Who is the best HS football player you have ever seen

[Juice]

HP is an awful school.

[graypony]

Thanks for the info, No Quarter & Pony Express. He does sound familiar. What pro team did he play for? He must have been a mammoth to play fro football in the OL.

[SMU00]

Graypony --

Richards played with the Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers and the Detroit Lions -- I think.

[ponyjim]

Though I was never able to see him play in high school, I have seen footage of Andy Katzenmoyer (ex-linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes). I saw footage of him on an ESPN special. Then on the internet I saw part of the highlight video he sent Ohio State when he was being recruited.
He hit a guy so hard one time and he was moving so fast, that when the ESPN analysts slowed down the movie strip, he not only made contact with the guy, but the guy hit the ground BETWEEN FRAMES. It was unbelievable. I'm sure there have been better high school players out there before, but Andy was the most impressive player I have actually seen with my own eyes.

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Go Ponies!

[Rayburn]

Having been a player in the 1950s and a football coach for many years, I have been fortunate to see many great high school football players like Warren McVea, Jerry Drones, John and Junior Riggins, Don Shanklin, Chris Gilbert, Glyn Gregory, Tommy Kramer, Jimmmy Gallimore, Eric Dickerson and many more.

But two kids stand out in my mind: Mickey McCarty of Pasadena High and Jim Stovar at Seymour.

McCarty was a huge end at PHS in 1964 and was a Parade all-American in football as well as an all-state basketball player and a damn good pitcher on the diamond. He went on to TCU and made all-SWC in hoops and baseball and even though he did not play a single down of football in college was drafted by the KC Chiefs played with both the Chiefs and Detroit in the World Football League. Had that boy played football at TCU, we'd still be talking about him.

Stovar was an outstanding football player who played only one season of varsity ball back in 1955 or so. He was 6'2" and about 215 libs, fast as the wind. He had the power and strength to go inside and the speed and agility to go outside. One hell of a punter and place kicker, too. He should have been illegal at the 2A level, just unbelievable. Joe Don Looney (if any of you are old enough to recall him)reminded me very much of Stovar.

The summer before his senior season, Jimmy busted himself all to hell in a car wreck and missed the whole season and missed his chance at a football/track scholarship to anywhere he wanted to go. After high school he joined the Marines and played ball with El Torro USMC and then spent a year at West Texas State before signing on to play in the Canadian League for a couple of years. Even though the car accident took most of his ability away Jimmy still made it as far as the CFL. He tried to make the cut with the Dallas Texans of the old AFL in '62 but couldn't pull it off and gave it up.

I kept track of Jimmy and even tried to get him to come up to Kansas with me when I coached high school ball there and coach but he wouldn't do it. Lost touch with him in the 1970s.

Found out around 1988 that he had been killed about two years before in a convenience store robbery in Tulsa. Walked in to get some gas and was shot cold dead. Sad, sad, sad.

[No Quarter]

Did anybody on this board see Kenny Hall play in HS, Sugarland I think, and then a non-player at TAMU under Bear Bryant in one platoon days? I think Bryant said later that Hall was a player he had mis-handled. I never saw Hall play but recall a friend who met him in street clothes and said he was awesome. Rayburn, I know you're old enough to know the name, whether or not you had any contact with Hall! And another question, was the "Drones" you mentioned A.Z. Drones, a big lineman?

[Rayburn]

I did not see Ken Hall play in high school but I did see him play as a member of the A&M freshman team in 1954 when I was at SMU. The A&M Fish were called the "Team of Tommorrow" because they had so many great players that everyone was sure they'd win the national championship when they were seniors. Everyone knew Hall by reputation.

Hall was a beautiful runner, a glider who made sudden sharp cuts that left defenders grabbing at air. He would run high in the open field -- straight up like a giraffe -- then swing his whole body to the left or right to make his cuts. He wasn't a studder-stepper his style was plant, swing, whooosh, bye, bye!

