HANK BAUERSCHLAG – Basketball

 From David Fisher 03/10/2020 About Longhorn basketball player

Hank Bauerschlag By David Fisher

Hi Billy, thanks for all you do. The teammate that I was closest to in the early 70s was Hank Bauerschlag Jr. Hank was a great guy and had an amazing future ahead of him. After school, I came back to Houston but spent most weekends in Austin with Hank and his wife Paula. he worked in the Austin media and produced the Abe Lemons Show. One Monday morning I believe in 1978 or 79, I had spent the previous weekend with them in Austin when Hank called me. He could hardly contain himself. Fish, he said, I am going to be a Dad. To this day, I don’t know who was more excited and which one of us cried the most.

That Wednesday morning, I came into the office and one of the secretaries asked me if the basketball player that passed away last night was a friend. Instinctively I prayed that it wasn’t Hank as I called the athletic dept but of course, it was. I was holding Paula’s hand 2 hours later. I haven’t stopped crying since. Hank never knew his daughter and she never knew what a great father Hank would have been.

I know that you have lost teammates as I have lost others as well. Even if you haven’t seen them in years, when hearing about their passing, a little part of you passes away with them. Maybe thats the toughest part of having teammates.

Basketball and Track athlete Hank Bauerschlag is the all-time leading scorer at Clear Creek High School, scoring 2,381 points during his Wildcat career. Bauerschlag was named All District for three years and named the Most Valuable Player by the Texas High School Coaches Association. He attended the University of Texas on a 4-year basketball scholarship. Bauerschlag passed away at the early age 24. His sister, Dail Bauerschlag Sams, accepted the award on her brother’s behalf.