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Names of Individuals on the Wall of Honor
The Belton High School Athletic Wall of Honor was created in September of 2001 to memorialize and honor the school’s past athletic heroes and championship teams; to inspire current student/athletes; and to alert “outsiders” of the great athletic tradition of Belton High School. Athletic tradition is no more than a “collective memory” of athletic accomplishments but, in the past, our tradition has been based on the short-term (and often faulty) memory of recent athletes and successes because few were aware of the individual and team successes of the more distant past. This wall seeks to make Belton and visitors aware of Belton High School’s most recognized athletes and teams from 1908 to the present and thus to enhance school athletic tradition by giving the community and school a long and accurate memory of athletic successes. This Wall will thus serve as recognition and a “Thank You” to past athletes who worked hard to build Tiger tradition and as an inspiration to young Belton athletes who want to “be like” some of the past stars. Hopefully, young Belton boys and girls who read about some of the athletes on the Wall will want to work hard so that they can “Run like Roy (Holcomb),” “Throw like Richard (Inman),” “Pitch like Audrey (Puckett),” vault like Billy Jack (Rhoads),” “Bat like Toby (Rumfield),” “Shoot like Tommy (Grant),” “Tackle like Robert (Dominguez),” “Kick like Jason (Ward),” “Catch like Robert (Ford),” “Star in the SuperBowl like Ricky (Sanders)” or “Be a great student/athlete like Kelly (Brooks).” Perhaps the Wall will help Belton’s youth to aspire to “be on the Wall” and to work with their coaches toward that goal. The Wall does tell Belton youth that “if you work hard and become a champion you will be remembered at Belton High School and you will become a permanent part of Tiger tradition.” Outsiders will learn that Belton has produced some of the greatest high school athletes in the history of Texas such as Richard Inman and Brett Stafford who made all-state in three sports and Anitra Davis who made all-state in the same sport for four years. Belton may not have won as many state team championships as some other schools but Belton will be known—thru the Wall of Honor---- as the school which has done the most to recognize and honor its championship teams. This Wall is dedicated to the 1909 Belton High School track team which won a “Hoosiers-type” (rf. the movie, "Hoosiers") state championship over much larger schools only to be forgotten by the school and community within 40 years. That once forgotten team will be recognized and remembered forever thru this Wall of Honor and will forever be the beginning point of Tiger tradition. The Belton High School Athletic Wall of Honor includes 71 athletes & five teams from 1909-2001 and was researched by Dr. Billy Wilbanks (BHS Class of 1958) who went through old copies of the Belton Journal, Temple Daily Telegram and Waco Tribune-Herald to build the list of Honorees which met the following criteria: The Belton athlete (1) made 1st, 2nd or 3rd team all-state in a sport by Coaches or a major newspaper; (2) won a state championship (or was runner-up) in a sport such as track & field; (3) is included on a college Hall of Fame; (4) played/coached a sport at the top professional level (i.e., NFL); or (5) achieved the status of a national sports figure (i.e., sportswriter Blackie Sherrod). After the unveiling of the Wall of Honor on Sept. 29, 2001, a committee will be established to review the criteria and to vote on admissions after 2001 (including those athletes from 1909-2001 who were inadvertently omitted from the current list). Belton High School acknowledges the work of Dr. Wilbanks in researching the list of eligible athletes and creating the plaques and the Wall and Robert Dominguez of Ambreco Construction and Billy Harris of Belton Glass for donating time and materials for the cabinet. Roy E. Holcomb is Belton High School’s greatest forgotten sports hero! In 1909 in an era when all high schools in the state (regardless of size) participated in the same “class,” the Tigers won the state track championship by scoring 53 points (winning first in 7 of 13 events) to 28 for second place San Antonio, 20 points for third place Austin, and 16 points for fourth place Dallas. Holcomb scored 25 points (almost as many as the second place team) by himself with four firsts, two seconds, and two thirds and broke four state records. In 2001 he still remains the only track athlete to ever win four events at the Texas state meet. Yet this remarkable athletic performance by Holcomb and the team was forgotten by Belton by the 1950's as the school declared that the 1958 Tiger basketball team had won the first state championship in school history. Senior Roy Holcomb, 19, won first place in four events: the 100-yard dash at 10.8; the 220-yard dash at 23.4; the 440-yard dash at 56.4; and the 12-pound hammer throw at 111'. He was second in the 50-yard dash and ran on Belton’s second place 880-yard relay team; and was third in the 12-pound shotput and in the 120-yard low hurdles for a total of 25 points. He broke state records in four events (the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes, hammer throw and the 880-relay) and the Belton team “broke eight of thirteen State high school records” in the state high school track meet on Fri-Sat. and in the Monday duel meet with “academy champion” Allen Academy (which Belton lost 58-55). Roy Holcomb’s athletic talent was not limited to track and field as the 1909 high school yearbook indicated that he also lettered in football, baseball and basketball. Holcomb was a catcher and outstanding hitter on the 1909 baseball team and a “speedy halfback” on the 1908 Tiger football team who was described as “easily the star high school football player of Central Texas” (the team played only 3 games). Roy Holcomb lettered in track, football, and baseball at the University of Texas from 1909-1912. The 1912 Cactus reported that Holcomb (as a junior) won third place in the 220-yd dash, second in the 440-yd dash, and ran on the winning mile relay team (3:26.4) at the “Intercollegiate Meet” against A&M, Baylor, Southwestern, Daniel Baker, and Austin College. He also led the sophomores to the championship of the UT “Class Track Meet” in 1911 by winning the 100-yd dash (10.3), the 220-yd dash (22.4), and the 440-yd dash (54.4) and won the 100-yd dash and 220-yd dash as a freshman at the same meet in 1910. Also, he had the fourth highest batting average (.250) on the1911 UT baseball team which was 14-12-1. Roy dropped out of UT after his junior year and joined the U.S. Army serving two years during World War I. He then taught school at “a little red schoolhouse” in Bell County for a short time before moving to San Antonio to coach at the Peacock Academy. He later worked for the Pacific Railroad in Bay City and managed car dealerships in San Benito and Brownsville before moving to Austin where he was a real estate broker until his retirement. Roy Holcomb died in 1969 at the age of 80 and is buried at Austin Memorial Park. In 2001 he was survived by his two daughters, Elizabeth Eberhard, 79, and Patsy Ann Acevedo, 69, of Austin; three grandchildren, Elizabeth Ann Acevedo of Austin, Susan Marie Savely of AK, and Jorge Michael Acevedo of Clovis CA; and three great grandchildren (the family knew little of Roy’s feats until contacted by this author). Roy E. Holcomb was born on Oct. 15, 1889, in Belton to John A. and Emma Holcomb. He was the oldest of four children (Roy, Ernest, Eunice and J.C.) and grew up in “Midway.” His mother and father both died in Bell County by 1941, the four children moved away, and Belton forgot Roy Holcomb. However by 2001 the new Tiger Wall of Honor includes a plaque describing the heroic feats of Roy Holcomb, Belton’s greatest forgotten (no more) sports hero! Pat H. Dougherty won first place in the broad jump and discus and was second in four other events at the state track meet in 1909 to join Roy E. Holcomb in leading Belton to the state track team championship in an era when all high schools in the state (regardless of size) competed in the same “class.” He later became an attorney and was the executive assistant to two Texas governors early in his legal career and was a judge at retirement. The year 1909 marked the third year that the State of Texas had held an official state track meet as team winners from every region of the state were invited to Clark Field at the U. of Texas on May 7-8, 1909, to compete for the state team championship. Belton won the Central Texas regional with 42 points over Temple (31 points), Waco (15), McGregor (6), and Corsicana (0) and advanced to the state track meet along with the three other regional winners, Dallas High School, San Antonio High School, and Austin High School. Thus the 1909 track meet was an early example of “The Final Four” (teams) as applied to track. Belton won the state track championship in 1909 by scoring 53 points to 28 for second place San Antonio, 20 points for third place Austin, and 16 points for fourth place Dallas. Senior Roy Holcomb won first place in four events: the 100-yard dash at 10.8; the 220-yard dash at 23.4; the 440-yard dash at 56.4; and the 12-pound hammer throw at 111'. He was second in the 50-yard dash and ran on Belton’s second place 880-yard relay team; and was third in the 12-pound shotput and in the 120-yard low hurdles for a total point count (according to the newspapers–their point calculations are unclear) of 25. The second highest individual point total of 16 was made by senior Pat Dougherty who Dougherty, a senior, who won the broad jump at 19'6" and discus throw at 96'3" and placed second in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash and the 120-yard low hurdles and ran on Belton’s second place 880-yard relay team. A third Belton athlete, Arthur O’Connor, won first in the 880-yard dash at 2:12 & 2/5 and ran on the second place 880-yard relay team. A fourth team member, Pope, was third in the 880-yard dash and ran on the second place 880-yard relay team. Thus Belton athletes were state champions in 7 of the 13 individual events. The 1909 annual reported that Belton broke eight of thirteen State high school records in the state high school track meet on Fri-Sat. and in the Monday duel meet with “academy champion” Allen Academy which Belton lost 58-55. Holcomb broke state records in four events: the 100-yard dash (10.8), 220-yard dash (23.2), hammer throw (121'4'), and the 880-yard relay (1:40) and Dougherty in three events: the broad jump (19'8"), discus (96'3) and 880-yard relay (1:40). Pat Dougherty’s athletic talent was not limited to track and field as the 1909 high school yearbook indicated that he was captain of the 1908 baseball team and that “the success of the team was largely due to the magnificent work” of Dougherty, the pitcher, who “had an excellent assortment of kinks and used wonderful judgment in sizing up the opposing batters.” Pat also played on the 1908 football team and the yearbook noted that he and Shanklin were “the two fastest ends in Central Texas” (the team played only 3 games, losing twice to Temple and playing a scoreless tie with Lampasas). He was also an “all-around student” as he was president of the senior class and editor of the yearbook. Patrick Henry Dougherty was born in Dimmitt County on Sept. 13, 1889, to John Michael Dougherty (1853-1990) and Mary Windsor Patton Dougherty (1957-1935) and moved with his family to Belton at the age of 15. He graduated from Belton H.S. in 1909. Over a 40-year legal career he was executive assistant to Texas Governors Dan Moody and Ross Sterling, assistant Texas attorney general, assistant in the U.S. Dept. of Justice, assistant Austin city attorney and municipal judge. Pat Dougherty died in Austin on March 14, 1968, at the age of 78. He was survived in 1968 by two daughters, Rebecca Steele of St. Louis and Betty Scheid of Garland (who both survived in 2001); two sons, Burke P. Dougherty of Austin and Henry H. Rogers of Lufkin; and eleven grandchildren and one great, grandchild. Arthur O’Connor won first place in the 880-yard run and ran on the winning 880-yard relay team at the state track meet in 1909 to help Belton win the state track team championship in