Who is the best HS football player you have ever seen

[doby]

I feel the best I've ever seen in person is the Tyler Rose, Earl Campbell in 1973. He looked like a man amongst boys.

[Rayburn]

I remember Terry Hoage because of another Georgia DB named Scott Woerner.

Woerner (who was also a damn fine punt returner for the Bulldogs in the late 1970s) was also a Texan, his folks moved to Georgia while he was in high school. It was Woerner who helped convince Hoage to leave Texas and come east.

I was friends with Woerner's family who lived Baytown.

[THE ROCK]

THE ROCK SAYS...

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE FILMS FROM THE COMET WHEN HE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL. AFTER SEEING WHAT HE IS CAPABLE OF DOING ON THE FIELD IN COLLEGE, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT HE WAS LIKE AS A HS KID!!!

THERE IS A KID FROM MIDLAND LEE NAMED CEDRIC BENSON WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE STUD! HE IS ALLEGEDLY GONNA BE ON ONE OF THE COVERS OF DAVE CAMPBELLS FOOTBALL MAGAZINE, WHICH IS THE FIRST TIME A HS KID HAS BEEN ON THE COVER IN A REAL LONG TIME, IF NOT EVER! HE IS CONSIDERED THE BEST ATHLETE IN THE STATE OF TEXAS BY MANY, SADLY, I HEARD HE IS A TEXAS LOCK

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CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN'?

[No Quarter]

What was (or is) the All Star series between Oklahoma and Texas named? Oil Bowl? Who were the best HS players from Oklahoma anyone remembers seeing? There was a QB, Olin Treadway, I think his name was who went to Woody Hayes at Ohio State. How did he look in HS? And, semi-new topic, did any of the Burris brothers who played at OU have sons who played FB at OU or elsewhere? I believe there were five or six of the Burris boys generation I remember altogether, but maybe only two played much at OU.

[Rayburn]

I played in the 1952 Oil Bowl and the Okies had a fine little single-wing QB named Purcell Elgin who was headed to Tulsa but I lost track of him after that. We won that game.

I also played in the Texiana Bowl which was sponsored by the Lions Club of Shreveport, LA. The Texiana Bowl was a Texas-Louisiana high school all-star game. The Lousiana team had Joe Tuminello and Earl Leggett who went to LSU and Phil Strama who went to Tulane. The Texas team was a bunch on nobodies headed to places like Sul Ross and Henderson Co. JC or to the nearest Texaco station to pump gas. We still beat the Cajun team with a late field goal. All the players received a letter jacket and a toiletry bag (!) for playing. I also got $10 under the table from the BroadLawns Lions Club member who recruited me for the team.

UH had a QB in the 1960s named Bo Burris, was he one of those Burris boys that played at OU. The only one of them I can think of offhand was Kurt Burris

[smudad]

Did you see Larry & Ronnie Shields of Wichita Falls. Also, Bub Deerenwater?

[jettison]

I'm not a big high school football fan, unless I know someone playing. But, I do remember this kid from Burleson a couple years ago that threw six tds against Cleburne and got every paper's and tv station's player of the week honors. That was an awesome performance. He plays for Trinity now, and until next season was backing up the just-signed-by-the-SD Chargers qb Michael Burton. But Roy Hampton could take the TU Tigers to the plateau Burton could not... the Div. III championship! It's too bad SMU overlooked this talent (who only played his senior year of high school) because he could be throwing tds to his younger TE brother.

[No Quarter]

Rayburn,
Thanks for your comments about the Oil Bowl and so on. I wish I could remember the names of the Burris brothers at Oklahoma University. They came from Muscogee which was also the home of Bo Bolinger, a big OG whon was All- America. I think the oldest Burris boy married young and did not continue college. Another Burris was a C-LB and another a RB-DB. I think both received some AA recognition, especally the lineman and both those guys played some pro ball.
There were also twins, and again one was a C and the other a back, but don't think those two played after freshman year. With your prompt I recall the Houston QB but don't think he was closely related. I remember his name in Texas Football and believe something would have been made of his ancestry if he had been from the OU family.

