Playoff Baseball and Pitching Matchups

Posted by Dan Jensen

     Although our old basketball warhorses have shown no interest in Clear Creek baseball, I'm gonna share a Little League story from days of yore.  Fairly long and probably more than boring for the warhorses, who were too old to be in this story.

     I thought of this tale when I heard that Clear Creek's Jim Mallory wanted a one game playoff against Houston Westside rather than a best two of three.  The reason is that Westside beat them last year and, with pretty much the same lineup, is better this year too.  Mallory has a good pitcher back after an injury and thought he had a better chance of winning a single game with him rather than take his chances against a deeper Westside rotation. 

     Now, my story from those thrilling Little League days of yesteryear.  I was assisting Keith Mathis with the Cubs and we were getting ready for our playoffs.  It was against the Pirates and the league's best pitcher, Paul Hackett.  He had beaten us two times in the first half and another two times in the second half.  But, the Pirates did not have pitching depth and lost to other teams.

     We had Kenneth Brown and Terry Mathis as two good pitchers and Tom McMillian as a capable third starter.  None of the three was a match for Hackett.  That had already been proven.  I thought that we should pretty much concede the game against Hackett and matchup our number one against their number two and our number two against their number three--with the latter duel particularly favoring us.  That would be Terry Mathis vs. Kent Rindy.  Rindy was a good athlete and later was a starter for our state tournament basketball team but he was erratic as a pitcher.

     So, we put the plan into action.  Lo and behold, McMillian pitched the game of his life and shutout Hackett and the Pirates!  Hey, give us that championship trophy right now!  But, hold on!  That Wayne Derrick outpitched our Brown and the series is tied.  But, not to worry.  Terry can beat Kent.  But Terry couldn't beat the rain and a too wet field. 

     We are in big trouble now.  The final game is now moved to a new week and Hackett is eligible to pitch again.  Woe is us!  That brilliant strategy is down the drain. 

     But the tale has a semi-happy ending.  I don't recall the reason now.  Maybe the all-star playoffs were too close or something but it was decided to just declare the Cubs and Pirates co-champions.

     I still think my strategy was brilliant.  I just didn't check with the weather man.

Comments

[Dan Jensen]

I said the Cubs beat the Pirates! It was the Dodgers. I'm getting worser than our old warhorses.

The four league teams then were the Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals and Tigers, I believe.

What were the team names in the first years of the league? Buffs, Cats, Missions and Eagles, wasn't it?

Mike Davis sure could help us on this. Too bad he never posts.

Some of you old warhorses need to start posting or I will punish you with more baseball.

[Dan Jensen]

Mike Davis played first base for the Buffs in the first year of Little League baseball in League City. Bennie Lenox was on that team too.

Paul Timmins played for the Cats and Homer Vaden hit home runs for the Missions.

Charles Talbert pitched for the Eagles and little brother Diron was on the squad. Those two, along with big brother Don, played football at Texas and Don and Diron had good pro careers.

Anyone else remember those days of yesteryear?

[Dan Jensen]

How could I have failed to mention Gerald Mathis? He was a plumb loverly pitcher for the Buffs. In fact, he was the best in the league.

He was a better pitcher at the Little League age than younger brother Terry. Terry could play shortstop better though--even if Gerald had been right handed.

[Debbie Goodwin (Cooper)]

Oh my gosh did you bring back alot of names that I forget. I remember watching all of those guys. Oh course I cann't remember who did what but I remember the names. I just wish Dad was here to do so reminiscing with ya'll.
I'm so glad that some of the guys went on to bigger and better things.

[Terry Mathis]

Paul Tellez was also a pretty fair second base. It was me and Paul that turned the double plays up the middle in the all-star games, with more than a few people thinking we could have made it to Williamsport, but our dreams never came true. I was honored to be the first player in 1961 to be elected to the League City Little League Hall of Fame. I still have the 8x10 picture that was taken of me in my Cub's uniform to be placed on the wall at the ball park. I am pretty sure that they probably stopped this a long time back. My picture was probably thrown out with the old popcorn bags.

[Dan Jensen]

Now, hold on here Terry! What's this Hall of Fame business for you in 1961? I don't remember nary a thing about such and I was right there in those days. Weren't you a 12 year old that year?

Are you saying that the award was made later for your Little League days which ended in 1961? Some details please.

[Terry Mathis]

There is not a lot of details. You mean you missed the parade. With that and $3.00 you can buy a gallon of gas, at some places. Maybe it was the Hall of Flames.

[Dan Jensen]

Don't sidestep the issue. We don't need a lot of details. When was this done? Who headed up the project? What other players were honored?

You would certainly be a worthy recipient. So would Paul White. You two were the best in my memory.

Anyone know anything about the Little League careers of Jay Buhner, Steven White, Mark McCormick, Chris Scarcella???

And, was the name League City Little League or Clear Creek Little League in days of yore?

We need to have a contest to see who can answer the most of these questions? Ed Davis, what kind of prize will you give?

[Debbie Goodwin (Cooper)]

I think when dad was president it was League City Little League. Didn't all of the other cities have their own baseball leagues?

[Terry Mathis]

It was League City Little League, all the way. Other cities with teams were Dickinson, LaMarque National and American. Kemah, Seabrook, and Baclif were part of League City. Keith Mathis could answer most of the questions, but he won't touch a computer. I can't even remember who we lost to in the all-star game, but we should have won. I say the teams in 1960-61 were some of the best in LCLL history. Any other nominees?

[Dan Jensen]

Terry, your memory of those thrilling days of yesteryear have become as fuzzy as mine. And, as far as your brother Keith's memory (which may be as fuzzy as ours) he doesn't need to touch a computer. Ask him about it the next time y'all talk and post it here for him.

I do know we played in Baytown that year but don't recall if all the all-star games were there. I think we won just the one game, I assume with Paul Hackett pitching although this fuzzy memory has no details. We started Doug McKee in the loss. It should have been Kenneth Brown. Didn't Keith manage that team? Ask him why he didn't start Brown when you talk to him.