an era when all high schools in the state (regardless of size) competed in the same “class.” O’Connor was also captain of Belton’s “first all-student football team” in 1908. He practiced law in Belton until his death in 1975. Arthur O’Connor was born on Jan. 6, 1892, in (Midway) Bell County to Charles and Mary O’Connor and was one of six children. He attended the Old Rock Church School in Midway and Belton High School where he graduated in 1909. Arthur married Irene Smith of Kansas in 1922 and the couple had one child, Patricia, who graduated from BHS in 1942, obtained a Ph.D. in linguistics from UT, and later taught at Stanford U. in CA and Brown U. in Providence RI until her retirement in 1989. The year 1909 marked the third year that the State of Texas had held an official state track meet as team winners from every region of the state were invited to Clark Field at the U. of Texas on May 7-8, 1909, to compete for the state team championship. Belton (the team was not called the “Tigers” in 1909 but was simply referred to as “the Belton team” or “Belton High School”) won the Central Texas regional with 42 points over Temple (31 points), Waco (15), McGregor (6), and Corsicana (0) and advanced to the state track meet along with the three other regional winners, Dallas High School, San Antonio High School, and Austin High School. Thus the 1909 track meet was an early example of “The Final Four” (teams) as applied to track and field. Belton won the state track championship in 1909 by scoring 53 points to 28 for second place San Antonio, 20 points for third place Austin, and 16 points for fourth place Dallas. Belton athletes were state champions in 7 of the 13 individual events. The 1909 annual reported that Belton broke eight of thirteen State high school records in the state high school track meet on Fri-Sat. and in the Monday duel meet with “academy champion” Allen Academy which Belton lost 58-55. Senior Roy E. Holcomb broke state records in four events: the 100-yard dash (10.8), 220-yard dash (23.2), hammer throw (121'4'), and the 880-yard relay (1:40). Senior Pat H. Dougherty broke state records in three events: the broad jump (19'8"), discus (96'3) and 880-yard relay (1:40) and senior Arthur O’Connor broke state records in two events: in the 880 yard dash (2:11.2) and the 880 yard relay (1:40). It appears that the 2:11.2 record time in the 880 was in the dual meet against Allen Academy and that his winning time in the state high school meet the prior weekend was 2:12.4. Arthur O’Connor was an all-around student as he was president of the student council and captain of the debate team in high school. His athletic talent was not limited to track and field as the 1909 high school yearbook indicated that he was the third baseman on the 1909 baseball team and was one of the starting halfbacks on the 1908 football team which he later described (in a Belton Journal column in 1969) as the “first all-student football team” in the history of the high school. Before 1908 teams were seldom fielded and, if so, also included members of the faculty as O’Connor reported that the superintendent played fullback and another faculty member was the quarterback of one of the teams from1903-1907. The 1908 team comprised only of students had to “reach down” to the seventh grade to find enough “big boys” who “were permitted by their parents to play football.” The 1908 team played only 3 games, losing twice to Temple and playing a scoreless tie with Lampasas. Arthur attended the University of Texas from 1909-1913 where he participated in intramural track winning the 880 yard dash as a freshman in the “Class Track Meet” of 1910. He graduated from UT in 1913 with a degree in pre-law and from UT law school in 1916. He served 4 years in the U.S. Marines including time on the Battleship Pennsylvania and then moved to Houston to practice law. He returned to Belton in the early 1930's “to take charge of his farm and ranch holdings” and “handled only special cases in the higher courts, as his time would permit.” He opened a law office in Belton in 1943 where he practiced law until his retirement in 1970. He served for a time as Bell County District Judge and worked in semi-retirement until his death in 1975 at the age of 83. In 2001, his daughter, Patricia O’Connor, lived in Belton on the family estate. Joe Barnes was voted the most outstanding male athlete at Belton High School in 1932 and in 1935 was named the most outstanding football player of the Texas Conference and first team all-conference for Southwestern University where he is enshrined in the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a teacher/administrator for 35 years and ended his career in Belton where he retired. Joe Barnes was born (1913) and raised in Belton. When Joe won the Rylander Cup (for the most outstanding male athlete at Belton H.S.) in 1932 he was carrying on a family tradition as his older brothers, Orin and T.F., were stars on the Tiger teams of the 1920's and Orin won the cup in 1927. Joe was on the Tiger football teams of 1928 (with a season record of 3-5), 1929 (6-4), 1930 (3-5-1) and 1931 (0-4-1) coached by Bob Safley and Ed Franklin and was captain in his sr. year of 1931 as a 140 lb. QB. Though a “star” player, he received little recognition since he played on mostly losing teams and since there were no all-district or all-state teams for smaller schools like Belton in that era. Barnes was also a 5-10" G on the 1932 Tiger basketball team coached by Bob Safley, played on the 1929 and 1930 baseball teams (he was offered a contract by the Houston Buffaloes in 1936), and was on the 1932 track team (winning the 120-yd high hurdles & running on the winning mile relay team at the County Track Meet). Joe played football and basketball for four years at Southwestern University and was captain of the Pirate football team in his sr. year as a 170 lb. back. He was voted 1st team all-conference and the most outstanding player of the Texas Conference in football for the 1935 season even though he played on a losing team. He was honorable mention Little All-American in football and honorable mention all-conference in basketball in his sr. year of 1935-1936. Joe Barnes is in the Southwestern University Athletic Hall of Fame and a plaque describing his feats is permanently displayed at the Athletic Dept. The plaque reads: Joe C. “Clonny” Barnes, Captain of the Southwestern University 1932 freshman football team and captain of the 1935 varsity football team, was ranked one of the state’s best linebackers and halfbacks. At the close of his senior season, he was voted the “Most Valuable Player” in the Texas Conference and received “honorable mention” for “Little All American” honors. He was also a three year letterman in basketball. Joe Barnes became a popular school administrator, serving as a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent in Texas public schools until his retirement. Joe Barnes joined the U.S. Navy in 1942. He served first in the Navy’s physical fitness program before being assigned to the Navy’s Armed Guard for the merchant ships (e.g., tankers) in the Pacific and Atlantic. After the war he returned to his career of coaching and teaching (he had been a coach/teacher at Little River-Academy, Hearne and San Augustine before the war) and served as a principal and superintendent in Georgetown (1947-1963), Aransas Pass, Lockhart, and Belton (1969-1977). His final job in a 35-year teaching career was in 1977 as principal of the Belton Middle School. In 2001 Joe and his wife of 63 years, Lilla, live in Belton and have two grown daughters, Bettie and Joelle, and a granddaughter, Amanda. Joe is still active at 88 and has won several medals in golf at the Texas State Senior Olympics held each October in Temple. He made a hole-in-one at the 119-yard 17th hole at Leon Valley Golf Course on April 19, 2001. Longtime sportswriter Blackie Sherrod is perhaps the best known sports figure to have played high school sports at Belton H.S. Sherrod became famous as the sports editor of the Dallas Times Herald in the 1960's and 1970's and in 2001 still writes a column for the Dallas Morning News. Sherrod is the best known sports writer in the history of Texas and has been named several times as the Texas and national sportswriter of the year. William Forrest Sherrod, the only child of Marvin and Leola Sherrod, was born in Belton on Nov. 9, 1919. His father was a barber and his mother was a music teacher. Forrest was an outstanding 3-sport athlete (and sports writer for the Belton Tiger ) during his years at Belton High School. Though his major sport was football, he was also a starter as a senior on the 1937 Tiger basketball team that won an 8-county “district” tournament before losing to Temple in the regional. He also ran track and won first place in the District in the 880-yd dash in his senior year and finished second in the same event as a junior. Forrest Sherrod was the starting quarterback as a junior for the 1935 Tiger football team and led Belton’s first undefeated team to an 8-0 record in the regular season and the first District championship in 11 years before a 6-0 Bi-District loss to Lockhart. The Tigers shut out their opponents in 6 of the 8 regular season games as the opposition averaged only 2.5 ppg. The crucial game that decided the 1935 District championship was the 7-0 victory over Cameron. The only touchdown of the game was scored by Sherrod in a memorable play he described in his 1975 book, Blackie Sherrod: Scattershooting. After the Tigers had marched down the field running the ball and reached the five yard line late in the fourth quarter, Sherrod, incredibly, called a pass play requiring a back with a broken hand (Rayborn Vannoy) to throw him a pass “over the middle” that could have been easily intercepted. The play was successful and Belton won the game and the District championship----but Sherrod concedes to this day that it was a foolish call and could have easily made him the “goat” of the football season. The next season the senior Sherrod quarterbacked the 1936 Tigers to a 7-1-1 record (the tied game was with Cameron, the District champion) and second place in the district. Sherrod and two other Belton backs (Richard Vannoy and Bill Mulhollan) made All-District as the Belton offense dominated District play scoring 171 points to 19 for opponents. Sherrod’s “biggest game” was the 48-0 District victory over Thrall in which he scored four touchdowns in the first half. Sherrod attended Baylor University for one year (1937-38) before transferring to Howard Payne where he played one season (1938) of college football as a wingback but, by his own admission, he “wasn’t big nor gifted enough” to continue playing. During that one year of college football he was nicknamed “Blackie” by an assistant coach and the name “stuck.” Sherrod graduated from Howard Payne in May of 1941 with B.A. in English and joined the U.S. Navy shortly after the beginning of World War II. He spent most of the war as a “torpedo plane gunner in the Pacific,” flying 22 missions and winning three medals. After the war, Blackie Sherrod worked first as a sportswriter with the Temple Telegram in 1946 and then for 10 years (1947-1957) with the Ft. Worth Press and 26 years (1958-1984) with the Dallas Times Herald (where he was sports editor and columnist). For the past seven years he has been a columnist with the Dallas Morning News. By 2001 Blackie Sherrod had been a sportswriter for almost 54 years and had received every award in the field. He was named Texas Sportswriter of the Year 17 times; National Headliners Club National Sportswriter of the Year; Red Smith National Sportswriter of the Year; and is a member of the National Sportswriter Hall of Fame. He was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by Howard Payne University in 1997 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the early 1970's. Sherrod has co-authored books with Darrell Royal and Freddie Steinmark and has published collections of his article/columns in Blackie Sherrod: Scattershooting (1975) and The Blackie Sherrod Collection (1988). In 2001 Blackie Sherrod lives in Dallas with his wife, Joyce. He has two grown stepchildren, Rebecca Pearce of San Antonio and Kimberly Wilson of Dallas. Charles “Steak” Miller was named to the Class B all-state team by the Waco Tribune-Herald after the 