The problem was he was playing out of position at fullback or something and was completely mis-used and outright abused by Bear Bryant at A&M. Hall quit in his sophomore year without even lettering.

I also saw Hall play for the Houston Oilers in 1960 or 61 as a kick returner. He wasn't quite as swift as he had been six years before but he still had that glide-and-cut action. Never met the man but I hear he has a BBQ place down in Fredricksburg.

A.Z. Drones was Jerry Drones' older brother they were from San Angelo. Jerry played defensive end at U of Houston 1966-69. A.Z. played offensive tackle at West Texas State 67-68 blocked for Mercury Morris there.

Now you've got me all wound up! I could talk about football and football players from those days night long!

[MustangMatt]

I like to hear about it, don't stop, keep it coming!

"Now you've got me all wound up! I could talk about football and football players from those days night long!"

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GO PONIES!

[Rayburn]

Listen, I played JC football in California in the 1950s before joining the team at SMU. I coached high school ball in Texas and Kansas and worked on Pepper Rodgers' staff at Kansas U (we were Big 8 champs in 1968 with John and Junior Riggins, Don Shanklin, John Zook, Bobby Douglass). I was also at North Texas State and SMU (with Dave Smith) in the 1970s before I got out of football to make a little money in the oil business. I have seen a lot of players and known a lot of coaches.

[MustangMatt]

Wow, sounds like we have a true football historian. We hope to see and read a lot of you on the boards.

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GO PONIES!

[No Quarter]

Rayburn, Go ahead on all night! I think a lot of us will listen. Thanks.

[Rayburn]

I just loved football. From the time I was a little kid growing up in Houston I loved it. Loved it enough to make it my profession for 20 years. I still love the game, which really hasn't changed as much as you'd think since I warmed the bench at the Hilltop, but ther are a lot of things I dislike about what surrounds the game these days. I can't keep up with the players nowadays either.

Growing up in Houston I was a Rice Owls fan until I saw Doak Walker play in old Rice Stadium in 1948. I was already a big fan of the Doaker, he was a star and i had seen some newsreels of him down at the Majestic Theater and read about him (on Sunday I'd buy the Houston Chronicle, the Post and the Press so i could cut all the football pictures out and glue them into a scrapbook I kept).

But I had mixed feelings because I was also a big fan of Rice back George Walmsley but SMU beat the crap out of Rice that day (and the Owls were damn tough in those days) Doak had a long TD run and after that I was a Mustang for life.

I was a sophomore in high school in 1949 and listened to the Notre Dame-SMU game on the radio. I remember I missed a little of the start of the game because my mother made me go some place with her and we were late getting home. I flew into the living room and turned on the radio to hear it. My God that was a great game and when SMU lost I went into my room, closed the door and cried. I bet you I cried for 10 minutes thinking how brave Kyle Rote was and how Doak would have made the difference had he been able to play. I'm getting a little choked thinking about it now!

[THE ROCK]

THE ROCK SAYS...

I HAVE SEEN TAPES OF ERIC DICKERSON, AND HE WAS A GREAT PLAYER FROM SEALY. REALLY AMAZING. I ALSO WATCHED CHASE SCHAVRDA PLAY IN THE ASTRODOME ONE YEAR, AND HE WAS VERY GOOD. I SAW JOSH PLAY HIS SENIOR YEAR FOR JACKSONVILLE AND HE TOO WAS QUITE GOOD.

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CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN'?

[ALL4SMU]

Wow, that is a really neat story. It is amazing how a college athlete can impact the life of a young kid just by what he can do on the sports field. College athletes, like it or not, are roll models to a lot of kids out there. Doak Walker was a great man and a class act. There are no two ways about it.
Rayburn, I could listen to your stories all day long. It sounds like you are a true Mustang in every sense of the word!

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[No Quarter]

Rayburn,
Terry Hogue (Hoague?), Huntsville TX and UGA, not recruited much because he blew out a knee in HS, new Hall of Famer? Any comment about him? Thanks.