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PRim imee r a e Y n e d l o G Pirates y r u b n a r G celebrate ersary v i n n a h t 50 of historic ball 1966 foot team

Granbury, Texas September 2016

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4950 Highway 377 East | Granbury, Texas | 817.279.5900 | mikebrownauto.com Prime, September 2016

Saluting the 1966 Pirates

James Hodges, Pogie Ames, Jimmy Tidwell, Herman Mitchell helped lead the Granbury football team to the 1966 state title game

CONTENTS 4 6 8 10 12 14 17

Closeness, toughness defined ‘66 Pirates Mission possible: Agency Homes H omes in demand dem mand provides relief to residents ‘Glory Days’ chronicled in cherished scrapbook The Golden Chariot: They rode all the way to state Cool Idea: Students gain positive outlook Making Hay: Unusual way to stay in shape paid off Who in the Hood?

Prime, September 2016

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Closeness, toughness defined ‘66 Pirates

BY RICH JACQUES

I

t’s been a half century since Granbury’s historic run at the state AA football championship in 1966, but ask those involved with that team and they spit out memories of that season as if it took place yesterday.

“You won’t find anyone tougher than that group of kids,” said former head coach Fred Weir from his home in Azle where he has lived since 1971.

Of the many memories of that championship run, Weir said his favorite memory is clear.

“It was the tremendous support of the

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players and community,” he said.

Weir left Granbury after the championship season to coach at other schools, but he still remembers the Pirate team of 50 years ago as one of the most hard-nosed bunch of players he’s ever been around.

The smallest school in Class AA that season, Granbury was just above the Class A enrollment limit with about 228 students.

But what they lacked in numbers they made up for with heart, a strong work ethic and team closeness.

“They were the most unselfish group of kids,” said Weir.

And tough too.

The players made do with what they had

Prime, September 2016

Fred Weir coached the 1966 Pirates a 14-1 season, their best in history

– they didn’t even get their “football socks” until the championship game in Austin, according to one player.

The ’66 Pirates practiced in primitive conditions, sometimes using tires as practice props.

They wore plastic bags donated from a local cleaners to help keep them warm under their pads during their playoff run.

“They were just an exceptional group of kids,” said Weir. “They knew what their job was, and they took care of it.”

Using the Arkansas Monster 5-2 defense and the Wing T I formation on offense, the team never trailed in a regular season game.

“They knew the system well,” said Weir.

“When somebody made a mistake they knew who to hold responsible.”

The team has a unique closeness both on and off the field that continues today, according to Herman Mitchell, a defensive back and wide receiver on the ’66 team.

“We all worked together and played together,” said Mitchell. “We were together all the time.”

Mitchell said the discipline started in middle school under coach Willie Crossland.

“We didn’t wait until we got to high school,” said Mitchell. “They started teaching us when we were in eighth grade.”

One of their secret weapons out of uniform that season was Herman’s brother, Billy Mitchell, an undersized star running back who had graduated a year before.

While playing college football, Mitchell would travel back to Granbury to provide extra leadership.

“He would come back and help settle down the team,” said his younger brother.

In the championship game at Nelson Stadium in Austin the toughness that had been instilled in the team remained on display.

James Hodges, who entered the title game with 35 touchdowns for Granbury, separated his shoulder on the first drive but continued to play, and running back George Rains

Then-Supt. Robert Stanley

played the game with three broken ribs, according to coach Weir.

Despite the setbacks, Granbury led at halftime 7-6, but Sweeny, with an enrollment of more than 800 students, pulled away in the second half en route to a 29-7 victory in front of about 5,000 people.

“We couldn’t move the ball on them,” said Weir.

In life, Herman Mitchell said he believes the players who went through the 1966 season have been a positive influence on others, much because of the lessons learned that year from coaches and from each other.

“We’ve always been successful because we’ve always been a team,” he said. “I think we’ve been good for people.” Q

“They were just an exceptional group of kids,” said coach Fred Weir. “They knew what their job was, and they took care of it.”