1937 football season becoming the first (known) all-state football player in Belton school history. He played football at Texas A&M before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II and owned his own construction company in Houston for many years before he died in 1995 at the age of 74. Charles Maxwell Miller was born on Sept. 11, 1920, in Belton TX to Henry A. and Lillie Davidson Miller and was one of ten children who were raised in Belton. His mother died when he was very young and during high school he lived with his older sister, Claribel (the first woman deputy sheriff in Bell County history), who was married to Bell County Sheriff John R. Bigham. Charles “Steak” Miller was a sophomore reserve (he did not win a “letter”) on the 1936 Belton team that was 7-1-1 on the year and featured QB Forrest Sherrod (who later became the nationally famous sports editor “Blackie” Sherrod) and HB Richard Vannoy. He was a starting guard as a junior on the 1937 Belton team that won the district championship but lost to San Saba 33-7 in bi-district to finish 9-1 on the year. The Tigers were undefeated in the regular season averaging 36 points per game including blow-outs of 85-0 over Thorndale and 57-0 over Rockdale. The defense shut out 8 of its first 9 opponents allowing only 6 points (to Georgetown) for an average of only 0.7 points per game. Miller and End Jamie Wilson were the top offensive and defensive lineman for the Tigers while the top backs were Blackie Blackburn (who later played FB at Southwestern U.), Doyle McQueen and Ray Mulhollan (who played at A&M from 1939-1942). In 1937 the Waco Tribune-Herald for the first time selected a Class B all-state team and named Miller as one of two guards while noting that “Steak Miller, fiery guard of Belton, who did so much to make Belton’s five-man line possible, is also on the team. We got nothing but lavish praise for the ability of Miller. He must have done the most to bring Belton the district title.” The all-state team featured QB Dean Bagley of San Saba (which beat Belton in bi-district) whom the Waco newspaper claimed was the leading scorer in Texas and in the nation with 268 points. In Miller’s final season in Belton, the 1938 Tigers were only 4-2-3 on the year and played three scoreless ties (with San Saba, McGregor and Cameron). The Waco Tribune-Herald did not name a Class B all-state team in 1938 and thus Miller did not have a chance to repeat his all-state honor from the prior season. Charles Miller graduated from Belton H.S. in 1939 and, with his friends and teammates, Ray Mulhollan and Jamie Wilson, went to A&M to play football. Miller and Wilson played only two years for the Aggies but Mulhollan played for four years—all three were squad members as freshmen on the 1939 Aggies’ national championship team that was 11-0 on the year and beat Tulane 14-13 in the Sugar Bowl. Miller attended Texas A&M for two years (1939-1941) and majored in Agricultural Administration before leaving school in November of 1941 to join the U.S. Army. He served throughout World War II and, after the war, moved to Houston and worked for Brown and Root Construction Company before forming his own company, Spinoza Construction, which he operated until his retirement. He and his wife, Doris, had three children, Max, Susan and Melissa. Charles Miller died in Corpus Christi TX on May 6, 1995, at the age of 74 and was buried in the North Belton Cemetery beside his daughters Susan (1945-1957) and Melissa (1954-1988). His father, Henry A. Miller (1876-1942), is buried nearby. In 2001 his widow, Doris, and son, Max Miller, lived in Houston. Jamie Wilson was named all-state tournament at the state basketball tournament in Austin in 1938 when there was no (pre-state tournament) statewide “all-state” team—he thus made the only all-state team that was chosen that year. He was chosen one of the five best players on the top eight teams in the state which made “the final eight” at the state tournament in an era when there was only one state championship decided for all of the 1,500 teams in the state. He later played basketball and football at Texas A&M. Wilson, a 6'2" forward, scored 16 of Belton’s 24 points in the state tournament loss to Dallas Woodrow Wilson and made the all-tournament team along with two players from Woodrow Wilson. Wilson had earlier won “all tournament” honors in the Central Texas Invitational and the District and Regional tournaments. He was Belton’s leading scorer for three years on teams that went to the regional tournament each year. He was a three-sport star for the Tigers as he won the District high jump championship with a leap of 6'2" in 1937 and was an outstanding end on Belton’s football teams of 1935-38 (the 8-1 team of 1935 & the 9-1 team of 1937 were District champions and were beaten in Bi-District. Wilson was recruited by Arkansas, LSU and A&M for football and played football (end) and basketball at Texas A&M for two years (1939-40 thru 1940-41) before being drafted by the U.S. Army at the beginning of World War II. Belton began the 1937-38 basketball season with no high expectations but surprised the experts by winning the 14-team First Annual Central Texas Invitational Tournament in Temple. Belton played the regular season as part of the newly formed Central Texas League that included Temple, Georgetown, Rosebud and Cameron and finished second in the league (to Temple) but league play “had no bearing on the state race.” Belton’s four losses during the year--to Temple, Waco and Rosebud (twice)---came early in the season before the team “hit its stride.” In 1938 at the end of the regular season all schools participated in a county (or city) tournament, then in one of 32 “district” tournaments, and a “regional” (4 district winners) with the winner making the “final eight” in the state tournament in Austin. The Tigers beat Cyclone 36-4, the “county rural champion,” in the Bell County tournament and, then in the District 23 tournament (8 county champions plus Temple H.S. and Austin H.S) at Georgetown, defeated Austin H.S. (the 3rd victory over Austin in 1938), Lampasas 34-25, and Georgetown 43-34. In the Regional Meet in San Marcos, Belton beat Shiner 28-16 in the first round and upset powerful Thomas Jefferson H.S. of San Antonio, 31-26, in the final to earn a berth in the state tournament and achieve a “Hoosiers” (the movie) type feat by reaching the “final eight” of 1,500 teams. The 1938 state tournament field included Dallas Woodrow Wilson, Houston John Reagan, El Paso Bowie, Kingsville, Abilene, Carey , Bailey, and Belton (thus three small schools made the “final eight”). Belton was beaten 43-24 in the first round by 30-0 Dallas Woodrow Wilson which went on to defeat Houston Reagan 29-28 in the semifinals and Abilene H.S. 41-27 in the final to win the state championship. The 1938 Tiger squad, coached by Bob Safley, was 30-4 entering the state tournament and was comprised of Jamie Wilson (38), Ray Stringer (33), Doyle McQueen (32), Joe Furnace (30), and Nick Furnace (36). The team was known for its tenacious defense and for the rebounding and scoring of Wilson who averaged around 15 points a game though the team seldom scored 40 points (he scored 16 of Belton’s 24 points in the state tournament game against Woodrow Wilson). The team was not “deep” and the starting five played almost all of every game. After the war Wilson returned to Belton and operated Wilson Brothers’ Grocery until 1960 when he moved to CA and worked for Safeway for 23 years until retirement in 1983. In 2001 Jamie Wilson remained in Sanger CA and has five children, 13 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. In 1952 Benny Bloomer became Belton’s first football player to make the Texas Sportswriter’s Association Class AA All-state team which began with the 1951 season. Bloomer also became the first Tiger to play in the Texas High School Coaches’ all-star game and won a football scholarship to Texas A&M but finished his career at Texas A&I. He coached for 34 years until his retirement in 1991. Benny Bloomer was born in Belton on July 27, 1935, to John P. & Helen Bloomer and was the oldest of two boys. His paternal grandfather came to Belton in 1888 and his father graduated from Belton H.S. in 1927 and Texas A&M in 1931. His family was very “musical” and Benny was in the high school band by the 7th grade playing the baritone & sousaphone. He was an excellent swimmer as a youth but his interest soon turned to football. Benny started as a 181 lb. soph on the 1950 Belton team that was only 2-7-1. He was a 217 lb. junior all-district tackle on the 2-8 Tiger team that moved up to Class 2A in 1951. As a 5'10", 217 lb. senior he was the anchor of the Tiger offensive and defensive lines on the 1952 team that was 6-5 and won District for the first time since in 14 years. The Tigers beat Lockhart 18-0 in Bi-District and then lost to Killeen 19-0 in the Regional. The 1952 Tigers became only the second Tiger football team (the first was the 1924 team) to go as far as the regional game in the state playoffs. Bloomer was again voted to the all-district team; was chosen as the district’s best lineman and as Belton’s best lineman; and was selected to the All-Central Texas Team. He was named to the Class 2A all-state team named by the Texas Sportswriters Association (which began selecting all-state teams in 1951), becoming the first Belton player to make all-state. Benny also became the first Belton player chosen by the Coaches Association to play in the annual summer all-star game which had been held since 1935 and played tackle on the winning (13-7) South team led by Temple QB Doyle Traylor. Benny was also a track and field star as he won the District title in the shotput for three years (as a soph, as a junior at 42'2", and as a senior at 46'3"). He also won the discus (124'5") at the District meet as a senior and placed third in the shotput (48'1") and discus at the regional meet. Benny graduated from Belton H.S. in 1953 and attended Texas A&M on a football scholarship. After playing (with Jack Pardee) on the 1953 Aggie freshman team, Benny transferred to Texas A&I following the Javelina’s new coach, Gil Steinke, who left A&M upon the arrival of Coach Bear Bryant in the spring of 1954. Benny was a starting guard at 221 lbs. on Steinke’s 1955 team (4-6) & 1956 team (7-3) and was the first of a long line of Belton football players who played at A&I (ex-Javelinas Bloomer, Jarrell Hayes, Charlie Williams and Bryan Sweeney are on the Belton Wall of Honor). Bloomer graduated from A&I with a BS in Ed. in 1958 and an MS. in biology in 1962. He married Peggy L. Williams of Temple in 1955 before moving to Kingsville and served as a volunteer coach at Riviera where Peggy taught while Benny attended A&I. He began his 34-year football coaching career in 1957 with seven years (1958-1965) at Riviera and then coached seven years at Rockport-Fulton (1966-1972). He moved on to LaGrange (1972-1975) where his 1974 team made the 2A semifinals and his 1975 team was state 2A champion leading to his selection as Central Texas Coach of the Year and the Kellogg Coach of the Year. He moved on to 5A Spring Woods H.S. where he coached for 14 years (1976-1990) and finished his 33-year high school football coaching career at 179-138-14 (with 19 winning seasons). Bloomer also served on the board of the Texas High School Coaches’ Association and on the advisory board of the Henry Frnka Football Clinic. He closed his coaching career with one year as an assistant coach at Sam Houston State in 1990-91. In 2001 Benny and Peggy Bloomer lived in retirement on Lake Limestone and enjoyed spending time with their three children, Helana Barmore of Houston, Bradley Bloomer of Sugarland and Bill Bloomer of Arlington and 8 grandchildren, Benjamin, Amanda, Sarah, & Alex Barmore and Brianna, Brice, John Paul and Jeffrey Bloomer. In 1953 Earl Wayne Miller became Belton’s second all-state football player since the beginning of the selection of all-state teams by the Texas Sportswriter’s Association in 1951. He later played at Baylor and in 1957 became the first of two ex-Tiger football players to make all-SWC in football. Earl Wayne Miller was born in Belton in 1934 to
Clarence and Lillian Miller. He and his younger brother, Billy, attended
Tyler Elementary, Belton Jr. High and Belton High School where Earl Wayne
graduated in 1954.
