Sports Opinion Random Musings May 7

When it comes to thinking about the history of education and sports at Dripping Springs during the 1940's Charles Dickens nailed it. His opening for his Tales of Two Cities was “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Its history for the decade included definite highs as well as lows.

We have learned the Texas Constitution of 1876 set up our public school system. In it the compulsory age to start to school was seven attained prior to September 1, until 1929 when the age was lowered to six. This would make it easier to transition into a 12-grade school system. DS attained that status in the 1941-42 school year. Prior to that DS went to 11-grades and if you wanted to go to college you would have to finish at a school that had twelve grades, so it was a big deal. Consolidation of the county school districts exploded during the 40's for DS and in 1945 they would attain Rural High School status. Also in the sports world, 41-42 was significant when the UIL started assigning schools to districts and doing away with the county meet systems. Just in general, Dripping Springs got electricity in early 40', the school published its first yearbook in 1945 and hired their first coach, G.A. Pringle, Jr. in 1946.

Football: The first half of the decade had to deal with WWII and it showed because of the scarcity of boys. After Pearl Harbor, many boys joined the armed forces as soon as possible. So much so, the 1943 class only graduated girls. The 1940 team broke even with a 3-3-1 record and there was a possibility two district games were not recorded with UIL. The next three years were slim with records of 1-7, 1-4, 1-6. However, as the war settled in, so did school with no losing records for the rest of the decade. In 1944 it was 5-4 and 5-5 in '45. Behind the play of Wee Bud Cauthen, Howard Key, Raymond Whisenant, Steve Spillar, Jim Boardman and Charlie Haydon the '46 team carved out a 5-3 record.

The 1947 team breezed through their eight regular season opponents to take the first outright district title. In those days Class B teams could only advance to bi-district. LaCoste would prove too tough in the 35-22 loss. Billie Breed was the main cog, although he had plenty of help from Harvey Goslin, R.L. Harber, H. Key, J.F. Glosson, James “Shot” Glosson, S. Spillar, Jack Hohman, Doug Sansom & Jimmie Moody. Breed, Goslin and Key were all-district while Fred Trimble, Gene Harber and Shot Glosson were honorable mention. A two-point loss to Blanco, kept the team from repeating with a 6-4 record. JF Glosson was the hoss but had plenty of help from Billy Rippy, Landon Spaw, Goslin and Buddy White. Glosson was first team, Goslin second and Spaw honorable mention.

The Tigers saved the best for last when they went a perfect 12-0, becoming the regional champions in '49. That was as far as Class B could go that year. Glosson returned to continue leading this powerhouse unit. Goslin and White were back and joined by R.C. Toungate, Bobby Needham, Thomas Johnson, Hudson Hill, Jack Lyle, etc. Their 26-0 win over Blanco was the first game ever played under the lights in DS. Goslin, Johnson, Needham, White and Glosson were all-district. Glosson and Johnson played on the East All-Star squad and led them to a 20-13 victory. Southwest Texas State wanted Glosson badly but he decided against it after a short trial.

Boys basketball: At no time during the 40's did DS have a gym, so all games were played in someone else's gym. 40-41 was the last year for county tourneys. The tourney was held in Kyle and the Tigers defeated Henly 32-26 to win third place. Jay Spillar led the tourney with 20 points. The next year district assignments began. The format was to hold a series of tourneys at places that had gyms. That year they were at Kyle and Pflugerville. The next two years were void of information and not much better for most of the rest. Was able to get much of their schedule but very few results. In 46-47 district tourneys were held at Kyle, Prairie Lea and Dowdy with Dripping Springs being named the “Most Improved Team” in district. The district was zoned in 48-49 with DS placed with Buda, Kyle and Prairie Lea. In 49-50 it looked like DS was ready to break in for a title. The J.F. Glosson-led team won at least 17 games, their zone and were taking on SA Sam Houston in the zone finals. Glosson became the first known Tiger to score 30 points in a game. He did this in their last district game with Buda. He would break his foot in a practice game just prior to play in zone and they lost both games.