I'm looking forward to any comment you make about Bub Deerinwater. Also wonder what you remember about coach Joe Golden at Wichita Falls and the single wing he played. Am I correct in thinking that was about the last successful 4A single wing in Texas HS football?

[Rayburn]

I was the head football coach at Herndon Boy's Ranch an orphanage/foster home near Wichita from 1960-62 and knew Joe Golding real well. We had almost no money in the budget to buy football equipment so I had to go all across North Texas begging coaches for some castoff headgear, shoulder pads, etc. Golding was always pretty generous. I do believe he was about the last coach in Texas to win with the single-wing. Most schools were in the T by the late 1950s anyway. A lot of high school coaches in the state would follow what the SWC was doing.

Joe was a quiet guy, not at all like most of the other football coaches around those parts who liked to drink coffee and visit. God I miss those days!

I remember the Shields boys but can't recall ever seeing them play because I was wrapped up in my own boys at the time.

Now you did mention Lloyd "Bub" Deerinwater, well, well that is one name I haven't heard in awhile. Never saw him at Rider (I coached HS ball in Kansas from 1963-66) but he came to Oklahoma State when I was on the staff at Kansas U. After he transferred in from TCU we were told he was a hotshot and we'd better get ready. But he never really got rolling. He was a good back, big and strong, reliable short-yardage man, a Hoyle Granger/John Riggins-type but he seemed to have a weight problem or something because he never really blossomed like we were led to believe he would. Part Indian, if I recall. Where is he these days?

The 1968-69 Okie State team was an interesting bunch. Kyle Rote Jr. was a reserve QB on that team, Hub Bechtol's son was on the squad, too. So was Jerry Sherk who played for the Browns and Gary Darnell who is the head coach at Western Michigan now. They had John Kolb and a guy named John Little who was a DT but they lined him head-up on the center a lot of the time. God almighty he was good. Played for the NY Giants.

[smudad]

Saw the Shields' play in the Quarter finals against FW Paschal at Farrington Field in Ft. Worth. That single wing was fun to watch. Seemed like the same play over and over again until they broke one. Seems like Larry had a running mate (Kenny Simms?) who could fly.

Saw Deerinwater once here in Ft. Worth (HEB)against LD Bell I think. The hype on him was so great the game was sold out and there was hardly a place to stand around the fence outside. He was a horse.

[smudad]

Got to see Warren McVae & Linus Baer in the same All Star game at Amon Carter one year. Two pretty good players in one venue.

[Rayburn]

SMUdad, I always heard that Baer hurt his knee in that 64 all-star game and never was the same after that. Do you remember that?

You know Darrell Royal almost had both McVea and Baer at Texas. Darrell started to recruit McVea but when he found out the kid had some spicey law problems he backed off. I met Warren when he went to Kansas City as a pro and he told me he really wanted to play at Texas.

[No Quarter]

Baylor had a QB I think named Doyle Traylor who hurt a knee and never played much in college, but had a big big HS reputation. Where does he fit in players named in this thread? As I recall he was short, sort of Jim Plunkett type?

And Rayburn (and others) in 1954 I think, Abilene won state in FB and started that three year string, but after loosing to Breckinridge, actually 2A in enrollment but playing 3A by permission. Did you ever meet any of the players from that Breckinridge team?

[MustangMan]

Got to see Grant Irons, the LB/DE now playing at Notre Dame. The man looked like a young Lawrence Taylor - absolutely overpowering. Nobody could control that guy.

[Rayburn]

I recall Breckenridge had a goon run in the 1950s. Joe Kerbel coached there before going off to West Texas State and he won state one year I believe. In fact, didn't Breck play Doyle Traylor's Temple High team for the state championship? I seem to recall Joe mentioning that but I'm not real sure. Emory Bellard coached at Breck and won state there too.

I knew Jake Sandefer played at Breckenridge then went on to OU so did Jerry Payne and I think Warren Romine did too. But Warren had the good sense to stay away from OU.

Doyle Traylor hurt everything on his body at Baylor that could be hurt! Had some of the worst damn luck of any kid I ever saw. I recall Sports Illustrated did a story about him in '57 or '58 that had a photo of Traylor and arrows going to every part of him that he had injured.