Divisional play begins this week in the Lone Star Conference, and it couldn’t have come sooner for North Division teams.
The LSC North has been dominated by South Division teams, continuing what has become a pattern in recent years. Through the first four weeks of the season, LSC North teams are a combined 2-13 against the South.
UCO (1-3), Southeastern (2-2), NSU (0-3), East Central (0-4) and Southwestern (0-4) face different challenges, both in recruiting and budget, than their Texas counterparts. Despite those differences,Oklahoma coaches believe they can compete.
UCO coach Tracy Hollland inked a class in his first season that was exclusively from Oklahoma. New Southwestern coach Dan Cocannouer also drew heavily from Oklahoma in his class.
But can back yard recruiting get the job done against Texas schools.
WT's home turns 50
Henry Davis has a favorite chair at his Amarillo home - the place where he sits and reads the newspaper. However, his favorite seat is a few miles to the south - at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.
The 92-year-old 1942 West Texas State/A&M grad has had the same seat - basically - at KMS since the facility opened a half-century ago Saturday - Sept. 26, 1959.
The Buffs lost their first game in their new stadium, falling to Arizona, 7-6. Arizona quarterback Jim Geist scored the first touchdown in what was then called New Buffalo Stadium.
Related:1959 WT lineman cites importance of facility
RelatedMemories From Six Decades Of Experiences At Kimbrough
The Stadium Opener: WT vs. Arizona, Sept. 26, 1959
West Texas State vs. Arizona Wildcats
- Coaches: WT - Clark Jarnagin, second season, 1-9. UA - Jim Larue, first season, 0-0.
- On the air: The game was broadcast on KGNC radio with "veteran sportscasters" Warren Hasse and Joe Collins.
- WT stats for the 1959 season: Passing yards - Jim Dawson 297; Rushing yards - Rex Loftis 387; Receiving yards - Fred Hedgecoke 246.
- Average weight of the WT line in 1959: 204 pounds. Heaviest starter: Eddie Meyer, 230 pounds.
- Average weight of WT starting offensive line in 2009: 307 pounds. Heaviest lineman to start Saturday against Texas A&M-Kingsville: Left guard John Ioane, 340 pounds. WT starting quarterback Taylor Harris weighs 220 pounds.
- Other notables on the 1959 WT roster: No. 85, Dory Funk Jr. (later a world famous professional wrestler), and No. 26, Bill Mayfield (father of future WT QB Tod Mayfield, who led the Buffs in passing yards in 1985-86).
- The game: Arizona's 7-6 victory against WT featured a combined 13 fumbles and 23 penalties. "It was getting like a Spanish dance, the red handkerchief was swirling so often," wrote the Amarillo Globe-News' Dick Kranz in his Sept. 27, 1959, game story.
Abilene Christian football coach Chris Thomsen describes senior free safety Tony Harp as the glue that holds the defense together. Harp, though, is a bit uncomfortable with such praise. Yet, when you push him, the leader in him emerges.
“I just try to get all the guys on the same page and make sure everybody’s clicking, rolling on what we’re supposed to be do,” Harp said.
Thomsen said Harp stands out as one of the best leaders the Wildcats have had since he took over the program five years ago.
“Tony’s in that line of leadership with guys like Jerale Badon and Billy Malone and Sam Collins and Cody Stutts — those top one percent-type leadership people,” he said. “Tony Harp is definitely in that group, and he’s provided that for us for a long time. He’s like Johnny Knox in that he’s never had a bad day. This is his fourth year, and the guy never comes to practice down or not going 100 miles per hour. In the football world, that’s pretty rare.”
NSU seeks first win of season against East Central
The Northeastern State football team hopes that a break from a brutal stretch in their schedule will lead to a victory on Saturday when winless East Central comes to Gable Field. The RiverHawks have played their first four games against opponents ranked in the top-25 of Division II.
“We’ve played four ranked opponents and they haven’t,” said RiverHawks coach Kenny Evans. “We’ve had our moments where we’ve looked good, but the bottom line is that us and East Central have not been able to get the job done.”
Former Sam Houston QB Johnson dead at 65
Ten years ago, former NFL quarterback Randy Johnson reportedly contemplated jumping off a bridge in Florida because a lifestyle of alcoholism and homelessness had spiraled so far out of control.
The former Sam Houston High School star went quietly, but no less tragically, last week when he died alone in his cottage in Brevard, N.C. He was 65.
Estranged from his family and afflicted with diabetes and cancer, Johnson was discovered dead by his landlord on Sept. 17.
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