Can you give us a starting lineup for that team? I can't.

[Dan Jensen]

Terry is dawdling; probably his memory if fuzzier than it should be.

OK Terry, I just talked to Keith about that starting lineup and we left you a couple of outfield spots to remember.

Paul Hackett, Kenneth Brown and Doug McKee were the pitchers and we think Brown played third when he didn't pitch and McKee left field. He didn't think Hackett played when he didn't pitch.

You were at shortstop, with Paul Tellez, as you mentioned, at second and Allan Hanson at first. We believe Jose Aleman was the catcher.

How does all this line up with your thinking? When you provide those other two outfield spots, we'll discuss your senior year in high school and another good club that was only 1-1 in the playoffs.

Keith remembers the first Little League all-star game as being in LaMarque and agrees with me that the second was in Baytown. It's been 45 years and the disappointment of the loss there is still sharp in your brother's mind. He mentioned it more than once in the phone conversation. He thought that team had a chance to go a long way but he didn't mention Williamsport.

[Terry Mathis]

I think Tom Collins was the catcher. Bonnie Spiers may have played outfield, and I think he played for the Yankees which you did not mention. Tom Kilgore may have been another outfielder. Paul Hackett played first base when he wasn't pitching.

[Dan Jensen]

I mentioned Hackett playing first base for the all-stars when he did not pitch but Keith was sure it was Allan Hanson.

Wasn't Tom Collins a year ahead of you. We are talking about your 12-year-old all-star team now. Keith did not challenge me when I suggested Jose Aleman was the catcher.

I don't remember Spears and Collins as outfielders but maybe they were.

And, wasn't Paul Tellez a year ahead of you too? Was Wayne Derrick the second baseman on the all-star team for your last team?

Let's get this cleared up so we can start on your district champion team in your senior year of high school.

[Dan Jensen]

Terry, I should have said Spears and Tom Kilgore just above when we were talking outfielders.

[Dan Jensen]

Still waiting on some answers.

[Terry Mathis]

I don't remember Wayne Derrick, was he from Kemah? The guy I am thinking about lived next to the water. My memory is fading. Is there no one else looking at these post's other than me and Dan, that can put some light on this subject?

[Ed Davis]

Dan, you mentioned if I could give a prize to whoever answers the most of your questions. The way the Baylor Bears are playing baseball this year, perhaps I could give away my season ticket for next year. But wait a minute, do I hear "Wait until next year!" ringing in my ears? Well, perhaps I should hold on to those. But I do have several coupons for free McRib sandwiches at McDonalds and free drink at Fazolis.

I remember a guy in my class named Paul Derrick who lived in the Kemah area. Was he perhaps the brother of this Wayne Derrick? I do not think Paul was an athlete himself. I do not remember a Wayne but he was probably before my time.

[Dan Jensen]

Wayne Derrick was not a League City guy so he may have been from Kemah. I still wonder if he or Paul Tellez were the second baseman on the all-star team I am pondering about. I think Tellez may have been the all-star second baseman when Terry was an 11-year-old and Derrick was the next year.

And Ed, you hold on to those Baylor baseball tickets. If we don't lose much or any in the pro draft, we will be quite good in two years if not before.

[Terry Mathis]

It looks like Baylor may be good before (2) years. They won yesterday over Arizona State 3-2, and face the Rice Owls today at 1:00 PM @ Reckling Park. Texas plays North Carolina State today @ Noon in Austin in an elimination game. And the Houston Cougars are out after lossing 8-6 to the Oklahoma Sooners, in Norman, Oklahoma.

[Ed Davis]

Well, I was kind of proud and a little surprised of how the Baylor baseball team ended up. They certainly went further than the Ags and got further into the regionals than the Horns and the Huskers. In the draft, it appears that the only underclassman that will go via the draft is Cory Van Allen although others may choose to go a free agency route. We will likely lose the Smithson Valley guy that was our best prospect coming in. But, I agree that the Bears should be strong next year and really strong in a couple of years. We did lose some good seniors who will be difficult to replace. Now, if any of you guys reading this would ever like to come to Waco to catch a game just contact me via this weblog address and I will gladly get you some tickets at my expense. Can't beat that offer.

[paul hackett]

I know that I am 2 years late on the little league allstar discussion of the early 60's but i can clear up one thing.

Because of my birthday i was a year ahead of terry, allan and the rest of that crew in class but in that age group for summer baseball. fore my 11 yr old asll star year, keith was correct. When i did not pitc h i did not play in the field. maybe Dick henderson??? we also had a left handed power hitting outfielder who led our league in home runs that year. he played for the cardinals. My 12 year old year I did play 1st base and did not pitch until our third game in la marque. I believe we played our first round of two games in dickinson. but just the rest of my contemporaries...some of the details are a little fuzzy. We ended up losing at home and i believe it was to a texas city team. but then again...that was 47 years ago....

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, weren't you a move-in that only played baseball in the Clear Creek Little League for one year--as a 12 year old?

Your all-star team lost in Baytown. The loss to Texas City in League City was when Joe McKinney lost a nine inning, 2-0 duel. I recall saying to his father after the g ame that Joe would never pitch a better game. He never did.

But, I am sometimes plagued with fuzziness too.

Paul, it's great to have you commenting in here. Keep on keeping on.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, I just realized you talked about your year as an 11 year old so forget what I said about your one year. I wish this blog had an edit feature.

I don't recall the power hitting Cardinal outfielder that you mentioned. Danny Harper hit the long ball but he was a pitcher/first baseman and I think he played before you moved to town.

And, it's hard to believe your first pitching assignment in the playoffs was the third game. You were our best pitcher. Do you recall the sequence? I remember Kenneth Brown and Doug McKee were good pitchers too.

I know Keith Mathis still feels badly about losing that playoff game in Baytown. He thought we would go a long way that year.

