Brees no longer Lone Star State anomaly
Foles to become 2nd Texan to start at QB in Super Bowl
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles will join an exclusive club Sunday as the 60th starting quarterback in 52 Super Bowls, but he will become part of an even more select fraternity as the second former Texas high school quarterback to start a Super Bowl.
Both Texas signal-callers played for Austin Westlake.
Drew Brees, who was MVP of Super Bowl XLIV for the New Orleans Saints, led the Chaparrals to the Class 5A Division II championship in 1996, and Foles’ 2006 team lost to Southlake Carroll in the 5A Division I championship.
Isadore Newman School in New Orleans, alma mater of brothers Peyton and Eli Manning, is the only other school to produce two Super Bowl starting quarterbacks.
Spot duty for Kubiak
Foles will be remembered as among the more unexpected of Super Bowl starters, joining Jeff Hostetler of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV as having taken over during the regular season for an injured quarterback. Hostetler replaced Phil Simms with two games left in the 1990 season, and Foles stepped in for Carson Wentz when Wentz was injured Dec. 10.
Then again, the history of Texas quarterbacks in the Super Bowl is an odd one on all fronts.
More than 300 former Texas high school players have played in a championship game during the Super Bowl era that began with the 1966 season, but no quarterback had started until Brees in the 2009-10 season, and the only other Texas quarterback to throw a pass in a Super Bowl was Gary Kubiak in mop-up duty for the Denver Broncos.
However, two former Texas high school players in addition to Brees have thrown Super Bowl touchdown passes — running backs Robert Newhouse of Hallsville Galilee for the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII and Lawrence McCutcheon of Plainview for the Rams in Super Bowl XIV.
Texas also has produced great quarterbacks over the years in Hall of Famers Sammy Baugh, Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle, but other than veterans like Don Meredith and Charley Johnson in the 1960s and Tommy Kramer in the 1970s, there was a considerable gap between the years in production until the current generation of players who came of age at a time when Texas high schools had moved to a more pass-oriented style of play.
Brees, Foles and Case Keenum of the Minnesota Vikings were among six former Texas high school players who saw significant starting time at quarterback, in 2017, and that was with injuries having sidelined Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck and Miami’s Ryan Tannehill.
Trip down memory lane
With a win over New England on Sunday, Foles would join Brees on the short list of Texas quarterbacks to win an NFL or AFL championship across league history. Most, however, came in the pre-Super Bowl era.
Cecil Isbell of Houston Sam Houston shared time at the position for the 1939 Packers and threw a touchdown pass in their 27-0 win over the Giants for the 1939 championship. Baugh was Washington’s starter in the 1937 and 1942 championship seasons, and Tommy Thompson of Fort Worth Paschal won two titles with the Eagles in 1948 and 1949.
Layne won NFL titles for the 1952 and 1953 Lions, Frank Ryan of Fort Worth Paschal started for the 1964 Browns, and Tobin Rote of San Antonio Harlandale has the distinction of being the winning quarterback in two league title games, for the 1957 NFL Lions and the 1963 AFL Chargers.
Of the 60 quarterbacks (with Foles projected as the 60th) who have started Super Bowls, California leads all states with 14, followed by Pennsylvania with nine and Louisiana with seven.