Archive for the 'High School' Category

The Real Friday Night Lights of Texas

Published September 23, 2017 Community , football , High School , Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Well it’s turn to face the stars and stripes
It’s fighting back them butterflies
It’s call it in the air, alright
Yes sir, we want the ball
And it’s knocking heads and talking trash
It’s slinging mud and dirt and grass
It’s I got your number, I got your back
When your back’s against the wall
You mess with one man, you got us all
The boys of fall

The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney is practically a gospel hymn in the football (American football for my international readers) crazed state of Texas.  It’s not often that the Hollywood version of something is a tamed down portrayal, but when it comes to high school football in Texas, the Friday Night Lights movie and television show might not fully capture the insanity that ensues each August in Texas.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Texas high school football.  I grew up an steady diet of high school football games in East Texas.  I have fond memories as a young kid riding on the cheerleader bus by dad often drove and standing on top of press boxes helping him film games (with a camera with actual film reals) for the dear old Whitehouse Wildcats.  One of the benefits of now having daughters that are cheerleaders, is that I have a perfect excuse for still watching games every Friday night.  However, unlike many in Texas, I am not watching the mega-schools of the state playing.  Instead I am usually watching schools with enrollments of less the 400 students across all  four grades of high school.

As you may recall, my daughters are Catholic school kids.  One recently graduated from St Dominic Savio Catholic High School and the other is a freshman at the same school. Football at private schools is not exactly the same as  at their public school counterparts.  The number of kids playing is much smaller, so small that on many teams there are numerous players that are two-way starters.  It is iron man football.  The coaching arrangements are also very different, with many coaches having other day jobs outside the school. The crowd sizes are also much smaller, usually numbering in the 100s, not the 1000s.  And of course that usually means playing in stadiums that are a far cry from the palaces that seem to constantly  pop-up across the state.

And it is that difference in stadiums that really sticks in my mind as I visit different places on Friday nights.  St Dominic Savio doesn’t even have a home field.  Home games are played on the campus of a nearby public high school, using that school’s practice field that has never been used for an actual varsity football game for that school.  And most of the teams St Dominic Savio plays have “stadiums” that can usually be described as grass fields with a few aluminum bleachers.  There are no video boards, no permanent concession stands (think pop-up tents with folding tables), no hospitality areas (unless you count the lawn chairs in the gravel parking lots) and in most cases no rest rooms that aren’t a good 1/4 mile hike to the nearest building.

These places are a far cry from the $60-70 million high school stadiums that have recently been built in the Dallas and Houston areas of the state.  I think if you added up the cost of all the private school stadiums I have visited over the past 5 years, they would not even come close to the costs of even one of these taxpayer funded monuments to the Texas Football gods.

Fortunately the lack of posh surroundings does not seem to dampen the spirit and determination of these Friday night warriors.  Nor does it seem to hinder the excitement and passion of the fans of those teams.  In fact I think the back-to basics environment enhances the entire Friday Night Lights experience.  I wouldn’t trade all those nights in the cramped, dusty, muddy, buggy football fields for even one night in one of  those gleaming high school football palaces.

Here’s to the Texas private school boys of fall, and their fans – you are the heartbeat of the real Texas Friday Night Lights.

Glory Days

Published May 3, 2017 Class Reunion , Community , High School , Life , Uncategorized Leave a Comment

I think I’m going down to the well tonight

And I’m going to drink till I get my fill

And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it

But I probably will

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture

A little of the glory of, well time slips away

And leaves you with nothing mister

but Boring stories of

glory days

 Glory days well they’ll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye

Glory days, glory days

If you recall from my last post, my 30th High School Reunion happened recently.  A part of me thought I would walk in to the opening night festivities at the VFW Hall  to something that resembled this Bruce Springsteen song – a room full of upper 40-somethings stuck in the glory days of the late 80s.

I am happy to report that was not the case.  Instead I walked into a room full of people that were genuinely happy to see old friends and in some cases meet new friends.  Sure there was plenty of talk about our high school antics, but there was also talk about families, jobs, sports, the weather, maybe some politics, and many other topics.  Not once did I talk to someone who thought their glory days peaked in 1987.

Due to family commitments (my own daughter was having her senior prom the same weekend), I was not able to stay for all the events of the weekend, but I was able to catch a couple of them.  After the Friday night VFW mixer, about 90 of us came together to walk the halls of our old high school on Saturday morning.  The campus, part of which was originally an elementary school, had been converted into a junior high school at some point after our graduation.  And as part of some upcoming construction projects, all the existing buildings will soon have a date with a wrecking ball.  Thanks to the current school superintendent, a fellow 1987 graduate, we were able to take a final stroll down memory lane through the halls of our school.  We also gathered in the gym to take a class picture and hear some thoughts from a few classmates.

One of my lifelong friends (Mary Olga) had asked a few days prior that I be one of those to share a few thoughts.  Not being one to shy away from sharing my wisdom, I promptly accepted.  While I totally adlibbed things that morning, I did actually have some thoughts jotted down, so I thought I would share those with you:

30 years ago I was given the honor of standing in front of you at Wagstaff Gym to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  If I recall it was some form of consolation for not being quite smart enough to be our Valedictorian or Salutatorian.  So when Mary Olga messaged me to ask if I would say a few words this morning, I thought “awesome, these people are finally going to have to sit through a speech from me.”  Then she told me I was limited to 2 minutes, so I guess you are still getting off easy.