[paul hackett]

at the risk of sounding arrogant, i believe the third game assignment was by keith's design as he fely pretty good about us winning the first two and lamarque was oretty strong. I am really stretching my memory here but i believe that doug mckee and maybe perry jackson pitched the first 2 games. if you think back, kenneth brown developed a sore arm that year and pitched somewaht sparingly. he hit a ton and led our league in HR.

i am pretty certain we beat lamarque 4-3. they had a guy whose last name was spears and he looked like he was about 16. he a home run off of me to put them up 3-2 and late in the game ...ronnie lennox hit a 2 run homner that proved to be the difference.

and yes..the baytown game was a huge disappointment.

That group of players was the bulk of the starting lineup my senior year in high school with the addition of robbie copeland.

the lefthanded outfielder i believe had an italian surname and his parents may have owned a grocery store ,..but not the snells...i could be dead wrong...he played on the cardinals with paul tellez.

one thing i oddly remember clear as a bell is that the first time i met you was at little league tryouts and you were pitching bp. keith wanted me to ask my mom if she would drive me to league city for practices since we lived in el lago near seabrook.

that was a long time ago.

as an aside ..my oldest boy was a pretty accomplished baseball player and to this day shares his dad's love of the game. he grew up with and now lives and breathes astros on a daily basis

[Dan Jensen]

Paul,one of us has a faulty memory--maybe both.

The Perry you refer to was Jones, not Jackson. I don't recall Kenneth Brown having a sore arm. He was the Cubs' best pitcher and did not lead the league in homers.

The lefty with the Italian name was A. J. Luprete. His father was in the produce business.

And, I am quite sure that I did not pitch batting practice for the tryouts. But, I remember being quite dumb and counseling Keith to back off the bidding on you when it got quite high.

I am looking at a team picture of that good all-star team. Lynn Davis sent it to me recently. He is sitting next to Ronnie Lenox and I don't remember Ronnie's game winning homer against LaMarque either but I'm not saying you are wrong.

I can get you in contact with Lynn Davis if you want a copy of the picture.

[Terry Mathis]

The good home run hitter was A.L. Luprete, who played for the Cardinals. He has owned the Shipley Donuts in League City since 1975 @ 915 E. Main St. He was a smaller guy, but that's why they say its all in the wrists.

[Dan Jensen]

I e-mailed Terry on 7/29. I have had no response and am about to put himn in the Ralph Parr category but am glad that he has signed in here.

Does anyone know how many homers Luprete hit in his best year? And did Ronnie Lenox indeed hit a big home run against LaMarque? And was Kenneth Brown sidelined with a sore arm? I should remember that if he did. I do note that he is not in the team picture that I spoke to Paul Hackett about above and he was certainly one of the league's best players.

[Dan Jensen]

I've tried to get Lynn Davis in here before but am trying again on the above subjects. He says he doesn't post because he never learned to type. He may be the only orthodontist in Texas who cannot.

Paul, regarding you remembering me throwing batting practice. I did do that for the all-star team but never did so for the pre-season tryouts. I actually don't remember throwing to Lynn Davis but I probably struck him out.

[paul hacket]

hey dan..

as for al's homer total, the number 8 comes to mind but it has been a couple of years. i seem to recall that during his 12 year old season, which would have been my 11 yr old, he and dick henderson were the league's big boppers.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, keep on checking this site and posting. It's great to have you.

I'm trying to get Lynn Davis and Keith Mathis in here. They could add a lot of interesting stuff.

Terry Mathis seems to still be AWOL. I can't even get him to respond to an e-mail.

[Terry Mathis]

You may as well forget about Keith adding anything to this site unless it goes thru me or Bubba. No computer input in his future. And by the way where is Bubba?
I drove by CCHS today and they have a very impressive baseball stadium now. It would have been great to have had it in 67. Of course there have been lots of improvements since then.
If we would just have had Paul on our 67 team we would have been State Champs, in basketball, and baseball.

[paul hackett]

thanks for the compliment terry. i have a question about one of your teammates at sam. he was a guard..cucasion..a little flashy...i think he may have actually coached after college...maybe even as an assistant at san jac. i don't know why but i think his initials may have been mm. do you recall?

by the way...why could i never get you out in baseball. you were the toughest out ever for me.

paul

[paul hackett]

someone say hello to keith for me. my dad always had great reespect for him and the way he handled the all star teams and all the stuff that came with it.

[paul hackett]

http://www.texasbasketballchamps.com/

check out this website if you have not already seen it. a listing with a snapshot of all texas high school state basketball champs by clasifification and year.
just a little nostalgia and some fun too

[Terry Mathis]

I think you are talking about Mike Newell. He was assistant coach at Oklahoma, and head coach at UALR (University Arkansas Little Rock), Lamar University, Southern University, and now UAM (University Arkansas Monticello.
He was my room mate, and he was flashy. He started college at LSU, and was going to be the next Pistol Pete., before he transfered to Sam. He still holds the scoring record at Purdue Arena with 54 points.

[Terry Mathis]

Paul,
Do you think Mike was the one you were thinking of? Congratulations on making the 1966 Class 3-A State Tournament Team, along with CEO Bill McGuire.

[paul hackett]

Terry,

t was Mike...good ball handler...i believe his first year at sam must have been my final year at SWT. I always loved playing in sam's old gym. By the way, were you still at sam when Ronnie Arrow went there to work on his masters and to work with coach porter. also, did east texas still have the airplane hangar gym when you were playing?

lastly, if you read my comments on the pure shooter discussion, how would you rate "touch" as a gift most , if not all, truly pure shooters possessed.

[Terry Mathis]

Paul,
He was a Soph., when you were a Senior, and I was a Junior. I also liked the old Bearkat Gym. My (3) years at Sam we were 31-5 there and my junior and senior years we were 21-1 at home. Our only lose was to SFA my junior year, and we beat SFA my senior year 89-84 when they were ranked #1 in the nation. I don't know if you ever knew this, but our last game when I was a senior we were beaten in overtime by SWT in San Marcos 87-84 to prevent Sam from winning the Lone Star Conference outright. We then had a (3) way coin toss with SFA, Howard Payne, and Sam. at Bearkat Gym in Huntsville. SFA won the coin toss for our biggest lose ever. It was very weird that the place was packed to the rafters for a coin toss. I wanted to get out on the floor and play not toss coins. The last game I ever played and was at SWT, and a Loss.
East Texas did have the airplane hanger, and I did like shooting there for some reason, I don;t know why. Usually in a big open area like that my depth perception was not that good.
I was still at Sam when Ronnie came for his masters. I don't remember that much about him as a student coach, he was a tough player though.
I think as you said that "touch" is entirely a gift, and you either have it or you don't.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul and Terry "don't no nothing" about Sam Houston's "old gym."