Earl Wayne was a three-year starter in basketball as a 6'2" forward and finished his career in the old wooden gym that was torn down after his senior season. As a soph he was the team’s fourth leading scorer and he and Penny Vann played with seniors Jerry Adkisson and Edgar Barnett. As juniors they played with LeRoy Johnson and Owen Carpenter, and as a seniors, with Fred Tulloch and Wayne Jackson. The team was 4th in the District in 1953 and 3rd in 1954. In track Earl Wayne ran the 440-yard dash and mile relay and threw the discus. The Tiger mile relay team of Miller, Rex Chatwin, Gibby Bailey and Penny Vann placed third in the district in his sophomore year. He won fourth in the discus in his senior year. Miller was a four-year letterman in football and was a 160 lb. starter at end in his sophomore season of 1951 when the Tigers were only 2-8 in their first year in Class AA and were led by the passing combination of sophomore QB Penny Vann to sophomore end Miller. He was second team all-district in his junior year when the 6-5 Tigers were District Champs, beat Lockhart 18-0 in Bi-District and lost to Killeen 19-0 in the Regional. The Tigers were 7-3 and District Tri-Champs in 1953 and Miller, a 178 lb senior end, was voted 1st team all-district, 1st team all-state by the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, and 1st team all-state by the Texas Sportswriters Association. Miller became the second Belton football player (Benny Bloomer was the first in 1952) to be voted all-state by the Texas Sportswriters Association which began selecting all-state teams in 1951. Earl was recruited by several SWC schools but chose to attend Baylor (Penny Vann chose to play at Columbia University in NYC). At Baylor Miller, a 6-2" 185 lb. end, started on both offense and defense in his junior and senior years. As a soph on the 1955 Baylor team that was 5-5 he was the team’s 2nd leading receiver with 10 catches for 153 yards. He was 4th in receiving (4 for 33 yards) as a junior on the 1956 Baylor team (led by Del Shofner) that was 9-2 and finished 11th in the nation after upsetting No. 2 Tennessee (led by Johnny Majors) 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl. As a senior he tied for the team lead in receiving with 249 yards on 16 catches on the Baylor team that was 3-6-1. Earl Wayne was named all-SWC (with SMU’s Don Meredith) after his senior year of 1957 and became the first of two ex-Belton football players to make all-SWC in football (Bernard Bartek of TCU was the second in 1962). He was also named honorable mention All-American and was taken in the 12th round of the 1958 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers but did not make their final roster in 1958 (injury) or 1959. Earl Wayne graduated with a B.B.A. from Baylor in 1958 and has since worked for Upjohn Pharmaceutical and L.L. Sams. He married fellow Baylor student Carole Estes of Big Lake TX in 1960. In 2001 Earl Wayne, 66, and Carole Miller lived in McGregor TX as did their oldest daughter, Melissa Kay Goff Miller, 36, and her two children, Jennifer Lee Goff, 15, and Meghan Elizabeth Goff, 11. Their youngest daughter, Merideth Carole Miller Chambers, 33, lives in Lufkin with her husband, Les, and three children, Mallorie Carole Chambers, 7, Natalie Ruth Chambers, 6, and Emilie Nicole Chambers, 4. Bobby Cline won Belton’s first state championship in track and field in 45 years (since 1909) when he won the Class A state shotput championship in 1955 as a junior and became the first of four Tigers to win state in that event. He was also All-District in football and later started two years at tackle for Texas Tech. Bobby Cline was born in Dandridge TN in 1938 to W. Byrl and Agnes Cline. The Cline family moved to Belton when Bobby was in the second grade and he and his older sisters, Shirley and Myrna, attended Tyler Elementary, Belton Jr. High School and Belton High School, where Bobby graduated in 1956. Bobby had a Temple Telegram morning paper route all through high school and thus had to “start early” each school, weekend, and summer day. Cline was a starting tackle as a 188 lb. sophomore in 1953 on a 6-5 Belton team that was District co-champion. In 1954 he was All-District as a 225 lb. junior tackle on the 7-3 District Champs. In 1955 he was a 246 lb. senior tackle (and co-captain) and again was named All-District for the Tiger team that was 7-3 and third in the District. Cline was known for his speed (he ran an 11 flat 100-yard dash barefoot in “sweats”) as well as his size and was faster than all but two of the backs on the Belton team. Bobby Cline is known best for his track and field exploits. As a sophomore in 1954 he won the District shotput title at 46'6" (breaking the district record) and finished second in the discus and went on to finish fifth in the shotput at the state track meet. As a junior in 1955 he won both the District shotput at 49'5" (breaking his own district record of 46'6") and discus at 146'6" (breaking the district record of 131'10") and went on to win the regional shotput at a record 50'10" and placed second in the discus. He then won the Class A state shotput championship at 54'1" but failed to place at state in the discus. Bobby was on track for a second state shotput championship as a senior in 1956 but, due to a scheduling mix-up at the state track meet in Austin, he arrived after the competition had ended and was not allowed to compete. He had thrown a personal best of 55'4" in the regional meet (after winning district at 53'5) and had the best Class A throw in the state going into the state meet. The event was won in 53'1", two feet short of Cline’s best toss. Earlier in the year he was second in the shotput at the Border Olympics at Laredo at 53'4" and broke records in both the shot and discus as the Cameron Relays. He won the Texas Relays on April 7, 1956, with a toss of 55' that was the third best throw in the meet’s history. The 55' throw was the best since 1949 and was not matched at the Relays until 1960 when fellow Belton athlete, Richard Inman, won with a throw of 57'. Bobby was recruited by several SWC schools but chose to attend Texas Tech and was a starting tackle at 6'1" and 235 lbs. for the Red Raiders in 1959 & 1960. He played with All-American Center E.J. Holub and Dick Stafford (his roommate and later Belton’s coach) on the first Tech teams to play in the SWC. Cline participated in track and field as a freshman and threw the 16-pound shotput 46'2" in Tech’s first SWC competition after the Red Raiders were admitted to the conference in early 1956. He did not compete in track after his freshman year. Bobby Cline married Nancy Coyne of Temple in 1958 while a student at Texas Tech. After college Bobby worked as a construction superintendent in Lubbock (until 1968) and in the Burleson/Ft. Worth area building fast food restaurants (i.e., McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut). Bobby died of an aortic aneurysm on Memorial Day, 2000, at the age of 62. His survivors in 2001 include his sister, Myrna Cline Baker, of Abilene TX; his widow, Nancy Coyne Cline, and his children, Craig Cline, 40, Steve Cline, 38, and Cadi Cline Reid, 33, all of Burleson. His grandchildren are Doug Cline, 18, Stephanie Cline, 21, Lindsay Cline, 9, Emily Reid, 6, Abby Reid, 5, and Sarah Reid, 1, all of Burleson. Jarrell Hayes grew up in Belton and, like many young boys, had a lot of dreams. He dreamed of being on a state championship team; of leading his team to a national championship; and of marrying the Homecoming Queen. But for Jarrell all three of those dreams came true before his 21th birthday. He was a 6'2" Sr. forward on the 1958 Tiger basketball team that won the state AA championship and, as a 19-yr-old soph QB at Texas A & I, led his team to the NAIA national championship by throwing three touchdown passes in a 20-7 victory over Lenior Rhyne of NC . In 1959 he married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Ann Carpenter, who had been the 1957 Tiger Homecoming Queen. Jarrell was an All-District quarterback on both the 1956 Tiger football team that was 9-1 and lost to Brady, 24-7, in Bi-District, and the 1957 Tiger team that was 10-0 and lost to Brady, 7-6, in Bi-District (Brady went on to the state finals in 1957, losing to Stamford). He was also an all-district linebacker on defense in his senior year. Hayes was a back-up forward on the Tiger basketball team that won state in 1958 but was on the floor (All-tournament soph Richard Inman had fouled out) grabbing key rebounds during the memorable comeback in the double-overtime final game against New London when the Tigers came back from 8 points down with 2 & ½ minutes left in the game. Jarrell won 2nd place in the District in the discus throw in his junior and senior years and played catcher and LF on the Tiger baseball team. He was the team’s leading hitter as a senior with a .404 batting average (.429 in seven district games). Not surprisingly, he was voted the most athletic boy of his senior class, won the Rylander Cup for Belton’s Most Outstanding Male Athlete, and was voted the most outstanding senior back at BHS. Jarrell Hayes was the starting quarterback for Texas A & I for three years. Charlie Williams, Belton’s top senior lineman in 1957, joined Jarrell at A&I and the two played together for four years. They were joined in 1961 by Jarrell’s younger brother, Calvin, a 235 lb tackle, who played for the Javelinas thru1963. The three were part of a long list of ex-Belton boys who played at A&I (three are on the Belton Wall of Honor: Benny Bloomer, Jarrell Hayes, Charlie Williams ). In Jarrell’s soph year of 1959 the Javelinas were 12-1 on the year and won the Lone Star Conference championship and the NAIA national championship with a 20-7 victory over Lenoir Rhyne. Hayes threw three touchdown passes (for 31, 57, and 77 yards) in the championship game. In 1960 the team was 8-1-1 and won the Great Southwest Bowl game in Grand Prairie. The 1961 team was 7-2-0. Jarrell was named 1st team All-LSC and 1st team Texas All-College in 1960 & 1961. He completed 33 passes for 606 yards as a soph.; 42 passes for 622 yards as a junior; and 43 passes for 639 yards as a senior for