision deteriorated until he became legally blind and had to leave his job as an electrician at Mobil Oil in 1987. Sellers, who now lives in a spacious home north of Vidor, hasn't kept in touch with many of his teammates aside from class reunions. The last time they all reunited was during a 30th anniversary gathering in 1994, when they were honored at a football game. He  hasn't been to any of Vidor's games this year but has followed their success. Sellers hopes the team had as much fun on its playoff run as his crew did back in '64. “When you're that age, you're not thinking about the future; they should enjoy life as it presents itself,” Sellers said. “They're all going to grow old and get health issues. These are going to be some of the best times of their lives." Players from the 1964 team see several similarities between their team and the 2011 Pirates. “I've gotten phone calls and emails from them telling me how much our team reminds them of their teams,” said Vidor football coach 
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. Both teams are small and quick. Vidor's defensive line in 1964 featured the 156-pound Sellers, 160-pound 
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, 175-pound 
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 and 182-pound 
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, who went on to become the superintendent of the Orangefield Independent School District. That 1964 team had three running backs in its wing-T offense, just like this year's team in its slot-T, although the 1964 team threw the ball a lot more. Wingback Jerry Wheeler still is in the Texas record books, tied for fourth in touchdown receptions in a game with five and tied for eighth in receiving yards in a game with 280. And as Mathews has made a point of trying to use his football team to change the perception of Vidor as racist, the coach in '64, 
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, also had a reputation he was trying to change — that Vidor was a “hick town.” Payne had the booster club buy the team gold blazers with black ties that said “Pirates” in gold letters down the front. The players wore the blazers and ties when they traveled to games. “It was to show class,” said 
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, an offensive guard and defensive tackle who was one of the 1964 team's captains, along with 
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 and quarterback 
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. “A lot of teams dressed up on game day back then.” Both teams played their first playoff game at 
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 in front of a packed home side — the 1964 team drew 14,000 for its opening round game against Cy-Fair. When the 1964 team returned from its state semifinal loss against San Marcos, fans packed Main Street awaiting their arrival. The team actually had to get off the charter bus and walk the rest of the way to the high school because the streets were so crowded.

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prepballfan

prepballfan

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Absolutely awesome posts. From the bottom of my heart Congrats to Vidor. A community of good peopled. Its well deserved. Good luck tonight against a really good CRosby team. If Vidor proved anything its that they can play with the big boys last week.

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robanadana

robanadana

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1 hour ago, prepballfan said:

Absolutely awesome posts. From the bottom of my heart Congrats to Vidor. A community of good peopled. Its well deserved. Good luck tonight against a really good CRosby team. If Vidor proved anything its that they can play with the big boys last week.

I'll be there Friday night with Indians. Good luck to y'all too Matt. Take it to Barbie's Hill!

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Hagar

Hagar

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23 hours ago, robanadana said:

Keeping it at the top until this afternoon!

Couple of years older than them guys but played LL with most.  Knew everyone of them personally.  They were a great group.  And Don Minton was everything said there and more.  Not a smart a## in the group.  And, imo, Coach Payne, although only in Vidor for two years (retired as I remember), was one of the best coaches ever in this area.  And one thing they left out, and it's just a personal opinion thing, they had the best looking uniforms I've ever seen in football anywhere.  Old gold with white, bordered in black, numbers, and stripes over shoulders and down side of legs, with a white belt.  Heard the old gold faded, so they had to switch after a few years to black.

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