That "old gym" was brand spanking new in my senior year of 1956-57 and Pat was on scholarship and resided upstairs.

The truly old gym was a wooden structure and didn't seat very many but we had good teams and a spirited crowd. I remember losing to a good University of Houston team and seven-footer Don Boldebuck, 108-100. That was an astounding score in those days and made a big splash in the Houston papers.

A few years ago, I toured the campus and that included the "new gym." Maybe the students think that it is old now.

[Terry Mathis]

According to Sam's web page UH beat Sam 108-100 in 54-55. That was a high score. I probably played in the highest scoring non overtime game in Sam' history my Senior year 70-71 when we lost to Howard Payne 111-110, in Huntsville, and All American Fred Davis. He scored 42 points against us that night. He was one of those pure shooters, as we have discussed.

[paul hackett]

dan,

far be it from me to contradict my elders. I do recall though that when I first started to go to huntsville to play, the two restaurants we ate at, there were not a lot of options, were the cafe at the bowling alley and a place downtown called the Raven. I swear that Vincent Price and Peter lorre were in the back...

[paul hackett]

Fred davis..there is a name from the past...smooth low post with one of the ugliest looking shogts that you would ever see except for the result. terry, was Dan Mcghee still at HP when you were in school...tall white guy outside shooter...he put 40 on our head at SWT my last year

[Terry Mathis]

Dan McGee was about 6'6" or 6'7" wasn't he? Yes I played against him and he was rough on Sam also.
Here's another note from the old Lone Star Conference. Marshal Brown the former head basketball coach at Stephen F. Austin passed away Wednesday at the age of 90. He was the winningest coach in Lumberjack history with 345 wins and 168 losses. He was head coach from 1959-1978. Five of his players were named All-Americans, with George Johnson, and James Silas leading the pack. Silas had his number retired by the San Antonio Spurs. Paul there is a couple of names that should bring back memories. For myself not very good ones. In my 3 years at Sam we were 1-5 against the Jacks. Losing the first 5 before getting a win. Playing at SFA was a different experience with most of the fans armed with Ax handles beating them on the wooden stands. It was loud and wild there with the fans 2' from the sidelines. Of course that was Sam's biggest rival. It was the battle of the Piney Woods. Who would you say was SWT biggest rival?

[paul hackett]

Hey terry,

Big George and silas...James was really smpooth. They also had the two twins from houston..last name was Polnick i believe and another really terrfic player at forward named Surrey Oliver. And just for kicks..a guy on the bench named narvis anderson who stood at 6'11" in addition to george at 7'0"

One night against us they started the twins..both 6'7" and goerge at 7" along with surrey at 6'9" and narvis at 6'11'.

they also had a good tall shooter named harvey huffstetler.

They were tough on us to. We always seemed just good enough to lose to them by 5 or less.

[Terry Mathis]

Ervin and Marvin Polnick played for SFA from 1966-1969. At that time you were talking about, SFA probably had one of the tallest teams in the nation. Harvey Huffstetler was from Waxahachie, he also played from 1966-69. Waxahachie has a long tradition in Basketball. From 1953- 2004 they won District or better 33 times. In the same period CC won 30 Titles. Waxahachie won the State Championship in 1958 and 1983. But they could only string a 10 year winning streak together from 1961-1971

[paul hackett]

We beat waxahachie in the state semifinal my senior year. I always liked harvey. he and i had similar games. Not much defense...find an open spot and stamd there until someone threw it to us to shoot.

You ar5e right about how tall they were. the day they started the team i mentioned, the university of jacksonville had played that afternoon and started what was reported as the tallest starting lineup ever. sfa was taller!!!! That was the jacksonville team that had artis gilmore.

[Dan Jensen]

Since the old warhorses have stopped posting, it is great to have Terry and Paul spicing up the blog with their comments. I like their history lessons! Y'all keep it up.

[Terry Mathis]

The next year, 1967, my senior year, we beat Waxahachie for 3rd place in the State Tourney by a score of 87-67. That was when there was still a 3rd place game. Did we ever loss to the Indians?
Paul you never said who you thought was SWT's biggest rivalry in basketball when you played. And by the way I can't get used to Texas State now instead of SWT.
I always think of the movie that Burt Reynolds played in when he quarterbacked the prison team against Texas State. Who's idea was it to change the name? Some politician probably.

[paul hackett]

As for an arch rival, the closest thing we had was East Texas but that was more due to the older days when SWT legendary coach milton jowers had a rivalry with their coach. i can't rmember his name but his nickname was 'Catfish".

I with you on the name...i always think of the movie "necessary Roughness". It was marketing more thazn anything else. as the university grew, the money people felt the name gave it a small regional perception that they wanted to shed.

terry...Tarleton state had a left handced guard who was a pretty good shooter with exceptional range. do you happen to recall his name.

[Dan Jensen]

Catfish Smith was an outstanding football coach at East Texas when I was at Sam Houston and the two teams battled for the conference title.

He later moved to Baylor as the freshman coach and later was a fundraiser for the athletic department.

[Dan Jensen]

Terry Mathis wonders if we ever lost to Waxahachie. I think not. We beat them in the third place game in our first trip to the state tournament in 1956.

I was there but do not remember it. I was still numb from losing the opener to Phillips in that 84-81 classic which was a state tournament record for combined points in all classes for many years.

I don't remember the score when we beat Seminole in 1963 for our only state championshp but 84-81 will always ring in my ears.