Prime, September 2016

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Mission possible Granbury agency provides relief to residents

BY CHRISTINE DORAN

F

Mission Granbury volunteer Martha Tinsley

lood victims didn’t know where to turn.

The May 29 flooding hit dozens of homes along 28 miles of the Brazos River, according to Christi Durant, community resource manager and volunteer coordinator of Mission Granbury.

Many people were left with vast damages and no solution.

About 70 families turned to Mission Granbury for help, Durant noted.

Businesses and Mission Granbury teamed to supply re-

sources for immediate needs, such as Gatorade, food and clothing and shelter.

Also, Mission Granbury communicated with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide assistance.

Mission Granbury offers help during disasters – and during times of individual hardships.

When an individual is in need, Durant and other employees help them make connections with various resources.

One of over 200 volunteers, Martha Tinsley has “nothing but good experiences” at Mission Granbury.

Three years ago, she decided she wanted to find a place to volunteer.

“The Lord led me here. It’s where I was supposed to be,” she said.

She works in the resale shop and boutique connected to their office.

“It’s given me something worthwhile to do. I feel like I’m contributing.”

Tinsley sees Granbury residents enter with unbelievably difficult circumstances.

During times of flooding, tornadoes and fires, some of them have nowhere else to go.

“It’s hard. You sympathize with them and feel for them, and it just makes you want to help them all the more,” Tinsley said.

“It feels really good when you can give them what they need to start over.” Q

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Prime, September 2016

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‘There’s a whole bunch of me in these pages.’

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Prime, September 2016

‘Glory Days’ chronicled in cherished scrapbook

BY RICH JACQUES

H

e coached some of the greatest teams in Granbury football history, but the late coach Vic Prince left something behind that possibly outshines all the wins.

Prince, who led the Pirates from 1961-71 as an assistant and head coach, chronicled the “Glory Days” of Pirate football in hard-copy volumes and multiple DVDs. Prince’s teams won or shared three district championships. He once missed out on the postseason with an 8-1 record after losing a coin flip. His overall record in five seasons was 31-17-3.

“There’s a whole bunch of me in these pages,” said Prince in 2013, just a few months before his death at the age of 80.

The Granbury football chronicles were among his greatest treasures, next to his wife, Lula Mae, and their family members, he said.

Each year he created a new book, complete with newspaper clippings, stats, photos, and, of course, game-by-game results.

Fred Weir, who coached the state finalist Granbury team, has a cherished copy of the 1966 book at his home near Fort Worth.

“Give his wife Lula Mae some credit,” said Weir, who brought Prince with him to Granbury in 1961. “When he started coaching, Lula Mae saved every write-up in a shoe box, and when he retired he put them all together.”

Weir said when the players get together they sometimes refer to the many memories that are saved in the pages of Prince’s books.

“It was wonderful thing that he did,” said Weir. Q

Vic Prince (left and above) documented the team’s highs and lows during his tenure.

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The Golden Chariot James Hodges gets a smile on his face when talking about his football days at Granbury High School. He’s pictured second from right with (from left) Jimmy Tidwell, Larry Stewart and coach Fred Weir.

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Prime, September 2016

They rode all the way to state

BY DEBBIE SCHNEIDER

S

omeone offered them a chartered bus to Austin for the Class 2A state football championship game.

But they turned it down.

The 1966 Granbury Pirates traveled by school bus for the title match.

“We rode on the school bus to Austin.

Just like we rode the school bus to every game. We just wanted to keep it the same,” James Hodges said with a grin.

“We called it the Golden Chariot.”

Hodges, now president of First National Bank of Granbury, was a senior at Granbury High School when the ’66 Pirates football team had the best season ever – now 50 years ago.

His high school sweetheart, Su Lin, was a cheerleader and later became his wife.

Like many small-town football players, Hodges “played both ways.” In other words, he played both offense and defense – as a running back and linebacker.

There were 54 kids in his senior class.

“Everybody knew everybody,” Hodges said.

