Sports Opinion Random musings May 28

Many changes took place in the 1970's as to campus and sports at DSHS. Growth really took off. In sports, DS advanced two classifications in the decade. New additions to the campus in the early '70's included a library/science wing, an agriculture wing, a new fieldhouse, industrial arts complex, tennis courts and elementary additions. As the district began to squabble over where to locate a new high school, every nook and cranny was filled with portable buildings. The school moved from a Class B to Class A in 1970 and then to 2A in 1976. We will only summarize the first half of the decade while DS was in Class A. It was good for sports as the teams accumulated 12 district titles in that span.

Football: As mentioned last week, the two-year lag in classifying schools gave growing schools like DS an advantage by giving them two years to add numbers to land in the middle of a class. Also, DS was blessed to have larger class numbers giving one better chances at more athletes. This was the case for the 70-75 football teams that claimed three titles and competed for the other three.

A quality nucleus returned for 1970 and it showed as they went 9-2, winning a last second game with Blanco for the title before losing to Jourdanton in bi-district. Pat Lyle became the only Tiger to ever earn first team all-state honors. John Murray set season/career rushing records that held up for thirty years. Joe Williamson collected several all-state honors his last two years. Other seniors were Jay Lindsey, Monty McNair, Cole Bonnett, Randy Spence, Matt Allen, Chuck Modgling and Robert Mauck.

Another good push fell short in 1971 with a 6-4 record. Seniors leading this unit were Monte Glosson, Ronnie Wright, Terry Sansom, Chad Murphy, Steve Brown, Brad James, Kevin Farrell, Terry Garnett, Howard Bryant, and Ray Nevarez. The most hard-luck team ever was 1972. It had a 2-8 record but lost four games in the final 20 seconds. Teddy Draper held the total offense record for 44 years. Damon McIntyre, Bo Henry, Ricky Alba and Francis Whatley were seniors.

The 1973 team was blessed with a ton of seniors. Enough so the two-platooning team could have been manned with all seniors. The team finished 8-4, losing to a strong Falls City team at regional. Senior members included Jay Pittman, Allen Spence, Randy Hutto, David Walker, Johnny Preslar, Carroll Perkins, Bill Hyde, Walter Andrus, John Roye, Mike Sanders, Dean VandeHey, Stuart Overton, Billy Gravenor, Gary Draper and Eldon Grumbles.

Denny Williamson, Bill Whitaker, Tony Bess, Dale Bassford, Barry McNair, Brady Shipp, Dale Johnson, Brett Bray and Steve Houle led the injury-plagued 1974 team to a 4-5-1 record. Bess still holds the single season punting record. The 1975 (4-6) team also had a senior-laden team. It too, suffered key injuries but managed to share a piece of the pie when a last second, 56 yard pass from Tem McCutchen to Val Sanchez won the game. DS lost a flip of the coin for a playoff slot. Other seniors were Keith Harvill, Tracy Johnson, Russell Andrus, Russell Burke, Daryl Redinger, Daryll Keeling, David Freitag, Troy Johnson, Dart Hyde, Ernest Villarreal and Tommy Moore.

Boys basketball. Four-year starters Pat Lyle and Joe Williamson led the '70-71 team to a district title and a 15-10 record, losing in OT to a good Laredo United team in bi-district. Other seniors were M. Allen, C. Bonnett and Al Hohman. 1971 did not have as much luck with their 14-11 record. Seniors were T. Sansom, R. Wright and C. Murphy. The 1972 group and their 9-13 record did not indicate how hard this group played under the senior leadership of T. Draper, F. Whatley, Rick Gage and Rick Mauck. The 73-74 team could not quite break even with their 12-13 record. Seniors were J. Pittman, A. Spence, R. Hutto and T. Bess. B. Whitaker and D. Williamson were able to lead their 1974 (17-8) team to the best record since '61.

Girls basketball: The Tigerettes maintained their title streak into the 70's with two more. Neither could get past their bi-district foes. 1970 carved out a 27-6 record but Jourdanton (The same team to stop the Tigers in football bi-district) did likewise to the Tigerettes. Deb Spillar and Kathy Hutto were the seniors that year. In 1971-72 the record was 24-8 with Somerset putting an end to the season. Seniors were Kathy Pittman, Letha Phillips (four years all-district) and Lynda McCarty completed their senior years. That would put a finish to any titles for a couple of decades. Enough talent remained to have a 17-10 record in 1972. Janet White, Sandy Gravenor and Eva Breed were seniors. The 1973 team had good senior leadership in their 18-9 season. Seniors were Charlotte Hohman, Theresa Garnett, Luisa Sanchez, Jane Perryman, Tina Gillis, Tonne Bonnett, Anna Villarreal and Melody Jones were seniors. In the 74-75 season the Tigerettes would dip below .500 (12-14). Seniors were Kathy Glosson and Annette Gravenor.