[Terry Mathis]

Phillips was beaten in the Championship game by Jacksonville, 70-68. In route to the crown they beat Livingston, 75-63, Athens, 71-61, MtVernon, 64-63,and Waxahachie, 81-68. The MtVernon team was led by Don Meredith (Dallas Cowboys), who was a 3 year all state selection, that averaged 24 points per game. He fouled out with 2:30 left in the game with Jacksonville with MtVernon leading by 1 point.

[Terry Mathis]

Milburn "Catfish" Smith is the only High School Coach in Texas history to coach undefeated teams in both football and basketball in the same year with MtVernon in 1948.

[Terry Mathis]

Who knows who the tallest and Shortest players to be selected for Clear Creek to the State Tournament Team, in it's history?

[Dan Jensen]

That's a mighty fine trivia question and I sure don't know the answer.

Terry, here's something you will be interested in that I just read in a Sam Houston alumni magazine.

The past four years have been good for the Bearkat basketball team. It compiled a 84-38 record, a four year winning record second only to the 88-22 record compiled by the 1970-73 teams. I know you played on some of those teams in that period.

And another thing, why don't you ever check your e-mail?

[Terry Mathis]

I check my email every day. I haven't seen one from you. Those 4 years at Sam Houston were James Lister's 4 years. He is the leading scorer and rebounder in Sam Houston's history. I was on the 1970 team 20-8, and 1971 team 18-9, Lister's Freshman and Soph. year's. So as you see we lost 17 of the 22 games in the 4 year period. The 1972, 1973 years were the gems. They were 22-4, and 28-1, his Senior year.

[paul hackett]

hey guys..according to the list of creek all state tournament selections below, kit appears Bill Doty at 6'6"tall and norman lundy at 5'9" tall were the "mutt and jeff" of this group

1957 2A Clear Creek Davis, James F Sr 5'11"
1957 2A Clear Creek Brown, Robert G Sr 5'10"
1960 2A Clear Creek Lenox, Bennie* Sr 6'2"
1961 3A Clear Creek Timmins, Paul* Sr 6'0"
1961 3A Clear Creek Lunday, Norman Sr 5'9"
1962 3A Clear Creek Doty, Bill* C Sr 6'6"
1964 3A Clear Creek Lenox, Jimmy Dale P Sr 6'2"
1966 3A Clear Creek Hackett, Paul F Sr 6'5"
1966 3A Clear Creek McGuire, Bill C Sr 6'4"
1967 3A Clear Creek Lenox, Joe* Jr 6'2"
1963 3A Clear Creek* Lenox, Dwayne "Curly" C Sr 6'4"
1963 3A Clear Creek* Lenox, Jimmy Dale G Jr 6'2"

[paul hackett]

dan and terry...

don't ask me why i still have this but here is the roster with stats for the terry and my 12 year old all star team:

Pitchers:

kenneth brown 7-0
doug mckee 6-1
paul hackett 5-3

roster by team:

Cubs...

terry mathis 404
kenneth brown 353
robert truxhal 419
jose aleman 221

cardinals...

hugh drake 281
mike clepper 302
ronnie lennox 256

tigers...

lynn davis 432
larry babb 270

dodgers...

bonnie spears 212
paul hackett 343

braves...

doug mckee 488
danny mckee 398
tommy kilgore 297

yankees...

perry jones 301
allan hanson 432

dan...fyi and related to a previous exchange we had..kenneth brown is listed as the team leader in season home runs with 4 followed by doug mckee with 3.

also, keith was the manager with lawrence hanson, a true gentleman, as his assistant.

[paul hackett]

Terry,

also found some stuff about our baseball team in '66, my senior and your junior year including a photo of you and I, tom davis and don wehmeyer taken after we won a tournament in Beaumont. I remember that in the final...allen hanson hit a long homer to provide the margin of v ictory.

whatever happened to robbie copeland and bobby walton???

[Terry Mathis]

Paul,
You are right again. You were one of the tallest for CC to make all tourney, and probably to play for CC. I don't ever remember CC having very tall players. I wonder who was the tallest player ever for CC?
I think that is great that you still have some of the stuff you talked about. I wish I could find some of my stuff, but I think it is gone. I don't know anything about Robbie or Bobby. I think I may have seen them at our 10 year reunion in 77 and haven't seen them since.

[paul hackett]

How tall was jeff overhouse..6'6..6'7

all of thids was done for me in a scrapbook...by a girl i never dated, and was given to me after high school graduation. i'll see if a trip to kinkos will copy some of this stuff and we can figure it out from there. i also found a team picture of our high school team...my last year and all of you juniors.

Did you read in a note that I sent to dan that TommyDavis died about 3-4 weeks ago. he was 68 and had a stroke. i actually wporked for tommy for a year..coaching and he spent his entire career working for the Liberty ISD.

I always thought that Don Wehemeyer pretty much just had to keep the scorebook...fill in all of your names ..draw a line through my name and write in Scooter.

[Terry Mathis]

Paul,
I am sure glad you have added to this blog. You have brought back some names I haven't heard in a long time.

[Terry Mathis]

I guess Jeff Overhouse @ 6'7" is the tallest to play for Clear Creek, or as Dan would says, must not be anyone looking at this anymore to give us a answer. I hate to hear about Coach Davis, I really liked him.

[Dan Jensen]

I'm sure we have had a player taller than 6-7. Buddy Carlisle needs to come back in here and give us the answer.

[paul hackett]

Hey dan,

what did you think about that achive retrieval of the little league all star roster. theter were some fellows that i had totally forgotten like larry babb and hugh drake. i had aslo forgotten about doug mckees younger brother.

i looked but could not find anything about the allstar team from terry and my 11 year old team.

I am thinking maybe included

tom mcmillan
tom collins..pretty sure he was starting catcher
wayne derrick
paul tellez
dick henderson
al luprete

test hyour memory and let us know

[Dan Jensen]

Who managed that team? I know that some of the managers "froze" Allan Hanson off the team by refusing to vote on the deserving player.

Speaking of Tom Collins, the cat cher on our Cub team. I'm not sure anyone in any year played any harder than he did.