a team that relied heavily upon the running game. He was later inducted into the Texas A & I Athletic Hall of Fame (a plaque honoring Hayes is displayed at the Athletic Dept.). Jarrell graduated from Texas A&I in 1962 with a BBA in Business Administration and began his business career after turning down several offers by pro football teams (e.g., the Houston Oilers of the AFL) to attend their training camps. The successes of Jarrell Hayes did not end with his famed college football career. He moved to Houston and became a “Texas oilman,” heading several companies involved in the marketing and manufacturing of pipeline machinery. Until his retirement in 2000 he traveled extensively throughout the world for his multi-national oil company (LOR, Inc.) that manufactured oil tool equipment serving the oil and gas drilling industry worldwide. In 2001, Jarrell Hayes, 61, and Peggy lived in a lakefront home in Livingston, Texas, and still visit Belton where several relatives live and where three generations of his family are buried. Belton’s Charlie Williams was named as a first team guard on the AA all-state selected by the Waco Times Herald after his senior year of football at Belton High School in 1957. Though an “undersized” lineman at 185 lbs., he went on to play at Texas A & I during a period when the team won one national (NAIA) championship and two Lone Star Conference championships. Charles Williams was born on Feb. 12, 1940, in Aquilla, TX, to Cecil and Dorothy Williams. He and his older sister Bobbye Gayle, were raised in Aquilla and Birome, TX, and attended elementary school in Birome and Penelope TX. The family moved to Belton in 1954 when Charlie was a freshman. He played on the Tiger JV football team as a soph and, as a junior in 1956, was a starting guard on Belton’s 9-2 District Championship team which lost 24-7 to Brady in Bi-District. Charlie Williams was voted the outstanding senior lineman on the 1957 Tiger team that was undefeated (10-0) in the regular season and lost to Brady 7-6 in Bi-District. Charlie and Jarrell Hayes were voted as co-captains by their teammates and Charlie was named 1st team all-district. He was the only Belton boy selected to the 1957 Super Centex Squad named by the Waco Times Herald (the other three guards were from Waco High and Mart). The Waco Times Herald also selected Charlie Williams, 5'10" & 168 lbs., as a guard on its first team AA all-state team announced on Dec. 18, 1957. The newspaper noted that though Williams “was not a big boy” he was “a fierce blocker and bonejarring defensive player” who was “credited with 26 tackles in one Belton victory.” Forty years later former coach Joe Pirtle still uses Charlie Williams as an example of a Tiger athlete who made the most of his ability and succeeded, despite his physical limitations, by sheer effort. Charlie graduated from Belton H.S. in 1958. Charlie Williams and Jarrell Hayes, the 1957 Belton co-captains, were recruited by Texas A&I and played together for the Javelinas for four years (1958-1962). They were joined in 1960 by Jarrell’s younger brother, Calvin, a 235 lb tackle, who played for the Javelinas thru1963. The three were part of a long list of ex-Belton boys who played at A&I for Coach Gil Steinke. Four are on the Belton Wall of Honor: Benny Bloomer, Jarrell Hayes, Charlie Williams and Bryan Sweeney. A&I was 12-1 and Lone Star Conference Champions in 1959 and went on to win the national NAIA championship with a 20-7 victory over Lenoir Rhyne with soph Hayes as the starting QB and soph Williams as a back-up lineman. Though he weighed only 185 lbs. and was much smaller than his opponents, Charlie Williams started at guard for Texas A&I in his junior year when the Javelinas were 8-1-1 (and won the Great Southwest Bowl game in Grand Prairie) and was named the top lineman on the “Wild Pig” line after scoring highest on a point system used to rate performance. He also started as a senior for the 1961 A&I team that was 7-2 on the year. Though “undersized,” Williams was known for his explosive “first move” and for his toughness and quickness. Williams graduated from Texas A&I in May of 1963 with a degree in Business Admin. He served four years (1963-1967) as a Lt./Capt. in the U.S. Army in Hawaii (most of that time with the 25th Infantry Div) and volunteered for a 3-month term in VietNam. Upon his discharge from the Army he returned to Kingsville to complete his M.A. in Business Admin. from Texas A&I and then enrolled at Vanderbilt Law School in 1967 and graduated with a J.D. in 1970. Williams worked for 18 months for a law firm in Kingsport TN after graduation and then practiced in Kingsville from 1971-1986 with the law firm of Gulsing, Sharpe, Villareal, and Williams. He had his own law firm in San Antonio from 1986 until his untimely death at the age of 50 on Sept. 1, 1990. Charles met Nancy Yates of AL while in the Army and the couple married in Dec. of 1965. In 2001 Charles Williams was survived by his wife, Nancy, of Boerne, TX; his children, Lara Williams, a teacher in Leander, and Charles (Chip) Williams, a teacher in S. Korea; and his sister, Bobbye Gayle Watson, of West, TX. Billy Wilbanks, the valedictorian of the Class of 1958, was Belton’s first all-state basketball player and was the leading scorer on the Tiger basketball team that won the state AA championship in 1958. He was a university professor in Florida and nationally known crime expert until he retired to Belton in 1999. William Lee (Billy) Wilbanks was born on May 30, 1940, in Temple TX to DeLay and Wilma Garner Wilbanks and was the 2nd of 3 children. Billy’s ancestors came to Belton in the 1870's and past Tiger teams included his uncle, Ralph Wilbanks (1921); father, DeLay Wilbanks (1925); step-father, Nelson Hander (1925); cousin, Dan Martin (1956); and brothers, Bobby (1957) and Jimmy (1959). Billy attended Tyler Elementary, Belton Jr. High and Belton H.S. He was a two-time district champion in the 880-yard dash and came within one second of the district record as a junior in 1957 with a time of 2:06.6 (breaking the school record of 2:08 by Ken Chatwin in 1953) and finished 4th in the region. He won district as a senior in 2:08.3 and again was 4th in the regional meet at San Marcos. He was also a two-time district champion in junior boys singles in tennis as a freshman and soph; was runner-up in district in senior boys singles as a junior and senior; and, at 15, was runner-up in the area-wide Caswell Tennis Center Tournament (with 48 entries) in Austin in 1956. In basketball, the 5'10" 125 lb. Wilbanks was a sophomore starter (with 4 seniors) on the 1956 Tiger team that won district and was defeated in the Regional Tournament. As a junior in 1957 he averaged 21 ppg and was all-district and 2nd team Super-Centex (by the Waco Times Herald) on the Tiger team that was 19-7 (10-2) and finished 2nd in the district. He became the first Tiger to average over 20 ppg and had a high game of 36 against Georgetown (breaking the school record of 33 by Ken Ward in 1955 & 1956). The 5'11" 135 lb. Wilbanks averaged 21.6 ppg (with a
high game of 36) as a senior and led Belton to the 1958 State AA championship.
The Tigers were 23-8 (12-0) on the year and defeated Seminole 76-66 in the state
semi-finals and New London 58-56 in double/sudden death overtime in the finals.
Wilbanks scored 29 points against Seminole and 14 against New London and (after
hitting only 2 of 20 shots earlier) hit five straight baskets in the last 2 & ½
minutes of regulation and the 1st overtime of the New London game to bring
Belton back from an 8-point deficit. Billy was noted for his
behind-the-back dribble and for his “long distance” shooting in an era before
the 3-point shot. He was named 1st team Super-Centex; 2nd team AA
all-state by the Texas Sportswriters; 1st team All-State by the Waco Times
Herald; and 1st team AA All-State-Tournament. He started for the South in
the Texas H.S. Coaches All-Star Game (finishing 4th in the MVP voting); started
for Texas in the Texas vs. Oklahoma All-Star (Oil Bowl) Game; and was named to
the Wigwam Wisemen H.S. All-American team.
Dr. Wilbanks retired in 1999 and returned to Belton where he organized the Belton basketball reunion in 2001; wrote weekly articles (“A Tiger to Remember”) for the Belton Journal; and built the Belton H.S. Athletic Wall of Honor. He recently published, Texas High School Track Champions, 1906-2006 and is currently researching a book entitled, Texas High School Basketball Champions, 1921-2006. Wilbanks remained active in sports in his senior years winning the 50-55 tennis championship at the state-wide 1991 Florida Sunshine Games and basketball shooting contests at the Texas Senior Olympics. At the age of 61 he had a personal best of 24 straight & 39 of 40 three-point shots in his daily practice sessions. Bernard Bartek was an All-State tackle as a senior in 1958 and, after his senior season at TCU in 1962, played in the North-South Shrine college all-star game. He was named an all-SWC guard becoming only the second ex-Belton football player to make all SWC (Earl Wayne Miller was the first in 1957) in football. Bernard was an outstanding all-around athlete (and
four sport letterman) at Belton High School from 1956-57 to 1958-59. As a
senior in 1959 he placed 2nd in the shotput and 3rd in the discus at the
District track meet. He was a 3-year starter on the Tiger baseball team as
a third baseman and pitcher as the Tigers won district and bi-district in his
soph year and went to the regional finals in his senior season. He was the
Tiger’s top pitcher as a junior but an injury hampered his pitching as a senior.
He was also one of the team’s leading hitters. Bernard was a
three-year starter as a 6'2" guard in basketball and was the Tigers’ 3rd leading
scorer as a soph on a 19-7 team that finished second in district. As a
junior he was a starting guard on the 1958 state championship team and made the
shot that tied the score at 50-50 with 53 seconds left in the championship game
against New London. As a senior he was captain and a starter on the
29-4 Belton team that beat district opponents by an average of 50 points per
game but was beaten 63-60 by state champ Buna in the region.