The guys on the football team were really close, he said. As kids they rode bikes together all over town. They would play in the river, go fishing and played football in the yard, or sometimes in the street.

“It was a more simple time,” Hodges stated. “We didn’t have Little League then. We started football at school in junior high.”

In 1966, the Granbury Pirates had a reputation for hard-hitting ball-control football.

“It was a defensive game back then,” Hodges said.

The Pirates handily made it through district play.

Beat Cisco 53-12.

Beat Eastland 60-6.

Beat Clyde 38-0.

Beat Comanche 49-8.

Beat Hamilton 17-8.

In fact, Hodges said, the varsity football team only lost four or five games during his four years of high school.

As the team moved through the play-

Prime, September 2016

off schedule in 1966, Hodges said the games were a little scary.

“We were one of the smallest 2A schools back then. It was a little different when we started playing schools we hadn’t played before,” Hodges said.

The Pirates lost to Sweeny 29-7 in the state title game after leading 7-6 at halftime. Sweeny’s depth wore down the injury-riddled Pirates in the second half.

From their high school coaches, Hodges said the players learned that attitude and hard work can overcome talent.

“We learned to work hard and try to do the right thing,” Hodges said.

Numerous players from that famous team went on to play college ball and many are now successful businessmen in Granbury.

Hodges played for TCU in the Southwest Conference, where the team lost about as many games as they won.

He said college ball was different on many levels.

“You walk into a stadium with 80,000 screaming people. It’s was really something.” Hodges recalled.

“We never took off our helmets at the game. People were throwing stuff at us from the stands. It was crazy,” he exclaimed. “After getting hit once in the head, you learned!”

The mode of transportation was also different in college. No more Golden Chariot.

“We left on a chartered plane Friday to go to the game and flew back on Sunday,” he explained.

It was the first time to fly for Hodges and many of the others.

“We thought we were really living it up with shrimp cocktail and steaks for dinner,” he recalled with a smile.

Hodges and his wife have three kids, all who played sports at Granbury, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild on the way.

Reflecting on the Granbury team’s rise through the playoffs, Hodges said, “It was our goal to go to state. We really wanted to go to state.

“Guess we didn’t say we would win.”

Joking, he grinned and said, “Maybe we set our goal too short.” Q

11

Cool Idea Students gain positive outlook through Boys & Girls Club

BY CHRISTINE DORAN

“Look, Dad, look!” yelled 8-year-old Carson Clark as he raced down the bright hallway of the Boys & Girls Club of Hood County on Acton School Road.

Beaming with pride, he pointed up at the dry erase board that stood tall near the

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door. In bright red Expo ink it said, “Congratulations on the perfect score, Clark!”

He had done it.

He had accomplished a perfect score in Wii bowling. He’d worked for weeks and couldn’t get past his high score of 278.

The generally quiet boy was ecstatic over his accomplishment.

Prime, September 2016

Allie Reynolds, program director for the Boys & Girls Club of Hood County, recalled how she watched him change. A simple act of celebrating his success gave him enormous confidence.

“Kids believe what we tell them they are,” she said.

The goal of the Boys & Girls Club is to

Main: Confidence builder sub: Students gain positive outlook through Boys & Girls Club Students entrepreneurial skills through the TEXT AND PHOTO BYlearn CHRISTINE DORAN

Boys & Girls Club’s snow cone stand on Acton School Road. From left: club member Maddy Nethercutt, “Look, Dad, look!” yelled 13; Program Director Allie Reynolds; Executive Di8-year-old Carson Clark as he rectorthe Jeffbright Bates;halland staff member Lydia Rife, 18. raced down way of the Boys & Girls Club of Hood County on Acton School Road.

Beaming with pride, he pointed up at the dry erase board that stood tall near the door. In bright red Expo ink it said, “Congratulations on the perfect score, Clark!”

He had done it.

He had accomplished a perfect score in Wii bowling. He’d

empower students with a positive identity and help them accomplish goals for life.

“Our goal is guidance. We’re about teaching,” said Jeff Bates, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Hood County.