Some very Little League players never developed in the older leagues. Paul Tellez is a prime example. How about the Jones brothers--Perry and Jackie? The latter was a dandy Little League player.

Doug McKee had two younger brothers--Danny and David--and an older one, Cotton. Cotton was a pitcher/first baseman in LL but was one of the more instinctive outfielder the high school ever had. Gerald Aydelott and Clay Parks' brother (I cannot think of his name) were two others. Cotton later played left field for Houston Baptist.

[Dan Jensen]

Lynn Davis is one of the best Little League historians and played one year behind Terry Mathis and Paul Hackett. He sent me the picture of that all-star team that Paul and Terry played on as 12-year-olds. Lynn would likely post in here but he claims he never learned to type. He may be the only illiterate orthodontist in Texas.

Lynn also sent some stats and they challenge the ones that Paul has shared. I will share some of the highlights.

Doug McKee lead the league in hitting at .479 and ten-year-old Lane Bowen of my Cubs was next at .474. Terry was third at .393. Unfortuntely, Lane moved to Brownwood the next year and was a multi-sport star there and played football at TCU.

Doug McKee and Kenneth Brown led the pitchers with 8-1 records, Terry was 7-1 and Paul 6-3. Paul should have been suspended and fined heavily for losing that many.

Paul led in strikeouts with 122 in 58 innings--a sparkling ratio. Terry led in runs batted in with 25. Kenneth Brown had five home runs, followed by Doug McKee with four.

[Terry Mathis]

Speaking of Cotton McKee, he owned Nolan Ryan and Alvin everytime we played them. Now Cotton was one of those pure hitters, like we were talking about pure shooters. He hit him like a drum.
Also Tom Collins, it seems like I remember him running over someone at home plate, which was illegal because you were suppose to slide. But he played like Pete Rose, all out. Does anyone else remember the play and who he ran over?

[Dan Jensen]

I don't remember that play at home plate but I do remember Tom knocking second baseman Ervin Knehans into left field on a steal. He had to go back to first for leaving too soon and then ran again. And knocked poor Ervin down again.

[Terry Mathis]

There is a name I haven't heard in 45 years. Wasn't his father the coach of the Cardinals?

[paul hackett]

Dan and terry,

I'll bet the statistics I had may have been at the time of selection of the team. It sounds as if the ones Lynn had were for the entire season.

As for our 11 year old team, I am pretty certain Keith managed that team as well. mr knehans may have been the assistant.

as for my pitching record... my 12 year old season...well i'll leave it that and not trash the rest of the dodgers.i believe the cubs were my nemesis that year. pitching was too strong for us. i believe kenneth brown may have had the type of year against the dodgers that i was fortunate to have the year before against the cubs.

I had forgotten about cotton but terry was right about him and some reasonable success we had against nolan ryan. I know that i was fortunate enough to be the winning pitcher against him at least once and we may have beaten at least one other time.

Cotton could hit and run...he was a pretty productive player on the football team my junior year when we went 9-1. we were heading for a possible undefeated season until our senior quarterback, mike lloyd broke hos leg in the laporte game, our 8th of the year, we won our next game playing a sophomore quarter back whos ename escapes me and then we lost to deer park at home in a shootout...i believe the score was something like 34-28. I cnnot remember the soph qb's name. maybe terry of lynn could help me out.

[paul hackett]

Wasn't ervin knehan's dad nicknamed lefty. I played for him at the 13-15 year old level for a year or two.

I don't kow if terry rememners that league. when i was 13 the league was filled with some older guys who must have been dicovering themselves all at once beacause the baseball was awful, the principle activity was ragging on the other team's player and at least for me it was awful..by the time i got to my 15 year league, however, it had become the same serious place for really good baseball that my little league years had been. I guess good players really matter.

[paul hackett]

Nolan Ryan and cotton mckee...

I found an old article and box score from my junior year for a game where we beat alvin and ryan 2-0.

here's the creek lineup..i must admit..a few surprises..

cornelius lf
copeland ss
c.mckee cf
tillez c
mckinney 3b
lloyd 1b
lamberth 2b
hanson rf
hackett p

we only had 3 hits, by the way..alvin had 1, but we loaded the bases in the 6th on 2 walks and an error and joe mckinney singled in two runs.

also..Dan..in a previous exchange we discussed terry and my 12 year old star year and who had pitched and when. here is a small bit of information. we played our first two games in dickinson. we opened with dickinson and beat them 8-1 with doug pitching. we played santa fe in our second game but the article i have doesn't have any info about bthat one. i don't know why but it seems to me that perry jones may have pitched that game, but it could have been kenneth. maybe terry remembers. i do know we beat them and went to lamarque where ronnie lennox saved my bacon with a late inning homer run to dead center.

[Dan Jensen]

You guys are doing plumb loverly in awakening the echoes of time. Keep it up.

Lefty Knehans managed the Cardinals. Keith Mathis called him the "old head" and he was younger then and we are now. Keith called Ervin, "Little Old Head."

The sophomore quarterback's name was Cope. Was it Don Cope? Mike Lloyd's leg was broken on a late hit--and I think deliberate.

Joe McKinney had a terrific game in that Deer Park loss at League City. I think the Deer scored on a long pass on the first play of the game.

Why was Terry Mathis not at shortstop in the lineup against Nolan Ryan and Alvin?

We did beat Ryan in both his junior and senior years. A football guy coached baseball and pitched Ryan in practically every district game. We caught him tired.

[Terry Mathis]

I was a Soph. when Ryan was a Senior. I was hurt every time we played against Ryan, I hit one time against him and struck out. So now you know why I was hurt. Don Cope was the QB's name. Paul didn't he live in El Lago near you? The football game against Deer Park is probably one of the best games in Clear Creek's history in football. If I remember I think we just ran out of time with us in the Red Zone. I think that game for Joe, no doubt helped him get the Scholarship to Harvard. I think Nolan's Senior year he pitched all most every game that Alvin played. I still don't know how his arm lasted so long.