Being back here on this campus where many of us started and ended our time in Whitehouse schools brings back a flood of memories.  Not very many people can say they attended Kindergarten and Physics class in the same room – but I am blessed to say I did.  Thank you Dr Moran for letting us spend a few last moments here before you call in the wrecking ball next year.

And being in this gym especially brings back into focus my pedestrian, at best, basketball career.   Coach Nix was right, I was too slow and too short for the game. That said, I was able to turn that hoops experience into an impressive 13-10 record in two seasons as a volunteer coach for a  girls junior high basketball team , leaving me just a few victories shy of his win total.

Since leaving here in 1987, I have been fortunate to meet thousands of great people from all over the world, but this place and the people here hold a special place with me .  I don’t make it back to Whitehouse very often and I rarely talk to any of you, but the memories from my first 18 years of life are always top of mind. All of you had a hand in forming those memories –  For that, I say thank you. I sincerely hope you all feel the same way about our fellow classmates.

My oldest daughter just finished up four years of high school cheer and my other daughter will be taking her place on the high school squad next year, so I have become a bit of a cheer dad in recent years.  So, in conclusion I am going to ask for any cheerleaders that are in the house to come on down and join me.

We’re from Whitehouse, couldn’t be prouder, if you can’t hear us, we’ll yell a little louder   (3 times)

I need to once again give Heather and Kelly, my varsity cheerleaders, props for being called out of the stands on the spot and joining me in the cheer.

Sadly I had to bolt out of town back to Austin as soon as we were done at the gym, but I heard that the main event Saturday night was nothing short of awesome.  From the pictures posted on Facebook, it looked to be a party for the ages.  More props to all those that had a hand in planning the weekend.

As my oldest daughter prepares to graduate from high school, I only hope that 30 years from now she can attend an equally fulfilling reunion.

Oh, in case I have not told you:  I’m from Whitehouse and I couldn’t be prouder!

Most Likely to Succeed?

Published March 10, 2017 Class Reunion , High School , Life , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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All hail to Whitehouse High School,

All hail to you,

For truth and knowledge,

We will ere be true,

Always in our memories,

Forever in our hearts,

We will remember,

Dear Whitehouse High.

WHS

My 30th high school reunion is coming up next month.  Even though I have not seen the large majority of them in many years, thanks to the popularity of social media apps, I have been able to keep tabs on many of my high school classmates.  That said, I am looking forward to attending the event and seeing people that were a huge part of my childhood.

As I started to talk about the upcoming reunion, my daughters had me drag out the high school year book so they could check out the teenage version of dad.  One of the things they noticed in my yearbook was the Senior Superlatives.  Specifically, they zeroed in on the page showing me (along with the awesome Mary Olga Ferguson) as The Most Likely To Succeed.  A few days later, my oldest daughter asked me if I thought I was the most successful person out of my high school class.

I am pretty sure the 18-year-old me thought of success only in terms of money.  I am certain I had visions of returning to my high school reunion by private jet, rolling up to the venue in a high dollar sports car while wearing a very expensive Armani suit. And then telling fascinating stories of my exploits as a retired multi-millionaire business executive.

Thankfully, the 48-year-old me knows that money and wealth are not the measures of success.  I may not be able to point to the perfect measure of success, but I know the size of my bank account is not it.  I also know that the only person who’s measurement of your success that is accurate and matters is you.  If you are happy with your life and content with yourself, then you more than likely see yourself as successful.  Your job title, the size of your house, the type of car you drive, the size of your retirement account does not matter.

So, do I see myself as being successful?  Absolutely.  I met and married the love of my life, have two teenage daughters that act like teenagers, have a dog that thinks I hung the moon (dogs have a way of making you feel loved), have had the chance to coach a  number of kids the basics of basketball and to a lesser extent soccer, have seen some interesting parts of the United States and a smattering of other countries, have attended a large number of concerts, have sang Sweet Caroline karaoke style on a bus going through the streets of Manila while drinking a beer at 7:00 in the morning, have been involved with supporting three different Catholic schools, and have met people from all over the world that I count as friends.  I feel like I have in my own small way made an impact on the world.  Life hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been good. So in my book, I’m marking it down as successful.

Do I think I am the most successful person out of my high school class?  That is a question that cannot be answered.  Actually, it is a question that should not even be asked.  No one can say that one person is more successful than another. One person’s success cannot be stacked and ranked against the success of others.  My hope is that there are 200+ fellow Whitehouse High School graduates of the class of 1987 that all see themselves as successful.  I plan on walking into a room full of successful people – none more successful than the rest. A room full of people in their late 40s that have weaved their way through life’s hills and valleys and are still bringing the good fight everyday.

So for any of my fellow classmates that thought they might see the class Most Likely to Succeed recipient flying into Tyler Pounds Field on his personal Learjet and jumping in a black stretch limo and walking in with a high-dollar slick-Rick suit on, I am sorry to disappoint you.  You will have to settle for seeing me roll into town in my well used 2009 Saab 9-3, maybe with an iced-down Yeti in the trunk and perhaps wearing faded jeans, a Ramones tshirt, and flip-flops with a built-in bottle opener.  That might get me kicked out of the Secret Society of Most Likely to Succeeders, but that’s OK.  I’ll be the guy smiling and laughing while reconnecting with my fellow Wildcats.

WHS!

 

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