Bill Hinkle, Jason/Chrisla , Enigma ‘42, Small Town Texas, Nancy Hager,

Billy Dale — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:32:25 +0000

Many of you have asked for a larger font size to view TLSN content on your cell phone. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard said in the Star Trek Series……….



It is now easier to read content on your phone, but your scrolling finger or thumb may need to get in better shape.

TLSN honors the lives of all former Horns from all sports. Bill Hinkle, who played for the Longhorn Tennis team in the mid – 1950’s has passed away. Bill’s celebration of life is at https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/bill-hinkle-tennis



The double service for Jason and Chrisla Reeves was held yesterday (2/27/2021). Considering the circumstance, It was an uplifting service celebrating life and family. Six very talented singers raised the spirits of all who attended. https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/jason-reeves

“Longhorn Legends from Little Towns” by Larry Carlson

Author, media personality, and professor Larry Carlson recently wrote a detailed and well-researched article for the TLSN website. Larry says, “I decided to journey through my dusty memory files and come up with an all-time Small Town Lone Star Longhorns Lineup. I’m especially striving to focus on the little cities with one high school and fewer than 15,000 residents when possible, but there are allowances. I’m sure I’m forgetting or not listing a few worthy Longhorns, but I’m attempting to go with the players who merited all-conference honors and more.”

“And before I even start, remember that Tyler doesn’t qualify as a small city. Nor do Port Arthur or Odessa, to name a few. And Longview, home of the immortal James Street, posted a population of more than 40,000 when Street graduated from LHS in 1966. That ain’t small when you’re really talkin’ small-town Texas.”

“Players are listed with their final season at UT and their hometown and high school team.”

There are 64 former Longhorn football players mentioned in Larry’s article. Jay Arnold is one of those athletes. Below are the links to Larry’s article and Jay Arnold’s humorous story about Longhorns in small-town Texas.

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/larry-carlson-greatness-fromsmalltowntexas

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/player-and-fan-memories

I hope former Longhorn student-athletes, managers, trainers, coaches, and fans will share their inside stories on the TLSN website for others to read. Please send your written Longhorn sports memories or photos to williamdale@msn.com, and they will be added to the TLSN website.

It is best to read Larry’s Carlson article on a computer screen instead of a cell phone screen. Lot’s of graphic detail involved in the Smalltown Texas story.



LITTLE TOWN TEXAS LONGHORNS MADE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE BIG CAMPUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS. A CAMPUS POPULATION LARGER THEN MANY TEXAS TOWNS.

KIRK BOHLS

On Valentine’s day 2021, Kirk Bohls wrote a 5-star article about four 5-star national championship Longhorn quarterbacks’. Vince Young, Eddie Phillips, Duke Carlisle, James Street’s wife Janie, sculptor Ken Bjorge, and Athletic Director CDC were all interviewed.

Kirk’s article is at:

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/kirk-bohls-4-quarterbackbusts

If you choose to read the article, there is one error. Kirk says that Vince Young’s bust is near completion. In fact, it is Eddie Phillips’s bronze bust that nears completion. The Vince Young bust is still in the clay model phase.

https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/tlsn-podcast…

The enigma of the 1942 freshman Longhorn football team.

This is a Bermuda Triangle-type mystery that needs to be solved. The U.T. Athletic department received the photo above from a fan whose uncle is in the photo.

This is an important photo because many/most of the Longhorn athletes in this freshman class were drafted into military service before the 1943 season started and never played varsity football again. These boys gave up their dream of playing for Texas to fight the Axis powers. Each deserves to be recognized as part of Longhorn sports history.

Cindy Slater at the Stark Center has spent weeks reviewing Longhorn’s historical photos and files, trying to assign names to the team photo. Her efforts have been unsuccessful. We have even reached out for help from the Landry family for clues, but most of the athletes’ names are still a mystery.

Here is Chris Plonsky’s request for help assigning names to the players in the photo.

Hi Billy –

Seeking any assistance you and your Texas Legacy Support Network might have in helping us ID the members of this 1942 Texas freshman football squad.

We received this original print for our archives. The donor’s great uncle is #70 (Johnny M. Chirafis)….he was from Corsicana, as was his best friend #57 J.O. Carver. You will see clearly that #27 (third to last in the front row) is Tom Landry in his true freshman year as well.

We have searched high and low for more names who were on this team….Cactus yearbook and old Daily Texan articles noted that the team defeated Texas A&M 12-0 on 11.21.42 and had a 7-7 tie vs. Rice earlier in the season.

Names Randolph Eddy, Stinson Field, Fran Guess, Edwin Heap, and Allen Academy were noted in articles. However, even the Intercollegiate Athletics Council minutes from that 1942-43 academic year did not note the freshman members…ironically, the IAC minutes from May 21, 1942, listed every single freshman on the 1941 team!

So we are on the hunt for some help here.

Thank you as always for your assistance in these matters. Take good care, and stay safe and healthy!

Best -CP

Any help with linking names to images on this photo would be appreciated.

The Budget Battle

The cartoon and comment below found in the Alcalde reflect the challenging times for funding intercollegiate Longhorn women’s sports in the early years. The detailed story behind the battle for funds is shared at https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/donna-lopiano



Donna Lopiano and Title IX are the forces that eventually leveled the funding playing field between men’s and women’s sports at Texas. It was the women’s golf teams in the early 1970s that proved talent was not exclusive to men’s sports. Nancy Hager was one of the pioneers of Longhorn intercollegiate sports. She deserves significant recognition for the power of her golf game. Not many men can brag of a 2 handicap, and none can say that Ben Crenshaw was their caddy. She resonated excellence, and her sports exploits were the forerunner of the most successful women’s sports program in intercollegiate sports history. The women’s golf budget for the first intercollegiate year was only $220. There were no uniforms until an Austin doctor contributed funds to purchase the clothing. Cathy Bertram remembered how hard it was to find burnt orange accessories for the team and that Coach Weis had to wash all the Longhorn clothes.



In 1972 Nancy Hager was the medalist in the state meet and finished 3rd at the National competition. Nancy Hager set the women’s Morris Williams Golf Tournament record. Her caddy was Ben Crenshaw.



1973 was the first year for the Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Program. The budget for all seven women sports at Texas was $27,000. Women’s golf received $220 of the budget. Coach Weis managed the Golf team in her spare time and worked full time as a teacher. Weis decided to bring top-level women’s golf to Austin since she had no budget to travel by starting the annual Betsy Rawls Invitational. Nancy Hager was ineligible in 1973 because she went to school outside of the country.



1974 is the first year of 4 member teams. All the women’s scores are combined to determine the winner. Nancy Hager carried a two handicap, and she is the medalist at the Betsy Rawls’ Invitational. Nancy capped off the year as the MVP on the golf team. https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/history-5

TLSN is an independent organization celebrating Longhorn Sports History and assisting qualifying Horns who need temporary financial assistance.

The TLSN website is a free, educational, historical, and insightful sharing of Longhorn sports history through the eyes of those who created it.

TLSN is not associated with the UT Athletics Department or any organization closely aligned with UT.

Https://texaslsn.org

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