[Dan Jensen]

So Allan Hanson was an outfield starter as a sophomore? Is that Robbie Copeland at short? He would have been a sophomore too.

And, who is the Tillez catching and hitting cleanup? Surely not Paul Tellez.

[Paul hackett]

dan you are right on target and terry it was don cope and really did a terrific job stepping in. Good memory...Mike lloyd was on the ground and got hit extremely late. That year la*orte had a reputation for less than honorable play.

Joe was a monster in that game. Deer Park also had a really good running back. i want to say his foirst name might have been wayne.

I don't know why robbie was at short, but figuring out who was getting playing time during those days was tough. tommy davis was listed as the assistant baseball coach and Ken Daw was supposed to be the head coach. There were some strange lineups that included less than our best at times.

The coach at Alvin was named Jim Watson. Mostly what he knew about baseball was that when Nolan Pitched ..alvin won. I believe we beat him both times in district that year. Mike lloyd hit a home run off of him at out place. all I know is that he was impossible to hit. You jjust flat couldn't catch up.

I am running out of old newspaper articles.

Terry...do you remember if it was Tommy davis who converted Jimmy cornelius to a catcher. I seem to remember that between my junior and senior years, tommy ran a little bit of a summer baseball camp in the afternoons. I remember working with Jimmy. hde actually was a pretty good catcher.

[paul hackett]

A funny Coach Ken Daw Baseball story.

i made the varsity baseball team my sophomore year and Coach daw drew the short straw on Pajul Gips coaching staff and got the baseball assignment. daw had been my 9th grade football coach and was my driver's ed teacher during the summer so obviously I spent a lot of time talking about baseball.

Anysway, Coach daw had a terribly arthritic ankle and as you remember, march baseball could be a little cold. One Friday night, Coach bundled up and decided to not leave the dugout. he assigned me to coach 3rd base..where the signals came from. i looked him seriously in the eye and asked him if was going to send the calls into me. He responded..

"Naw...you know what to call"

so for a night..I was at least calling the takes and hit away signals for the clear Creek Varsity Baseball Team!!!!

[Terry Mathis]

Speaking of LaPorte. Our last district game my Senior year 67 we played at LaPort. Of course we beat them bad, and they took it very personal. At the end of the game there was a big brawl at mid court. It was the only game that one of my older brother Don had attended. After police cleared the place out Don told me that he would have come to more games if he know all that happened at games. Of course Don would rather fight than eat at the time, and he loved to eat, because he was a pretty big old boy.

[Dan Jensen]

Kenneth Daw was an outstanding football player at Sam Houston State when I was there but he didn't play baseball there as Paul Gips claimed when he assigned him to baseball at Clear Creek. Gips didn't care about anything but football and is the reason Henry Bauerschlag and Les Talley gave up coaching for administration.

[Dan Jensen]

This is no doubt a record for most consecutive posts on the same thread and I am loving it.

Perhaps it is not of much interest to the old basketball warhorses of the George Carlisle era but too bad. If any are still left, they can post on their favorite subject anytime.

Lynn Davis and Joe McKinney would be very interested in this thread and I am trying to get them in here but don't count on it.

And another missing voice is that of Ed Davis, ye olde blog administrator. He was too old for the Little League but did he ever attend any youth games later? Even a single one? I wonder about such things. I don't know if Terry or Paul do or not.

[paul hackett]

dan,

I hope my comments regarding coac h daw did not come across as mean spirited. i genuinely liked him and he liked me. He was a gruff but good and decnt man. he actually was the guy who got me to kick for coach gips one day and that is how the whole thing got going. i had no interest in playing football, although I loved the sport and oddly enough truly enjoyed oahing football during my brief 5 year stint in public schools.
oach daw got a raw deal with that baseball assignment. maybe his seond year was gip's way of punishing him for the whole kicking specialist thing around me. Coach gips was never a big fan of me or that situation. there were not very many kicking specialists in those days.

I also never knew that coaches talley and bauerschlag had left due to coach gips although I am not surprised. On a personal note though, it worked out well for me as coaches les and henry really wanted to make a low post man out of me and it did not take coach kreuger very long to figure out that I had a far greater passion for shooting the b all than rebounding it.

I'l but the day oa h kreuger was hired was not one of oach gip's better days.

[Terry Mathis]

Was Gips responsible for hiring Krueger?

[Terry Mathis]

How is it places like Snook, Buna, Dumas, South San, Waxahachie, Clear Creek and others have such good teams for a certain period of time. Is is talent, coaching, or fate. What percentage does each contribute? It has been since 1967 since Clear Creek last made the trip to Austin. Will it ever happen again, if so when? In the late 50's and 60's it was pretty much a given Clear Creek would go to the state tournament. I would go to the state tournament with my older Brother Keith when I was just 11 years old. I felt like Gregory Gym @ UT was better than Madison Square Garden in New York.

[Dan Jensen]

You can add Big Sandy to that list. Those Indians could flat play under Coach Ford King.

To answer your question, it's coaching. Coaches don't win without talent but good coaches develop talent.

It's been so very long since Clear Creek made it to the state tournament. Will it ever happen again? I say doubtful unless the administration gets serious about hiring a top coach.

[paul hackett]

Dan and Terry

I think coaching in the lower grade levels were the keys to the success of the schools Terry mentioned. tradition also a factor.in the 60's, 70's and early 80's, few coaching staffs diversified the expertise and skills of the downgrade coaches. Most schools had a high school basketball coach, but the other grade levels and in the middle schools the major criteria for assigning basketball coaches were ...was he a good football coach..would he cut basketball kids to allow football kids a place to work on agility and footwork and satisfy their booster parents, and did they have their commercial driver's license so they could drive the bus to out of town games.

I believe the interest level of new parents in sports other than football, the lifting of the ridiculous UIL ban on summer leagues and camps, and the proliferation of leagues for all ages created a widespread inertia for the growth of the sport. teh expansion of the size of coaching staffs also has allowed programs to add basketball expertise at lower level.