Bartek was recruited by TCU, Texas, A&M, Rice Baylor, SMU and the U. of Houston and signed with TCU where he started as a 190 lb. guard and linebacker for the 1959 freshman team. As a 230 lb. soph in 1960 he played on the same line as (future) Dallas Cowboy all-pro Bob Lilly and, as a junior in 1961, started on the Frog team that upset No. 2 Kansas (with Gayle Sayers) 17-16, tied highly ranked Ohio State 7-7, and upset No. 1 Texas 6-0, costing the Longhorns the national championship. Against Kansas Bartek blocked a FG attempt to preserve the victory and made a saving tackle at the 2-yard line against Texas. As a senior in 1962 Bartek was voted lineman of the week by the Frog Club for his play in a 28-26 victory over Baylor and was called “the most under-rated football player in the SWC” by Ft. Worth Star Telegram editor Bill Van Fleet. He was named All-SWC by the Dallas Morning News after TCU’s 6-4 season and played in the Shriners’ North-South College all-star game in Miami where he played on the South team with future All-Pro Baltimore receiver Willie Richardson and against future All-Pro Kansas City LB Bobby Bell. Bernard received a BBA degree from TCU in 1966 and served two years in the U.S. Army in 1967-1969. He was the pitcher for the Ft. McLellan AL post championship fastpitch softball team in 1967 (the team was runner-up in 1968). Bernard later took courses required for accounting at UTA and worked as an accountant for 30 years in the Ft. Worth area. In 2001 Bernard, 60, is semi-retired working as a Ft. Worth ISD substitute teacher (his wife is also a teacher), preparing clients’ tax returns, and maintaining his rental properties in Ft. Worth and Aledo. He married Suzanne Herring of Houston in 1966 and the couple has two children. Their daughter, Tracie Bartek Digilormo, 32, and her children, Tarah, 15, and Devin, 10, live in Aledo. Their son, Clinton Bartek, 20, lives in Ft. Worth and attends UTA. Clinton “matched” his father’s 1958 state championship as he was a starting all-district guard on the 1998 Aledo Bearcats Div. 1 AAA State Championship football team. Richard Inman was perhaps the greatest athlete in the history of Belton High School as his feats from 1957-1960 are unparalleled in Belton’s history. Richard was all-state in three sports (football, basketball and track) as both a junior and senior and was a high school All-American in two sports (track and football) as a senior. He was the first Texas boy to break 60 feet in the shotput and was national high school shotput champion as a senior. He won the Big Eight in the shotput as a soph and senior and placed 3rd in 1962 and 5th in 1964 at the NCAA meet to qualify as an NCAA All-American. Richard Inman was born on Nov. 7, 1941, in Ft. Worth TX to J.B. and Elma Inman and is the oldest of three children (Richard, Joseph and Ann). He was raised in Michigan, Ft. Worth and Killeen before moving to Belton in the 8th grade. As a 6'0" 185 lb. soph Inman was all-district at end in football, won district in the shotput (49'-6" ), and was the second leading scorer (15 ppg), honorable mention All-Centex & 1st team all-state tournament for the Tiger basketball team which won the state AA championship in 1958. As a junior Inman was named 1st team all-state at end by the Waco Tribune-Herald after the 1958 Tiger football team was 6-2-3 on the year losing to Brady in Bi-District. He was 1st team all-state in basketball as he averaged 22.6 ppg on the Tiger team which was 28-4 and lost to Buna in overtime in the regional. He was also the state runner-up in the shotput (55' 5") as a junior. Richard was a catcher on the Tiger baseball team, hit over .300 as a junior, and was considered a pro baseball prospect. As a senior the 6' 0" 195 lb. Inman was again 1st team all-state in basketball though he was only the 3rd leading scorer (12.6 ppg) for the talent-laden and well-balanced 1960 Tigers (35-6) who lost to Dimmitt and Clear Creek at the state tournament despite Inman’s 17 point average in the two games. Belton upset perennial state champ Buna in the regional giving Buna its only loss in 29 regional and state tournament games between 1955-1963. Inman was named again to the AA all-state tournament team and was named 1st team AA all-state at end by the Coaches Association after the 10-1 Tiger football team was ranked as high as #3 in TX before losing to Brady in Bi-District. He was also named to the Super-All State (top 11 boys in TX regardless of size of school) and All-American teams (he was one of only 6 TX players on one H.S. All-American team) as a senior and played in the Texas H.S. Coaches All-Star game and the Texas-Oklahoma H.S. all-star game. He was one of the top football recruits in TX before signing with the O.U. where he was named the outstanding freshman on the Sooner freshman team in 1960. A knee injury ended Richard’s football career after his soph year when he was a starting end for the Sooners. Inman’s most lasting legacy was in track as in 1960 as a senior he became the first TX boy to throw the shotput over 60 feet and won the state AA shotput championship with a throw of 62'8" (breaking a 10-year old state record by almost 3 feet) and the discus championship (160' 1") leading the Waco Times-Herald to assert that Inman “reached the heights of such schoolboy greats as Charles Parker, J. Frank Daugherty and Eddie O. Southern” (legendary TX H.S. track stars of the 1940's and 1950's). Richard went on to win the national H.S. shotput championship at the Golden West Invitational Track Meet in California with a toss of 62'11". While at Oklahoma Richard, at only 6'1 215 lbs., won the Big Eight shotput championship as a soph and senior (he was injured as a junior) and had a career best of 61'11" in the college shot and 188' in the discus. Richard finished 3rd in the NCAA meet as a soph and 5th as a senior to qualify as an All-American for both years (1962 and 1964) and, in 2001, still has the 4th best all-time shotput mark at O.U. Inman received a pharmacy degree from OU in 1965 and returned to Belton where he owned and operated Inman Pharmacy in Belton for several years. He served as a voluntary coach for the Tiger track team in the 1970's and helped develop two state champions (Tim Brown and Kelly Brooks). He also served on the Belton school board in the 1980's. Richard married fellow 1960 B.H.S graduate Jane Sandlin and the couple had three children (Wade, Kerri, and Bert). Both of his sons were pitchers for O.U. and Bert played minor league baseball in the Yankee organization. In 2001 Richard and Jane Inman lived in Salado. Dale West was the dominate “inside” player on what are arguably the three best basketball teams in the history of Belton High School: the 1958 State AA championship team, the 1959 team that was 29-4 and the 1960 team that was 35-6 and lost in the state semi-finals to Dimmitt. He was 2nd team all-state as a senior and played in the Texas H.S. Coaches All-star game and later at the University of Texas. Dale West is the son of Emmit and Clara West and he and his older brother, Mack, were raised in Belton attending Tyler Elementary School, Belton Jr. H.S. and Belton High School where Dale graduated in 1960. His father was Coach Mack Birtchet’s partner in the cattle business. Dale’s athletic skills were not limited to basketball as he was a starting tackle/end on the Tiger football team as a junior (he did not play as a senior) and was a three-year starter at first base for the Tiger baseball team. He led the 1959 Tiger team that lost in the regional in home runs and RBI’s. In his senior season he was the team’s top pitcher and led the team in hitting (over .500), home runs, RBI’s and hits. In 1957 he played on a Babe Ruth League All-Star team made up of players from Belton, Moody and Holland that was beaten in the state finals by Austin whose pitcher, Ray Culp, went on to win 20 games in one major league season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Belton was only 6-8 before District play began in 1958 but then won 17 straight games to win the state AA championship. It was no coincidence that the team “took off” once Dale became the starter at center in the third district game. Though he started only 14 games he still scored 350 points on the year for an average of 11.3 per game and was the team’s leading rebounder and third leading scorer. He scored 10 points and had 16 rebounds in the championship game against New London and grabbed the key rebounds that allowed the Tigers to come back from an 8 point deficit in the last 2 & ½ minutes of the game. As a junior Dale’s 14 ppg was second to Richard Inman’s 22 ppg for the 29-4 Tiger team that defeated its district opponents by an average of 50 points a game but was beaten in the region by Buna. He scored 36 points against Cameron to break the school single game scoring record of 36. Dale was named All-Super-Centex by the Waco Times Herald and honorable mention all-state. As a senior Dale was Belton’s leading scorer at 15.7 ppg (612 points in 39 games) and was the 4th leading scorer in Central Texas according to the Waco Times Herald which listed six Tigers (West, Dennis Watson, Richard Inman, Bill Ward, Willie Garner and Neal Chaney) as scoring over 250 points on the year. The 1960 team was very well balanced with 4 players who made all-state in 1960 (West and Inman) or 1961 (Bill Ward and Neal Chaney), a fifth starter (Watson) who played in college, and had two substitutes (Garner and Chuck Fath) who were later the leading scorer for Temple Junior College. Dale and the other starters played only half the game in the numerous “blowouts.” Dale had a personal best of 30 rebounds against Rosebud though he played little more than half the game and had high point games of 35 against Lampasas and 32 against South Houston. Dale played in the Texas H.S. Coaches All-Star game and was recruited by several Division 1 universities including Baylor TCU and Texas. He signed with Texas and was the 2nd leading scorer and leading rebounder on the UT freshman basketball team and hit .300 for the UT freshman baseball team. Dale was “redshirted” as a soph and decided to end his playing career before his junior year to concentrate on his work toward a degree in pharmacy. West was an A student in H.S. and graduated from U.T. in 1965 with a degree in Pharmacy. He owned and operated West Pharmacy in Mineral Wells for 30 years (1968-1995). Dale married Helen Loerwald in 1965 and the couple has three children, Roger Dale West, Jr., of Proctor TX; Denise West Moffat of Wichita Falls; and Debbie West Hickley of Cheyene WY; and two grandchildren, David Douglas Moffat and Benjamin Dale Moffat. In 2001 Dale, 59, and Helen ran a ranch outside Mineral Wells that specialized in embryo transfer. Randy Winkler was a “late bloomer” as he was only a 2nd team all-district and honorable mention SuperCentex tackle for the 1960 Belton Tigers but later was a two-time Texas All-College and honorable mention NAIA All-American end at Tarleton State College. He is one of only three ex-Tigers to be included in his university’s Athletic Hall of Fame and one of three ex-Tigers to play in the NFL. Randolph Stanley Winkler was born on July 18, 1943, in Temple TX to Paul A. and Ruth Winkler. His grandfather, Ernst Winkler, and two brothers came to Texas from Germany in 1859 and the Winkler family has lived in the Grove/Moffat area of Bell County for over 142 years. Randy was the oldest of three children (Randy, Rodney, and Janell) and attended St. Paul Lutheran School in The Grove, Belton Jr. H.S., and Belton H.S., graduating in 1961. He threw the shotput and discus on the Tiger track team in addition to playing football. Randy was a 190 lb. soph tackle in 1958 on the 6-2-3 Tiger team that won district and lost to Brady 26-14 in Bi-District. He was a 6'1" 206 lb. starting tackle as a junior in 1959 on the 10-1 Tiger team under Coach John Hugh Smith that was ranked no. 3 in Texas before losing to Brady 66-8 in bi-district. Randy was named 2nd team all-district although he played most of the year with a cast on his broken hand. Randy was a 6'1" 210 lb. senior tackle on the 1960 Belton team under first-year Coach Cedric Bettis that played the school’s first year in 3-A and finished the year at 3-7. Randy was named the team’s most outstanding lineman; 2nd team all-district ; and was honorable mention Super-Centex by the Waco Times-Herald. Winkler was offered a football scholarship by Oklahoma University and several smaller schools and signed with Tarleton State University in Stephenville where he played for 4 years (1963-1966) after “redshirting” during the 1962 season. Randy grew to 6'4" & 240 lbs by the beginning of the 1963 season and became known at Tarleton as “The Jolly Green Giant” because of his “broad smile” and size. He was voted the varsity’s outstanding lineman as a freshman tackle. As a soph in 1964 he was named a tri-captain of the team after starting on both offense and defense and was named by the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram to the Texas All-College team (for NAIA and NCAA Div. II) at DE and NAIA #8 All-District at OT. As a junior in 1965 he was voted the team’s MVP; was again named Texas All-College at DE; and was honorable mention NAIA All-American. As a senior the 6'4" & 250 lb. Winkler was moved to tight end and outside LB and was the only two-way (offense and defense) player on the 1966 Tarleton team that was 7-3 on the year (the first winning record since Tarleton became a 4-year college in 1961) and defeated a team of Mexican all-stars 42-8 in the Aztec Bowl in Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium. Winkler