Bates and his wife, Paula Bates, have a passion for enabling kids. Jeff has been the executive director in Hood County since 2011, and Paula is the resource development director.

| ABOUT THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB The Boys & Girls Club has a $20 annual membership fee.

Afternoons, 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Locations: STARS Academy: 3000 Acton School Road, Granbury Decker Gym: 600 West Bridge St., Granbury 817-578-8778

In late July, they began a project to enable teenagers to learn about running a business: a snow cone stand.

According to Paula, the students are in charge of almost everything, from customer service to making supply lists and purchasing what they need.

Jeff’s hope is that members of the Boys & Girls Club will graduate high school with a plan for their lives, and that they will be Prime, September 2016

able to accomplish what they set out to do.

Students can go to one of two locations where they play games, receive academic help, and spend quality time with the leaders and students.

The club offers other programs, such as “Money Matters” to help students learn how to keep a checkbook. All kids are welcome to join, from the time they are 6 and enrolled in first grade until they are 18. Q

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An unusual way to stay in shape paid off for Pirates

14

Prime, September 2016

All-state lineman Jerrel Bolton signs with the University of Texas at Austin as Head Coach Darrell Royal looks on. Bolton was part of the 1966 Granbury Pirates football team, which was the best in the school’s history.

By Kathy Cruz Fifty years ago, Granbury High School football players didn’t have air conditioned exercise rooms full of fancy weight lifting equipment.

T

hey didn’t need them.

The scrappy young men who made up the most successful football team in GHS’ history were in prime physical condition because of hard physical labor performed under the searing Texas sun.

From sunrise until well after dark, the boys hauled hay.

“We’d be in the hay field at daylight, and we’d stay as late as midnight,” said Jerrel Bolton, an all-state lineman who went on to play for the University of Texas.

During his time at UT, the team won two national championships.

Bolton, the brother of recently retired Justice of the Peace Judy Watson, recalls some of the details from those long ago days.

“Tom Durant had a hay truck. He, Steve Davis and myself were on that truck.

“George Fidler had a hay truck, and Mr. Moore – I can’t remember his first name – he had three hay trucks.

“Just about all of our starting players worked on those hay trucks, with three people on each truck.”

Billy Wiley, former owner of Wiley Funeral Home, graduated from Granbury High School in 1962, but was among those who engaged in the practice of hauling hay to stay in shape.

Wiley played center for the Pirates.

“Everybody did that,” he said of hauling hay, adding that there once was a hay field where the funeral home stands today.

“Lee Overstreet’s dad hired a bunch of us,” he recalled. “We’d start at 6 a.m. and quit about 11 o’clock at night. We got three cents a bale.”

Prime, September 2016

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Bolton said that players lifted weights in the spring during the time they were running track. “Most of the guys who played football were on the basketball team, too,� he said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of time in between sports to concentrate on weights. But hay hauling was a great substitute. “Because of the conditioning we had, we would only substitute three or four people when we went from offense to defense. Everybody was in good shape.

I never left the field.�

Football players at other schools couldn’t compare to the tough-as-nails Granbury boys, according to Bolton. “I don’t think we ever played a team that was in the kind of physical condition that we were in,� he said.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT Bolton now lives in West. Wiley still lives in Granbury. Though half a century has passed, both remember how the community rallied behind that 1966 football team that went to the state championship. “Everybody supported them,� said Wiley, adding that many businesses closed in order to travel to the big game.

Bolton said that businesses on the square and “up and down Pearl Street� had signs in their windows supporting the Granbury Pirates.

He remembers a popular slogan from that time.

It was: “Would the last person out of town please turn out the lights?� Q

“I don’t think we ever played a team that was in the kind of physical condition that we were in.�-- Jerrel Bolton

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Constitution Week making history come alive

BY CHRISTINE DORAN

W

ith wide eyes and undivided attention, over 100 fascinated eighthgraders gazed upon George Washington as he recounted his life story.

Donning red, white and blue Revolutionary War uniforms, the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) made history come alive.