Also, I think specialization may have filtered down to lower classification schools. the ones aforementioned were all 3a 2a and lower where 3 sport guys were the norm. Today...kids chose to stay in the gym and guess what...given equal or even slightly less than equal physical skills..the kid in the gym all year will outshine a multi sport player in many cases ..and the coaches like the kids they have all year.

What do you guys think

[paul hackett]

Dan..a question for your incredible memory...it is about clear lake however.

when terry asked about creek's tallest player I was reminded that in the mid 90's circa..96/97..clear lake had a team stocked with some very tall player. do you recall anything about those teams and how they did.

and i do apologize for the Lake question on this site.

paul

[Dan Jensen]

You ought to apologize for the Clear Lake question. Don't let it happen again.

There is quite a gap in my Clear Creek memory because I moved out of state. I know nothing and care nothing of rival Clear Lake.

Or, as I would say on the Baylor boards: I don't no nothing.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, do you have the pitching stats for your high school years? Were no colleges interested in you?

[paul hackett]

dan,

i will look for some stuff.
My senior year was a real up and down year. but i do know that we went to deer park late in the year with a chance to win district. we lost a close one. that hackett kid should have pitched better.

as for colleges, i really don't know as i had signed with Rice to play basketball and later heard from Tommy Davis that he pretty much told schools that i had already made a college choice.

I also believe that baseball scholarships were not as plentiful and many were partials...I Think

Oh Yeah...I slapped myself for the Lake question

[Terry Mathis]

I remember the game at Deer Park that we lost like 2-1,it was a pitching duel, at the end of the game you could barely see your hand in front of your face, due to the fog. I think it was the last district game of the year for the title.
Deer Park was always our rival, and always seemed to have good teams.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, I had no idea you signed with Rice for basketball. How is it that you ended up at Southwest Texas?

And, I doubt if anyone gets a full scholarship in baseball since colleges are limited to 11.7 for the entire team. That is pitiful and not likely to change any time soon.

[paul hackdett]

actuallt, It was Coach Carlisle that wanted me to go to rice...he left , however, after my senior season and was replaced by Don Knodel who picked up Coach C's rec ruits as it was late in the spring.

Dan,, i did not like it there but went mostly because my father was still going to sea for his employment and my older brother was an officer in the Air Force and was stationed in Greenland. So those factors led me to sign dearly with Rice so that i would not be too far from home.

As for SWT...the combination of me not caring much for the campus life at Rice and developing a temorary aversion to attending class, I found myself looking to transfer in the spring. Coaches Kreuger and Neill let me know that SWT was interested and it made for an easy transition. I later found out that Sam Houston and Coach porter were interested but I never got that message. Wish that I had. I loved SWT and San Marcos..the basketball years were a different story.

As I said in an eralier post, most everyone I meet is stunned to learn that my first love was ...is and always will be baseball. I was a devoted New York Yankee fan until the 45's and astros and I have been bleeding blue and orange ever since.

[Dan Jensen]

Paul, all that is interesting. Did you play some at Rice during that one semester?

Too bad you never got "the recruiting message" from Sam Houston. Recruiting is certainly different these days.

Want to share some of those Southwest Texas basketball tales? Was Jowers or McDonald coaching then?

[paul hackett]

I played freshman ball at Rice and transferred after the spring semester.I played for Coach Mac and as for the tales...I will exercise restraint for now. We had some good times though.

My junior year we were pretty damn good..only thing was that Stephen F. and Howard payne were ranked 1 and 3 in the nation.

We had a pretty good starting group though...you may recognize a couple of names

Guards: Ronnie Arrow...Jones High
Larry Black So. San

High Post Gary Mullen Florence
Low Post Ernest Chesney prosper

Forward Some guy named Hackett

Gary Mullen was a 6'3" overachieving post man. An extraofrdinary rebounder who made 1st team all conference.

That Team led the nation's small colleges in Team Free Throw Shooting at around 81%.

Ronnie was a great point guard...made an all conference(2nd Team) out of me.

SWT was a great place to go to school.

[paul hackett]

I will share a humerous story.

Coach Macdonald had a habit of literally using 5 coins on the floor to diagram a play. Some of our funnier moments were when he would only have 4 coins in his pocket and he would be yelling at assistant coach don forester for a nickle.

We were playing at home and during a timeout Mac went through some pretty intricate manipulations of the coins. As we all walked back on to the floor to supposedly run what he had shown us...ronnie arrow walked up to larry black and ronnie asked black if he was the dime or the nickle.

[Dan Jensen]

So you were at Rice for a year instead of a semester. Were you playing much at Rice before the transfer?

Keep those good stories coming.

[paul hackett]

That was back in the day of Freshmen not being varsity eligible , so we played a freshman schedule that included some jucos...including san jac and ollie taylor..6'1" tall...could dunk two balls on the same jump.

[paul hackett]

dan,

i do not have any baseball stats in the scrapbook that I have..sorry...

In the "for what its worth category, however, I did find the stats for the '65-66 basketball team. we lost to john marshall in overtime that year to finish 2nd at the state tournament.

Scoring:

Hackett 16.5
Mcguire 16.4
Rindy 13.1
Huhn,R 9.8
Copeland 6.2

I was pretty proud of the leading scorer thing until I noticed that i only took 125 more shots than Bill did.

Rebounding:

no stats but the article I have righfullindicated that Bill mcguire was our leading rebounder and I was second...A VERY DISTANT SECOND

FG%

Huhn 50.0
Mcguire 47.0
hackett 42.0
Copeland 39.2
Mathis 38.0
Rindy 36.1

I think Terry and i both figured this piece out a little better in college

Ft%:

Hackett 71.3
Mcguire 71.0
Copeland 70.0
Rindy 68.8

for the mid 60's our team numbers were pretty good. we avereged 71.9 ppg and held our opponents to an average of 55.0 ppg.

Also, we lost 4 games that year with the only loss to another aaa team coming in the state tournament. The other 3 losses were to Pasadena, Texas City and memorial who won the 4A championship that year led by Jerry kroll. If I am not mistaken Kroll went on to a pretty good career at Davidson