Girls basketball: DS girls were still not playing under the UIL umbrella but still having a season of play. No information the first four years but the 44-45 team was known to place second in the Dowdy and Mason tourneys with Lila Smith gaining all-tourney in both. In 45-46, the team lost their first sixteen games before putting it all together to win the Dowdy tourney. They would repeat as Dowdy champions the next year with Mae Dell Crumley, Dorothy Heffington and Violet Rae Smith all-tourney. DS made it three in a row at Dowdy with Violet Smith and Joyce Walker all-tourney. Wins were also scarce in 49-50. First win came in early January and later in February won consolation at the Mason Goat tourney with Louise Wallace all-tourney.

Girls volleyball: This decade was a good one for girls volleyball. The sport was usually part of the spring county meet because volleyball was still not a part of the UIL. In 40-41 the team of Louella Williamson, Wilma Goslin, Edith Goslin, Joyce Huey, Lula Sanders, Cleo Nell Gage, Lillian Hollingsworth won the championship. The next result we have is the Lockhart tourney in 44-45 in which DS was second and Lila Smith was all-tourney. District titles came in 46-47, 47-48 and 49-50.

Boys track: During this decade the boys track team won three district titles.

1946: Tigers won over Buda 64.5-31.

440 relay: 2. (Billy Hall, 3 others); 100: Hall, 2. Raymond Whisenant; 440: 1. Whisenant; 220: 1. Whisenant 2. Hall; Pole vault: 1. Hall 2. Whisenant. Ward division: Nathan Hall won the 50, 100 and 440 relay plus second in the broad jump.

1947: DS over Prairie Lea 51-48.

440 relay: 1. 49.1; 880: 1. Howard Key 2.35, 2. Jimmy Moody 4. Eldridge Robinson. 120 H.H.: 3. Joe Cobb 4. Jimmy Boardman; 440: 1. Whisenant 57.2; 220 L.H.: 2. Cobb 4. Boardman. 220: 2. Douglas Cauthen. Mile relay: 3.; Discus: 1. Whisenant 99'11; PV: 2. B. Hall 3. Jimmy Moore; HJ: 2. Moody; SP: 3. Cauthen; BJ: 2. Whisenant 3. Hall.

1950: DS over Harper.

440 relay: 2. (Thomas Johnson, Jim McClellan, Nathan Hall, Charles Crumley); 880: 2. Robert Sansom; 440: 4. Hudson Hill; Mile: 3. Charles Wier; Mile relay: 2. (Hall, Darvlin “Dob” Watson, Aubrey Kahn, Sansom); BJ: 1. Buddy White 17'7; Discus: 1. John Buckner 103'; 2. Harvey Goslin, 3. J.F. Glosson; SP: 1. Goslin 36'5; 2. Glosson; HJ: 3. Hudson Hill.

Finally, time for BRAGGING: Our son, Tim, recently was named the top sportswriter in Texas in the Sports Column Writing category for newspapers of that particular size by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors for the State of Texas. This is the second straight year he has received the honor and makes six in a row for winning an award in that category. He writes a column each Sunday for the Temple Daily Telegram. He lives in Belton, Texas.

Our granddaughter, Allison, the daughter of Tim and Cristina was just hired to be the head Volleyball coach at Academy High School, a town near Temple, Texas. She will also be an asst track coach as well as teach History there. She was a 2016 graduate of Belton High School, where she was an all-district volleyball performer. The past four years she attended Incarnate Word University in San Antonio where she was a member of the volleyball team all four years. She attained her Bachelor of Arts degree in History this semester. The Lady Bumblebees were excited to make the hire as they should be. Her Dad is also excited because not only will he get to see her coach but will get to cover her games for the paper. Academy is only ten miles from my hometown of Rogers and the two schools were always big rivals and still are.