The SAR and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) join each year and visit two local schools, according to Sue Reardon, the Chapter Regent for the local DAR. State and local officials attend or send representatives from their office to teach the students the importance of the Constitution.

Started by the DAR, this year is the 60th anniversary of the

celebration of Constitution Week.

Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Aug. 2, 1956, it is annually observed Sept. 17-23. A law was later passed mandating that publicly funded schools observe Sept.

17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Schools are required to in-

students about the workings of the Constitution, Brister said the school establishes an understanding throughout the year.

Brister desires that students understand that the Constitution is a “living document� that still pertains to everyday life. “It’s always evolving,� he explained.

He expressed thanks to the DAR and SAR, as well as the many veterans who have impacted the students through their contributions.

The DAR, SAR and local teachers are passionate about educating students on how the government is run, according to Brister and Reardon.

Brister said emphatically, “There should be no question.

It should be required for our students to understand the government.� Q

clude the Constitution in their teaching that day.

David Brister, teacher and department chair of history at Acton Middle School, said understanding the freedoms given in the Constitution empowers students.

It enables them to make changes when they realize the liberty they have, he said.

Shortly after Constitution Week a few years ago, students at AMS petitioned for cellphone use in the lunchroom.

Presenting their case before the principal, they succeeded at making the change.

Students are still using cellphones in the lunchroom to this day. “They learned how to make changes the right way,� Brister said.

Although Constitution Week plays a role in educating the

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Volunteer opportunities rich in Granbury schools ‘We have almost unlimited one-onone opportunities for adults to mentor students throughout the year.’ --Superintendent Jim Largent 20

Prime, September 2016

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A

Back to school

Rebecca Ritchie, at 58, earns degree with honors

BY CHRISTINE DORAN

G

ranbury resident Rebecca Ritchie, at 53 years old, began to pursue her higher education by accident.

As she browsed the internet one evening, she unintentionally clicked the life-changing link (she still isn’t sure what she pushed) that triggered colleges’ databases.

This brought advisers from several colleges calling, pushing her to apply to their schools.

The most convincing adviser was from Colorado Technical University. Her conversation with him spurred her pursuit of higher education.

“I had never enjoyed school growing up,” she said. “I enjoyed the learning process, but

not the environment.”

Despite her dislike of school, she graduated from her high school in Deming, New Mexico, in the top 5 percent.

But her parents didn’t encourage higher learning.

“I was brought up in a home where gender roles were much more marked,” Ritchie said.

So, when she got married shortly after high school, she felt it was her duty to focus on that role.

“My family and my home were my priority.”

Her 16-year-old son died in 1997, and the grief she experienced was made even harder by a lack of resources nearby.

There weren’t any grief counselors in town, and she had to fend for herself emotionally while trying to process the reality of his death as well as tending to her family.

This kindled a desire to become a grief counselor.

“I could contribute to others, because of my experience, to get through the grieving process.”

Her divorce in 2005 was the catalyst through which she began a journey that she calls “the discovery tour of myself.”

When she received the call from the adviser at Colorado Technical University, she decided to pursue a career in counseling.

So, in August of 2011, she headed back to school.

Taking online classes while still working full-time, she tackled the challenge head-on.

Rebeccca Ritchie (left), at her graduation in Denver, with Connie Johnson, Ed. D., provost of Colorado Technical University.

“I would do it again in an instant,” she said with a smile.

College was a time of selfdiscovery for Ritchie.

“Education helped free me up and helped me discover how much I could give back. It gave me an extra layer of confidence.”

She added, “I found my niche.”

Four and a half years after enrollment, on March 21, 2016, Ritchie completed her education with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a concentration on human services, summa cum laude.

She walked the stage in Denver on July 30, at 58 years old, and is proud to be able to say “I have career plans.”

She said her education “totally lends a new perspective. The feeling of self-accomplishment – that you’ve set out on this journey and completed it with honors.” Q

Granbury resident Rebecca Ritchie crosses the stage at Colorado Technical University on July 30. She attained a degree in criminal justice with a concentration on human services.

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