BEST OF THE BEST
Second class of HISD legends get their due with induction into district’s Hall of Honor
For many of us, the best thing about being a sports fan is we get to witness spectacular feats by athletes.
Memories of those marvelous moments are almost as satisfying.
In his acceptance speech at the HISD Hall of Honor ceremony Saturday, former University of Texas star pitcher Jim Gideon seemed to be headed in that direction with a story about his first encounter with fellow inductee Dave Elmendorf.
An All-American pitcher talking about a matchup against an All-American outfielder from a rival high school and college? Oh yeah.
Well, instead Gideon took a detour off Memory Lane to relay an off-the-field memory that isn’t exactly bona fide.
Gideon, a Bellaire High School graduate who helped UT to the 1975 national championship with a sterling 17-0 record (1.80 ERA), said there was a chance that when he worked at a gas station near Westbury High that he had come across Elmendorf.
In humorous LonghornAggie rivalry style, Gideon said Elmendorf would have pulled up in a maroon Texas A&M “loaner convertible.”
Score one for the burnt orange, but there were no losers at Saturday’s event at Delmar Stadium.
HISD’s second class of honorees was as impressive as its first.
As I said about last year’s inaugural class, we can debate who has been left out or who should be the next to get in, but we can’t argue about the elite who already have been chosen.
“Hall of Honor athletes are role models for our students in HISD,” HISD Superintendent Millard House said. “The playing field is a classroom that teaches valuable lessons. Our
Wall of Honor inductees show it is possible to succeed.
“(Honorees are) proof of what happens when talent and hard work come together.”
The Class of 2022 is comprised of 12 individual athletes, a legendary baseball coach, one of the greatest all-time basketball teams and a journalist who spent his career chronicling high school sports.
Kudos to the selection committee. When you talk HISD athletics, these names are almost certain to be mentioned.
Ray Knoblauch, whose 25year run directing Bellaire baseball included four state championships, and Bill McMurray, who covered high school sports for the Chronicle from 1960-96 and literally wrote the book on the history of Texas high school football, were the nonathletes among the selections. They were inducted posthumously, as Knoblauch passed away in 2002, McMurray in 2019.
The class includes, Jackie Washington of Yates, arguably the greatest sprinter in HISD history, Eddie Owens of Wheatley, a sweet-shooting superstar in the early 1970s who would be a dominant scorer in any era, and Cynthia Potter of Lamar, a three-time Olympian and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
A week after Worthing High School’s Cliff Branch received his long overdue spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, two Colts were placed in the HISD hall:
Mike Singletary, one of the greatest middle linebackers in football history, and Otis Taylor, who 47 years after retirement still leads all Kansas City Chiefs receivers in yards and touchdowns.
Gideon delivered the joke, but as for UT-A&M, the Aggies took the day with two honorees, Elmendorf and Jacob Green.
Elmendorf, who was all-city in baseball and football at Westbury, was so good in both sports that he was an AllAmerican at A&M in both sports. Despite being drafted in the first round by the Yankees, he chose to play safety in the NFL and started nine years for the Los Angeles Rams.
Green was a dominant defensive lineman at Kashmere, A&M and in the NFL with the Seahawks, who made him the 10th overall pick in the 1980 draft. Incredibly, he still holds the A&M record for sacks in a season with 20 in 1979, and he is one of 11 Aggies in the College Football Hall of Fame.
When it comes to memories, Green’s classmates at Kashmere rank high on my list.
The 1975 Rams’ basketball team was the second team placed into the hall of honor, following the 1985 Yates statechampionship football squad, which went in a year ago.
In 1975, Kashmere completed a two-year run of dominance with back-to-back state crowns, a 78-game win streak, including an unbeaten season, and a senior class of nine who all earned college scholarships.
With a pair of All-Americans leading the way, the
Rams were the No.1-ranked team in the country in several publications, but their games weren’t on YouTube. We had to listen to them on the radio.
My first visit to Delmar’s hot dog-shaped basketball fieldhouse was to see it take down previous No. 1-ranked Elk Grove (Ca.), which featured 7-foot center Bill Cartwright.
I don’t remember anything about the game, but I do recall dreaming of one day playing in that stadium because of the excitement surrounding that team. A high school team that in 1975 was as popular as the Rockets.
I eventually made it. Made a few shots, missed a bunch more.
Wrote some stories from there that McMurray critiqued. Sat with Knoblauch there as he tried to teach me what I didn’t know about baseball.
And I was at a special day there, where the best of the best of HISD were rewarded with their just due.
Another great memory for someone who is HISD-made.