Posted by Dan Jensen
This blog can be about more than just sports. There are many interesting stories that you could share with us.
Two nights ago, I have a great time getting reacquainted with Lynn Davis of League City, Texas, on the telephone. This afternoon, the phone rang and the caller was Joe McKinney, CEO of a San Antonio bank. I told them both how much I enjoyed talking with them but they don't know the half of it. It was plumb loverly. I have seen neither in years and years.
Joe McKinney was a multi-sport guy for us. He was a starter on Henry Bauerschlag's last basketball team--the one that lost in bi-district in 1965 and made the 1959 team look good. His best sport was football and we talked about the tough loss to Deer Park that ended his senior season. He said he will try to dig up an old clipping of it and share it with us.
I saw that game and the story will just be a reminder but he shared other things that I found to be of great interest. Joe is a great guy of sterling character or I would demand some kind of verification for what he told me.
Joe spurned scholarship offers from a lot of Southwest Conference teams and had signed with TCU before he had the opportunity to go to Harvard. By not going to TCU, he passed up the opportunity to get better acquainted with Horned Frog signees Norman Bulaich and Loyd Wainscott, two great LaMarque stars that he had played against.
But, by going to Harvard, he got to know Tommy Lee Jones (yes, THAT Jones) and Al Gore (yes, THAT Gore). Jones was an All-Ivy League offensive guard and Joe a fullback and the only Texans on the football team. By the way, Joe played at 6-1, 220, but says he needs to lose about 50 pounds these days. And also by the way, if you have not seen Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow F. Call in that tremendous mini-series Lonesome Dove, you need to hustle to the nearest video store.
Al Gore was Jones' roommate and when the Harvard class of 1969 gathered for its 25th reunion, he was Vice President of the United States.
Joe also told me that Yale (with Calvin Hill) and Harvard brought undefeated records into their final game for the first time in his senior year and his guys scored 16 points in the last 42 seconds to gain a 29-29 tie--a game that he says is listed as one of the top ten college games of all time.
Joe used to be a nice, trustworthy kind of guy that you could believe. Can anyone vouch for him today? I'll tell you one thing. You would enjoy talking to him and I hope he comes in here and posts. He said he last visited about two weeks ago. Well, that's too long.
I think when people get rich and famous they forget how to type. I didn't realize we had that many from Clear Creek.
Posted by: Terry Mathis | February 10, 2009 at 06:37 PM
Dan, Did you really talk to Joe or did you come up with all that information from People Magazine?
Posted by: Terry Mathis | February 15, 2009 at 07:27 PM