was again (1973) named honorable mention (NAIA) All-American. Winkler was selected in the 12th round of the 1966 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions (and by the AFL’s Miami Dolphins) and played OT and OG at 6'5" and 255 lbs. with the 5-7 Lions during the 1967 season alongside NFL greats Lem Barney and Alex Karras. He played during the 1968 season with the 2-12 Atlanta Falcons (with Tommy Nobis). Randy, a member of the Navy Reserve, was called to active duty for two years (including the 1969 and 1970 seasons) and was assigned as an assistant football coach at the Naval Academy on a staff that included five (later) pro head coaches (Rick Forzano, Joe Bugel, Leeman Bennett, Frank Gansz and Jim Stanley). After his discharge from active duty Randy returned to the NFL and played with the 4-8 Green Bay Packers (with Ray Nitschke and Bart Starr) for the 1971 season before ending his 3-year pro career. Randy Winkler graduated from Tarleton State in 1967 with a degree in physical education and biology and worked as District Sales Manager for Atlantic Steele for 4 years before beginning a 26-year career (as a salesman, Sales Manager and VP of Sales) with S & S Industries. He has resided in the Nashville TN area since 1978 and is divorced with no children. He was inducted into the Tarleton State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981 and is one of only 3 ex-Tigers (with Joe Barnes & Jarrell Hayes) in a collegiate Hall of Fame and one of 3-ex Tigers (with Ricky Sanders and Booker Russell) to play in the NFL. Bill Ward is one of only two ex-Tiger basketball players to ever make 1st team all-state (the other was Richard Inman in 1959 & 1960) and was voted the top senior athlete at Belton High School in 1961 and the top senior athlete at S.M.U. in 1965 after leading the Mustangs to the co-championship of the Southwest Conference as a senior. He is one of only three ex-Tigers to make All-SWC. William Charles “Bill” Ward was born in Greenville TX on Sept. 3, 1942, to J.T. and Hazel Ward and was the second of three children (Ken, Bill and Betty). His older brother, Ken, was Belton’s leading scorer in 1956 as a 6'6" center and still holds the school record for most points (33) in a playoff game. Bill moved from Florence to Belton in the second grade and attended Tyler Elementary School, Belton Jr. H.S. and Belton H.S., graduating in 1961. He was named Belton’s top athlete in 1960 for his prowess in basketball and track where he was a high jumper and ran the 440-yd dash and mile relay (which set a district record at 3:33.2 in 1961) on the Tiger track team. He was also president of the Student Council and a member of the National Honor Society (he was in the top 10% of his class) and a representative to Boys State. As a 6'5" soph Bill was the top sub on the 1959 Tiger basketball team that was 29-4 on the year and lost to Buna in overtime in the region. He was a starter (averaging about 10 ppg) as a guard on the “greatest ever” Tiger team of 1960 which was 35-6 and was beaten in the semi-finals of the state tournament by Dimmitt. In his senior year, the 1961 Tigers (who moved up to 3-A) were 26-3 (the best percentage season record of any team in Belton history) and were co-champs of District but lost to Killeen in a District playoff game. During his three years Belton was 90-13—the best 3-year record in school history. Bill averaged 18 points a game on the year even though he played only 2/3 of most games that were “blowouts.”. Ward was called by several newspapers the “tallest guard in Texas” and was named to the Texas Sportswriters All-State 1st team in 1961. He played in the Texas Coaches Association All-Star game in 1961 and tied for high point man (with 12) for the South team in a 67-57 loss to the North team. Ward was recruited by more than 30 schools including Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU, TCU, Houston, Rice and SMU and signed with SMU. He was a 3-year starter for the Mustangs who finished 5th in the SWC in his soph and junior years and were co-champions in his senior year. SMU beat Texas in a one game playoff (led by Ward’s 26 points & 10 rebounds) and lost to Wichita State (which lost to champion UCLA at the Final Four) in the NCAA Tournament. Bill averaged 7.4 points (and 4.0 rebounds) per game in 24 games as soph; 6.9 points (and 4.0 rebounds) in 24 games as a junior; and 14.5 points (and 7.1 rebounds) per game in 27 games as a senior. For his 3-year career he averaged 9.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 75 games and shot 43% from the field & 75% from the free throw line. Ward was voted Co-captain of the 1965 SMU basketball team and was named the outstanding senior athlete at SMU for 1964-1965. The Waco Times-Herald named Ward 2nd team All-SWC and listed him as the SWC’s 10th leading scorer for the season (14.5 ppg) and for conference play (15.4 ppg) making him only the third ex-Tiger (with Earl Wayne Miller and Bernard Bartek) to make All-SWC. Ward was given the Bobby James scholarship award for graduate school (he worked toward an MA in business at SMU) and graduated from SMU in 1965 with a degree in business. After college Ward trained in NYC as a stockbroker and became a money manager in the 1970's. In 2001 Bill Ward, 58, was president of Regal Asset Management and lived in Dallas with his wife Cindy. Their two children, are Will, 25, of Boston, and Katy, 22, of Dallas. Ward established a family foundation that supports many community organizations including the Ward Campus (athletic fields and a double gym) of the Shelton School which serves over 800 children with learning problems. Bill and Cindy also started a Dallas Chapter of Gilda’s Club to support families with cancer victims and support research at Boston Children’s Hospital. Richard Stark was a four-sport star and all-state halfback in 1961 for Belton and later played at SMU where he was voted the team’s top offensive back as a junior in 1964. He died in 1979 at the age of 35. Richard Alan Stark was born on Oct. 11, 1943, in Belton TX to H.G. (Jack) and Jessie Lee (Sugie) Stark. He was the youngest of four children (Dolores, Charles, Linda and Richard) and attended Tyler Elementary School, Belton Jr. H.S. and Belton H.S. where he was a 4-sport star and a member of the Marching Hundred Band and graduated in 1962. In his junior track season (1961) Richard was 2nd in both the 100-yd. and 220-yd dashes at the district meet to teammate George Wilhite and ran on the winning (44.6) 440-yd relay team of Stark, Wilhite, Clois Clark and Chuck Fath and the winning mile relay team with Stark, Wilhite, Fath and Melvin Blair. At the regional meet the Tiger track team finished 3rd in the team competition and Richard placed 6th in the 100-yd dash and his 440-yd relay team finished 2nd (43.06) and his mile relay team was 3rd (3:27.1). Richard did not run track in his senior season as he focused on baseball where he was one of the top pitchers (with a won/lost record of 2-1) on the Tiger team under Coach Royce Boren that was third in district (at 6-4) and 11-5 on the year. Richard was a soph sub on the “greatest ever” Tiger basketball team of 1960 that was 35-6 on the year and was defeated in the state semifinals by Dimmitt. He was also a top sub (usually as a defensive specialist) as a junior in 1961 on the Tiger team that was 26-3 and as a senior on the 1962 Tiger team that was 23-4. In football Richard was a 2nd team all-district HB/DB as a 5'9" 145 lb. soph on the 1959 team that was 10-1 on the year and lost 66-8 to Brady in Bi-District. He was a starting halfback as a 6'0" 155 lb. junior on the 1960 team that (in Belton’s first year in 3-A) was 3-7 on the year under 1st year Coach Cedric Bettis. He was a 160 lb. senior HB on the 1961 Tiger team that was 9-0-1 on the year and ranked 11th in the state a year’s end. The “Cinderella” Tigers, picked to finish fourth in the District, tied for the District championship but lost the right to represent the District in the playoffs due to fewer penetrations in a 0-0 tie against Cleburne in Cleburne. As a 5'11 170 lb. senior HB the versatile Stark rushed for 1,005 yards (a 7.39 per carry average); returned 12 points for 327 yards and 27.2 average; returned 8 kickoffs for 45-yd average; caught 10 passes for a 29-yd average; completed four of six pass attempts for 79 yards; and scored 138 points on the season (leading Central Texas in that category). During the year he scored on an 88-yard punt return against Lampasas, an 80-yard kickoff return and an 80-yard pass play against Stephenville and scored 4 TD’s (from 12, 15, 15, and 7 yards) in his final game against Waco University. Stark, who was the “fastest runner in Central Texas” (with 10.2 speed in the 100-yd dash), was also considered a “great” defensive back. In his senior year he was voted the top Tiger back; 1st team all-district; 1st team All-Centex by the Waco Times-Herald; 1st team 3-A all-state; 1st team Blue Chip Back by Dave Campbell’s 1961 Texas Football; and Wigwam Wisemen & Parade H.S. All-American. Richard went to SMU on a football scholarship and starred on the undefeated freshman team as a 6'0" 167 lb. halfback and receiver (he was also President of SMU’s freshman class). He led the Colts in touchdowns and was 2nd in scoring and in pass completions. He started as a defensive back on the SMU varsity as a soph. As a junior he played both offense and defense and won the Red Stallion Award as the team’s top offensive back as he “figured in almost every statistical category” (e.g., was team’s 2nd leading rusher with 172 yards and caught 13 passes for 120 yards) and returned kickoffs and punts. He graded highest on the team as an offensive back in two games and as a defensive back in three games. He was injured for much of his senior year but was a starter as a defensive back. He was not drafted by the NFL but was invited by the Cowboys and Steelers to their training camps. Stark graduated from SMU in 1966, married in 1969, had a child, Chad, in 1972, and divorced in 1976. He worked for Ford Motor Co. in Dallas and Norfolk VA before moving to Houston to work in real estate and for Shell Oil. Richard Stark died on Feb. 7, 1979, at the age of 35. Bob Sewell became the smallest Tiger to make All-State in basketball when the 5'9" Sr guard made the 3-A All-State team in 1966. Since Bob graduated no Belton boy (in 35 years) has started on two District Championship teams in his last two seasons. He was also the District medalist in golf for two years. Bob was the only sophomore on the 1964 Tiger basketball team (Belton’s first year in 3-A) that was 9-18 (3-9) under Coach Jack Worthington (who replaced the legendary Coach Mac Birtchet after the 1963 season) and was the 6th leading scorer on the team as an alternate starter. In Bob’s junior season the 1965 Tigers (12-16, 5-3) finished the regular season in a 3-way tie for the championship of District 13-3A and won a playoff over Gatesville and Lampasas for the title. The Tigers under Coach Jerry Blankenship were defeated 88-60 in Bi-District by (eventual) state 3-A champion San Marcos which had won District for 13 of the previous 14 years and defeated West Orange by 28 points and Waxahachie by 24 in the state tournament). Sewell was the 2nd leading scorer (behind Larry Stewart’s 13 ppg) as he averaged 11 ppg as a junior. He and Stewart were named 1st team All-District. In Bob’s senior season the 1966 Tigers, who defeated the 4-A Temple Wildcats three times in pre-district play, were 19-9 (8-0) and won the North Zone Championship of District 13-3A. The Tigers were defeated 75-53 in Bi-District by the “towering” San Antonio Sam Houston Cherokees who finished the year at 27-4 after losing in the regional. Bob, a lefty known for his “long distance” shooting (in an era before the 3-point shot), was the leading scorer for the 1966 Tigers at 16.8 ppg on the year (with a high of 29 points) but averaged 18 ppg in pre-district games before opponents began double-teaming him forcing him to become more of a playmaker than scorer (leading to his 13.9 ppg during District). Bob was named to the 3rd team 3-A All-state team at the end of the 1966 season. Bob Sewell was also an outstanding golfer and won medalist honors (i.e., 1st place) at the District meet and 4th in the region (just missing a trip to state) as a junior with a 36-hole score of 69-79=148. As a senior he again won 1st place in District (with a 27-hole score of 110) and again went to the regional tournament. He won several local high school and Jaycee golf tournaments as a youth. Bob Sewell was an outstanding student at Belton H.S. and was named “Mr. Personality” and President of his Senior Class. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1970 with a degree in finance and worked as a national bank examiner from 1972-1974. He moved to Belton in 1974 and was a VP at Peoples National Bank from 1974-1979. As a board member of the Belton Chamber of Commerce he helped organize the 1976 Fourth of July (Bi-Centennial) celebration. In 1979 Bob founded the Equitable Bank in Dallas, serving as president and later as chairman of the bank before selling it to Compass Banks in 1996. Bob stayed on with Compass Bank for 4 years starting the SBA Lending Division (which became the 7th largest SBA program in the nation by 2000). Bob Sewell is the son of Dr. Harvey and Charlene
Sewell who moved to Belton from Wills Point in 1939 to open (with his brother,
Dr. Julian Sewell) the Sewell Clinic which served Belton as the Sewell-Long
Clinic until the mid-1980's. His mother, Charlene, operated the
Salado Galleries in the 1960's and 1970's.
