Les Talley's Thought on Clear Creek Basketball

Posted by Les Talley

I feel fortunate to have been able to coach under George Carlisle as a junior high coach from 1953 to 1962 (with a two year leave of absence from Sept 1954- Sept. 1956 due to my Army obligations) ; and with Henry Bauerschlag as an assistant varsity and JV coach in 1963, 1964, and 1965.  We had outstanding dedicated boys to work with which made my coaching job easier and a pleasure.

I graduated from SWTS, San Marcos, where I played basketball under Milton Jowers.  George and Henry  played under Jowers in the mid- 1940's.  George was an outstanding quarterback for the football team and a great basketball player.  I think his love of the game was one reason he was such a successful coach.  Henry had a story he told quite often about his senior year as a basketball player under Jowers....Henry was captain of the team that year and he did not letter...the reason being that the team did not win a conference game that year and Jowers had a rule that they had to win a conference game in order to letter.  I don't think Henry ever had a losing season while he was coaching or a season where he never won a district game.

I believe the basketball program got it's foundation when George started the basketball league for the 5th and 6th grades at the four elementary schools in Clear Creek and it carried over to the junior high and finally to the high school.  As you drove around the district, you would see a basketball goal in almost every driveway.  It was amazing.

At the junior high I coached with Johnny Puckett, Bobby Proctor, and Byrd at various times.  We had a great group of boys to work with and had winning seasons in both basketball and football.  As junior high coaches, we did alot of scouting for George during the basketball season, and getting to watch the high school boys play at "State"  those many years was a great experience.

In 1963 George began his College coaching career at Rice University.  Henry moved up to head basketball coach and I became Henry's assistant coach, coaching the "post players", and the junior varsity team.  With the boys we inherited from George's teams; with the boys that moved into the district; and with the boys who moved up from the junior high program, we were able to continue the Clear Creek basketball tradition by winning the AAA State Basketball Championship in 1963,  defeating Seminole 65-57 in the finals.  What an exciting time that was for all of us.  I am sure those boys have many stories they could tell.  Members of that team were:  James Mitchell, James Collins, Chuck Stamper, Jimmy Dale Lenox, Frank Fleener, Curley Lenox, Chuck Kilgore, Ronnie Wilkening, Joe Mckinney, Johnny Valentino, Jack Dumas, and Wayne Townsend.

The 1964 team lost in the AAA state finals to Graham, and the 1965 team lost in bi-district to Wharton.  Other boys (that I can recall) who played basketball at Creek from 1962-1965 on the Varsity or JV were: Jackie Taylor, Frank Goodman, Tommy Rice, Bill Howard, Steve Huhn,  Donald Mckee, Kenny Royal, Steve Hessberg, Bill McGuire, Kent Rindy, Douglas McKee, John Lamberth, Andy Jarvis, Paul Hackett, Terry Mathis, Larry Kelly, Robby Copeland, Dwight Price, Tommy Sanders, Ben Swaty, Allan Hanson, Mike Claessen, Kenneth Brown, Chris Thompson. and Gary Richards.  Maybe some of these names will "jog" memories. 

I also remember two of the outstanding rebounders Clear Creek ever had..........Johnny Valentino and Bill McGuire.  They were extremely hard workers---jumping rope every spare minute and always eager to go through additional rebounding drills before and after practice.  They were a pleasure to work with.

In 1965, Henry and I decided it was time to retire from coaching basketball mainly because of the changes that had been made regarding the basketball program.  This was a hard decision to make because we both enjoyed coaching.  We were both given the opportunity to continue working with students by going into administration.  Henry became the assistant high school principal and I became principal at El Lago Elementary School, Seabrook.

Working under Coach Carlisle and working with Coach Henry was a great experience for me.  I will always cherish those memories as being the greatest time in my teaching career.  I was privileged to have such outstanding  youngsters to coach and parents that gave their full support to the program.

I remember the Lenox and Wilkening basketball players as being outstanding shooters and all with an amazing amount of self confidence.  If they missed a shot, they were confident the next 5 would go in.  I recall when I was coaching 7th grade basketball Ronnie Wilkening was the tallest boy on the team and I had placed him at one of the post positions.  In one of our shooting warm ups Ronnie came up to me and said," coach, I can't miss from outside".  He was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, so, after that day, Ronnie became one of the outside players where he remained throughout his high school career.

Comments

[Hugh Taylor]

What a great letter that is full of information on the basketball history of the district. Nice to hear from you. Maybe the only Creek coach to go to state three consective years. Hope all is well with you & your family. Maybe there is a tennis letter in the making. I hear you were a pretty good coach at that also.

[Dan Jensen]

Coach Talley, it's great to have you checking in here. Keep it up. I'm sure you have a lot of "Proctor Stories" that you can tell. Some of his former players already have and I have mentioned his use of the term "mawtapper."

And, tell us more about the changes in the basketball program that were a factor in you and Coach Henry giving up coaching. I know part of it but surely do not know all of the story.

[Pat Jensen]

What a great contribution by Coach Talley. It's great to hear from him. There is no question that keys to the Webster/Clear Creek basketball success were the emphasis placed on the lower grade programs that ultimately fed the varsity level and the outstanding quality of those coaches. Is it correct that all teams in this system ran the tandem post offense? If so, that would certainly be another factor. Also, does Clear Creek still run that offense?

[Dan Jensen]

Come on, Coach Talley! Talk to us about that tandem post offense.

[Les Talley]

Hugh, your comment about tennis brought about some very fond memories when I coached tennis. Kathleen was a great part of that--Karen Cassity and Kathleen got to the State finals in 1958 as a doubles team, then Kathleen and Linda Williams making it to the State Meet in 1959, and then finally winning the State Championship in 1960. Kathleen was an outstanding athlete and a pleasure to work with. Does she still play tennis? I still play tennis once a week with a group here in Gonzales--but doubles only. Tell Kathleen Hi. Coach Talley

[Hugh Taylor]

Kathleen does not play tennis regularly. However, the family does get together and play doubles for fun. Kathleen wins when she wants to and that is all the time. Our youngest son is a senior at Texas. He got a friend to play doubles against Kathleen & I. We won! It's nice to beat the kids at something.

Another son played in high school & jr. college & is now a teaching pro so he has to play left handed.

Glad you are still playing.

Thanks again for the great post on the basketball history. I'm sure we all appreciate the information.