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Howe coach joins exclusive club with wins in multiple sports

Mike Segleski has been on the Howe Bulldogs high school coaching staff since the fall of 2017 when hired by then-Athletic Director Zack Hudson to be the football defensive coordinator and head track coach. Segleski has been an athletic director and head football coach himself while at Aubrey replacing the legendary G.A. Moore. Small school coaches end up coaching many sports and Segleski has served as a junior varsity basketball coach and varsity assistant for a number of years. But when football season ended, Segleski was asked to be the varsity head basketball coach for the first time in his career. On Monday night, he recorded his first win to become a member of Texas coaches who have a win as a varsity head football coach, varsity head basketball coach, and varsity head track coach.

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“It was fun and it was a good win,” said Segleski following Monday’s game just before Tweeting to his players that he loved them.

Segleski is a popular coach around Howe as his positive personality is infectious and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is known for his passionate style of coaching where he often can be seen jumping and fist-pumping which has dubbed him “Air Segleski.”

“He’s always in a great mood and keeps our heads up and I couldn’t ask for a better coach,” said senior Ayden Norton.

Segleski came to Howe from Princeton where he landed after being at Aubrey for a number of years on G.A. Moore’s staff and later replacing him after upon retirement.

(Continued from page 1) nervousness as he reminded her that now instead of performing an a room with just the judges, now she’ll be in an auditorium in front of anyone who wants to watch.

“We can’t really talk to anyone before speaking. We just sit in this room and stare at each other awkwardly. So I don’t think that will make me nervous,” said Bouse. “Sometimes people try and talk to you and make you nervous, but they can’t do that.”

The previous competition was held at Bells High School where she advanced by placing second. She would have placed first, but she forgot to say “thank you” at the end of the creed. When deducting 20 points for each word missed, the 40 point deficit brought her down to the second slot.

“Mr. Blum told her before the area event to take the weekend off and don’t say the creed. But, that weekend I made her say thank you a lot,” said father Kevin Bouse jokingly.

Bouse will leave on Thursday to head to Huntsville for competition which will take place on Friday and Saturday. With different heats, if she makes the top five of her heat on Friday, she’ll qualify for finals on Saturday. Her father joked about her leaving town on Thursday to a

Bouse is a member of the student council, National Jr. Honor Society, as well as participating in volleyball, basketball, band, cheer, track, and golf. With all of that, she’s ranked at the top of her class as well.

“The schedule is crazier in high school than middle school,” said Bouse. “There’s a lot more homework and a lot more essays. We’re learning how to do academic writing which is much different that before.”

Reciting the FFA Creed has become in its own, unique way a rite of passage. While almost every FFA member (past and present) can still recite at least parts of the creed, most probably don’t know much about its origins.

The FFA Creed was written in the summer of 1928 by Professor Erwin Milton Tiffany, who was the chief teacher in the Department of Agricultural Education at the University of Wisconsin. Tiffany was developing an exhibit for the first FFA convention. He had prepared several charts and tables showing the various programs of instruction in Wisconsin.

Tiffany writes, "Somehow, I got the idea that a statement of ideals (Continued on page 4)

Bulldogs capture first win of the season, 58-55 over Farmersville

The Howe Bulldogs played their first home game on Monday night against Farmersville. Howe (1-2) came away with a 58-55 win in a game that went back-and-forth for most of the evening. The win captured Head Coach Mike Segleski’s first win as a varsity head basketball coach after many years as an assistant.

Howe had struggled in the first two games against two good teams in Callisburg and Community only scoring 13 points in the first half at Callisburg and 10 in the first half at Community. But Howe was able to get 26 on the board in the first half against Farmersville.

“The pressure those two teams (Callisburg and Community) created against us helped tonight because we handled it so much better,” said Segleski. “The first two games taught us how important the boards were. It’s kind of a lost art. A lot of guys don’t spend a lot of time doing that.”

Howe opened the game with a 1614 deficit after the first quarter and trailed 31-26 at the half. Howe played a zone defense to begin the game, but Farmersville shot well which forced the Dogs to go man-to-man. The change led to Farmersville only collecting 24 second half points and set up a fourth quarter comeback for Howe.

In the first half, Howe got three big 3-pointers from Jake Fabacher and two from Noah Campbell that helped keep the Dogs close. In the second half, freshman Austin Haley hit three huge 3-pointers including two late in the game. Eight of Campbell’s 20 points came in the fourth quarter to lead the comeback.

The Bulldogs shot 7-of-23 from 2 -point range (30 percent) and 10of-26 (38 percent) from 3-point range. When Howe got to the line, they shot 61 percent (13-of21).

Campbell led Howe in points with 20 with Haley following with 13 and Fabacher with 10. Other scorers were Luke Lopez (8), Colton Thurman (4), Caiden Harmon (2), and Ayden Norton (1).

Haley also led Howe with 11 rebounds, four of which were offensive.

“Moving some guys around helped us,” said Segleski after the game. “It took some pressure off of Ayden (Norton) and Jake (Fabacher) by coming off the bench. I think they didn’t have that stress of starting the ball game and it allowed them to get in the flow of it.”

Segleski likes the ball-handling of Haley which he says allows Campbell and Fabacher to spot up and shoot more.

“Haley took a lot of pressure off of the both of them and Ayden and Jake were huge coming off the bench,” said Segleski. “Colton Thurman’s boards were incredible and his hustle kept balls alive and he drew charges which were huge.” for the FFA might fit in with the exhibit. The creed is the result of that idea. It was lettered on sign cloth and included with the rest of the exhibit materials that were shipped to Kansas City."

Howe will play tonight at home against Pilot Point with JV B team starting at 5 pm followd by JV A at approximately 6:15. The varsity will begin at approximately 7:30 pm.

When his creed was adopted in 1930 at the third FFA convention, Tiffany was pleased. However, he wanted to make sure credit was placed where he felt it was due. In a statement clarifying his thoughts, Tiffany wrote, "I have often said that it is the organization that has made the creed what it is, and it is the work of the members and the leaders that has made the organization what it is. Without these, the Creed itself would be meaningless. With them, it may, and I fervently hope that it does, contribute vitally to the spirit which is essential to achievement."

In 1932, Tiffany was asked to send a message to the national FFA convention delegates. He wrote, "The Future Farmers of America are required to memorize something we call a creed. Ever since thinking, hopeful men have inhabited the earth, they have been gibbering creeds. If any good has come from it, the virtue is not in the creed, nor in the gibbering, but in the nobility of mind, which prompts men to ponder over their ideals.

"If the creed of the Future Farmers of America is an expression of faith worthy of so vigorous an organization, it must be more than a part of a prescribed ceremony; it must be an active force of thought working its way anew through the minds of everyone who makes its words their own. I hope the creed is virile enough to engender such a response."

Luckily, Tiffany captured his thoughts regarding the creed, and they are stored in the National FFA Archives. In an answer to a question regarding his inspiration for the creed, Tiffany wrote, "There is enough inspiration in each word of the organization’s name to call forth the highest hopes, the deepest concern, the profoundest regard, the strongest determination to carry forward the ideals, never realized in full, but without which the farmer would remain forever the man with a hoe."

The FFA Creed

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deedsachievements won by the present

(Continued on page 5)

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