Robert Evans, a 5'10" 168 lbs. end, was named all-state by the Texas Sportswriters Association after the 1966 season becoming Belton High School’s first Afro-American all-state athlete. He was a 3-year starter at DB at the University of Texas at Arlington where he still holds a school record for most interceptions in a game. Robert Evans was born on Oct. 29, 1948, in Belton to Robert and Ida Mae Evans and was raised in Belton with two younger siblings, Richard (QB for BHS in 1975) and Rodney. Robert attended the Harris School thru his junior year and was an all-district offensive and defensive end in football for the Dragons. Robert transferred to Belton H.S. for his senior year of 1966-1967 when Harris H.S. closed in May of 1966 and BHS was integrated. He lettered in football, basketball and track at Belton H.S. and was the third leading scorer (at 7 ppg) for the 1967 Tiger basketball team under Coach Jerry Blankenship that was led by Tommy Grant, Belton’s all-time leading scorer (at 24.9 ppg), and was 11-13 on the year and 2nd in the district (at 6-2). In track Robert ran for Coach Bob McFarland’s Tigers on the 440-yard relay team (of Agrippin Rodriguez, Evans, Robert Ford and Jimmy Barnes) that finished 6th at the District 13-AAA track meet in New Braunfels. He also ran on the Tigers’ mile relay team and in the 220-yard dash and broad jumped. Robert was a 5'10" 168 lb. end on the 1966 Tiger team that was 5-5 in Coach Spike Dykes’ only year as the Tiger head coach (Dykes was later head coach at Texas Tech). Evans was described by newspapers as “one of the top ten pass receivers in Class 3-A in the state” and the Temple Daily Telegram reported that he was Belton’s leading receiver for the year with 21 receptions for 495 yards for an average of 23.5 yards per catch (an amazing average and perhaps the best in school history). Robert also led the team in scoring with nine TD’s for 54 points. Soph Robert Ford was Belton’s leading rusher with 591 yards, 2nd leading receiver with 134 yards and 2nd leading scorer with 38 points. Evan’s had two TD receptions (for 37 and 75 yards) in a 34-7 victory over New Braunfels and caught a 20-yd TD pass in a 12-0 upset over arch rival Killeen. Evans was 1st team 13-3A all-district as an offensive end (one of only two Tigers to make all-district); 2nd team All-Cen-Tex team by the Temple Daily Telegram and 3rd team 3-A all-state by the Texas Sportswriters Association. The other 3rd team all-state end was Riley Odors of West So who went on to star at the U. of Houston and with the Denver Broncos for ten years in the NFL. Robert was recruited by the University of Houston, Air Force, and Trinity University and signed with Arlington State University (now the University of Texas at Arlington). He played for the freshman team in 1967 and broke into the starting lineup for the varsity as a soph DB at mid-season. He started every game in his junior (1969) and senior (1970) seasons and broke a school record (which still stood in 2001) as a junior when he intercepted four passes in a 27-10 loss to San Diego State. All four interceptions came in the first 20 minutes of the game (perhaps a national record for most interceptions in a short period) and came against San Diego State receiver Tom Reynolds, who at the time, was leading the nation in receiving yards with an average of 136 yards per game. Evans held Reynolds to 28 yards in three receptions and San Diego State QB Dennis Shaw avoided Evans’ side of the field for the rest of the game. The 1970 media guide indicated Robert “had the highest game grade average among defensive backs” and was credited (in 1969) with 63 tackles and 4 interceptions and broke up 13 other passes. He was described as 511" 170 lbs. with “excellent speed and reaction” and was a “top All-S.C. candidate.” He was chosen S.C. Player of the Week after the 4 interceptions against San Diego State in 1969 and was honorable mention all-Southland Conference. After his senior year in 1970 he was given the Ex-Letterman’s award for “outstanding contribution by a senior.” Robert majored in business with a minor in math at Arlington State and worked in logistics for LAV. in Ft. Worth from 1971-1975 before operating his own garage and barbeque restaurant in Ft. Worth from 1975-1989. He returned to Belton in 1989 to work in the furniture business. In 2001 Robert Evans, 53, lived in Belton and worked for the American Legion. He is divorced and his daughter, Ann Mitchell, 29, lives in CO. Tommy Grant is Belton High School’s all-time leading scorer in boys’ basketball. Tommy, a 6'1" Sr guard, averaged 24.1 points per game for the 1967 Tiger team that was only 11-13 (6-2) on the year and was 2nd in the N. Zone of District. Tommy broke the all-time Belton scoring record for one game with his 44 points (15 field goals and 14 free throws) in a 74-56 victory over Temple in the 3rd place game of the Temple Tournament in 1967. During that tournament he scored 113 points (44, 38 & 31) in 3 tournament games for a 37.7 average. Grant was averaging over 30 ppg in the early season but finished the season at 24.1 after opponents began double- and triple- teaming him since he was the only serious scoring threat on the Tiger team (the 2nd leading scorer was Tommy Hood at 8 ppg & other players were Jay Touggourt, Robert Evans, Tommy Lee, Bobby Blair, and Rusty Curtis). For example, Temple used the “box and one” defense tactic against Grant and Belton in a return game and held him to 18 points during a 51-48 victory. Grant scored 30 or more points 6 times during the season and saved his best games for the toughest opponents (i.e., he scored 44 against Temple, 38 against Waco Richfield, 36 against District champ Rochdale, and 36 against Clear Creek which won 3rd in the state in 1967). Tommy Grant made the Texas Sportswriters’ 3rd team AAA all-state in 1967 and might have made 1st team if he had played on a stronger team. Tommy was also an excellent rebounded (7 per game) for a guard and was an good defender. His 38 points against Waco Richfield impressed the Richfield coach so much that he recruited Grant to be a part of his newly created team at McLennan County Community College the next season. However, Tommy dropped out during his first year in Waco and ended his basketball career. Tommy’s success as a scoring phenom did not come easy or early. He was only 5'4" in the ninth grade but practiced long and hard to improve his scoring ability. Coach Jerry Blankenship noted that Tommy was an example of “excellence thru dedication” as he saw the 9th grader practicing alone on an outdoor court at an elementary school every day, even on cold, rainy days. Tommy made the Tiger JV team as a soph and was a part-time starter as a Jr. By his Sr year he had become (again after long solitary practice sessions) a “scoring machine” known as “Two-point Tommy” (the chant of the fans at home games). He shot 44.5% from the field during the season though he usually shot from “long range” (there was no 3-pt goal in 1967) and shot 87.4% from the free throw line. Tommy also possessed an unusual skill—he was ambidextrous. As a Little League baseball player he would alternate pitching left-handed and right-handed and was a left-handed pitcher on the Tiger baseball team as a Sr in 1967 though he was predominantly a right-handed shooter in basketball. Grant’s defenders in basketball were constantly amazed at his ability to handle the ball and shoot equally well with either hand. Given the ambidextrous scoring ability of Grant, a more appropriate nickname, “Two-Gun” Tommy Grant. Records come and go and it is unusual for a record to last 5 or 10 years—but Tommy Grant’s 44 points in 1967 is still a Belton H.S. school record in 2001 after 34 years. The next highest point total for one game in Belton’s history (as far as a record search could determine) was the 39 scored by 6'4" center Billy Carlock in 1988. Grant’s 113 points and 37.7 average in the Temple Tournament is also still a record. And his 24.1 ppg in 1967 is still the Tiger school record and broke the 22.6 ppg record of Richard Inman in 1959. The closest anyone has come to Grant’s record was the 23.8 ppg of Carlock in 1988. Tommy Grant, 51, still lives in Temple and is retired from a career with NationWay Freight. He and his wife, Becky, have two children, Gennifer, 26, and Guy, 22, and a grandson, Tyler. Tommy Lee, an all-district athlete in three sports at Belton High School in 1967-68, was named to the 3A all-state football team after the 1967 season and went on to start at LB for the 1970 National Champion Texas Longhorns, the 1971 UT team that was 8-3 and the 1972 UT team that was 3rd in the nation after beating Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. Tommy Lee was born in Belton on June 7, 1950, to B.J. and Wilma Hilliard Lee and was one of four boys (Tommy, Keith, Van, and Kris). The family moved to Ft. Worth in 1951 but returned to Belton when Tommy was 11 and he attended Southwest Elementary, Belton Jr. H.S., and Belton H.S., graduating in 1968. He was an outstanding weightman for the Tiger track team, and in his senior year of 1968, won District 13-3A in both the shotput (54'11") and discus (149'10") and placed 2nd at the Regional in the shotput (54'5") and 6th in the discus (134'4"). He placed 6th in the shotput at the state 3A track meet. In basketball Lee was a 6'2" soph backup post player on the 1966 Tiger team that won District and was 19-9 on the year. In 1967 as a junior he was the 3rd leading scorer at 7 ppg on the 11-13 Tiger team that featured the prolific scoring of all-state Tommy Grant. He was the leading scorer (17.2) as a senior on the 1968 Tiger team (17-10) that tied for the North Zone Championship and was named 1st team all-district. In football Tommy was the starting FB as a 6'2" 188 lb. soph on the 1965 Tiger team that was 4-6 under Coach Mack Birtchet. As a 202 lb. junior in 1966 Lee started at both FB and LB on the Tiger team that was 6-4 under new Coach Spike Dykes and was the team’s 2nd leading rusher (behind soph Robert Ford) with 508 yards on 123 carries (a 4.3 yard average) and 8 TDs. He was named 2nd team all-district as a FB. As a 210 lb. senior in 1967 Tommy was a FB on offense and LB on defense on the 1967 Tiger team that was 5-5 under new coach Jack Meredith. He was named to the 1st team 13-3A All-District team as a FB and LB; the All-Centex team by the Temple Daily Telegram; the Texas High School Coaches 3A All-State 2nd team as a LB; and the consensus High School Football Super Team (Friday Night Heroes) by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine. He was named Belton’s Male Athlete of the Year and the Outstanding Senior Back. Lee was recruited by Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Oklahoma, SMU, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas and was the first boy signed by Texas Coach Darrell Royal after the 1967 season. He played FB and LB on the 1968 UT freshman team and then redshirted the 1969 season. He worked his way into a starting role at LB as a soph in 1970 on the 10-1 Texas team that won its third straight SWC championship and was named the National Champion by the UPI and Football Foundation. Tommy broke a hand during the 1971 season but still started several games for the 8-3 Texas team. Tommy started at LB as a senior in 1972 when the Longhorns went 10-1 and were ranked third in the nation after defeating a Bear Bryant led Alabama team in the 1973 Cotton Bowl. The highlight of his senior season was his being mentioned as SWC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Texas Tech. The 1972 UT media guide for his senior year indicated that he was a 6'3" 214 lb. LB and was “one of most improved linebackers on squad...no. 1 strong linebacker...missed final spring game with broken hand...meets blockers as well as any linebacker on squad...has good size and quickness.” Tommy graduated from the University of Texas in 1973 with a BA in Economics and began his career with A.H. Robbins Pharmaceutical Co. He has held executive man | |||||||