Baseball: Despite the enrollment growing, baseball participation started to declined to the point the 1974 team was having to scour the hallways to find the ninth player for a game and the sport was dropped for five years. Records for those last five years were 4-6, 3-7, 3-4, 1-5 and 2-7. Some of those seeing action during those years were P. Lyle, J. Ramirez, M. Allen, T. Draper, D. McIntyre, R. Spence, K. Farrell, R. Wright, Billy Simpson, C. Modgling, H. Bryant, Bob Buchholz, M. McNair, J. Pittman, Steve Dusek, B. Whitaker, D. Bassford, T. Bess, T. McCutchen, T. Moore, W. Andrus, R. Andrus, J. Hudson, D. Williamson, A. Spence, V. Sanchez, R. Burke.

Boys track: The second place finish for the 1970 season was the springboard for a streak of four district titles and another second place. The four titles coincided with entrance of the 1974 class into high school. Their numbers and talent overwhelmed district opponents who were depending on quality over quantity. One meet DS only collected two golds to the second place team's nine but the Tigers would usually place three in each event to collect points and won going away. Like other sports, most everyone also participated in track and contributed to the point totals. Worth mentioning was E. Grumbles who placed first or second in the mile each year to qualify for regional. Barry McNair learned how to attack the quarter mile and then anchored the mile relay team of V. Sanchez, R. Andrus and T. McCutchen all the way to state where they set the school record at the time.

Girls track: Finally got its UIL blessings in 71-72. Like boys, the athletes from the other sports were also prominent in running track.

Golf: During the first half of the decade, the boys golf teams were annual participants at the regional golf tourney held at Victoria. The Tigers won the district outright in '71 and '72. Some of the early golfers were R. Hutto (qualified for regional all four years), D. VandeHey, T. Draper, C. Murphy, Danny Crowder and Ernest Villarreal. In 1974, Kathy Glosson became the first girl to compete in UIL golf for DS.

Crosscountry: This sport got its start at DS in the fall of 1971. First a brochure from San Marcos Baptist Academy touting a state crosscountry meet to be held in San Marcos. Second, Duane Hendrickson, a new student with CC experience, encouraged getting a team together. So the deed was done. Joining Duane were E. Grumbles, S. Overton, Gene Czimskey, G. Draper and Bo Henry to compete that first year. The UIL started sponsoring the next year and the Tigers continued to enter even though the sport only had two classifications.

Volleyball: DS finally entered the volleyball world in the spring of 1973. For the first three years, the sport was played in the spring with the teams usually playing a single district round and then held a tourney. It was moved to its permanent spot on the calendar to the fall in 1975, giving it the unique oddity of having two seasons in the same year.

As many know, I am a keeper of sports records for DS and there are many gaps in the sports information from the mid-50's back. I have been saying those gaps are probably hidden away in someone's trunks and attics from long ago people that kept scrapbooks, etc. and eventually will see the light of day. Just recently some of that came to pass when I got a call concerning a find on E-bay. It seems Coleman Chapman, a senior-to-be kicker for the Tigers, came across a packet for sale from Florida of Tiger Cry's. He recognized it as something from Dripping Springs' past that should be in Dripping Springs not Florida. He contacted the lady and purchased the packet. It turned out to be ten issues of the first Tiger Cry published in 1941-42. What a find. So please, when cleaning out an attic or old trunks, check for valuable historic material. Someday DS will have a museum to house such items.

It looks as if the USA is trying to re-open all activities, including sports. What concerns me as it probably does others is how the public is going to act towards this. There are many examples already of people abusing the privileges and rules of safe behavior, so what happens to the new standards? There are those protesting they have rights but what kind of rights will you have when no one obeys the laws. I was always told your rights end where my nose begins. My health is my nose. What I do know is nothing has changed. We still have the virus and it can spread very quickly with devastating results and we have no vaccine to control that. Until then it is up to us and therein could be the rub.