Milburn "Catfish" Smith rose from the humblest of beginnings in rural East Texas to lead the Carey Cardinals and the Mount Vernon Tigers to numerous football and basketball championships, including Texas State Schoolboy titles. In doing so, he defied the sports gurus of his day, many of whom subsequently credited him with three of the greatest coaching feats of his century. How did he do it? Here for the first time, the secret behind this most unusual and colorful man's success is revealed, unknown until now even by many of his former players, "His Boys." No slow climb to the top was acceptable for this firebrand coach. In his first year he took his Carey Cardinals, a school with less than one hundred enrollment and no basketball court, to a fourth place finish in the Texas Schoolboy state basketball tournament, including a twenty-six-game winning streak. The twenty-three-year-old coach followed that with a 50-2 season and the state championship, back when the smallest schools competed against the largest for the coveted title. World War II soon interrupted his career, as it did that of many of his contemporaries, but the experience was to change Catfish deeply, and in ways even his closest friends did not understand. Called to Mount Vernon, Texas in September 1943 to temporarily fill a coaching vacancy, Catfish exceeded all expectations. Seven years later, with two hundred fourteen victories and over twenty titles, including district, bi-district, regional, and state crowns, he was one of the most recognized high school coaches in the state of Texas.

In 1939, a team of short, scrappy kids from a vocational school established specifically for Mexican Americans became the high school basketball champions of San Antonio, Texas. Their win, and the ensuing riot it caused, took place against a backdrop of shifting and conflicted attitudes toward Mexican Americans and American nationalism in the WWII era. “Only when the Mexicans went from perennial runners-up to champs,” García writes, “did the emotions boil over.” The first sports book to look at Mexican American basketball specifically, When Mexicans Could Play Ball is also a revealing study of racism and cultural identity formation in Texas. Using personal interviews, newspaper articles, and game statistics to create a compelling narrative, as well as drawing on his experience as a sports writer, García takes us into the world of San Antonio’s Sidney Lanier High School basketball team, the Voks, which became a two-time state championship team under head coach William Carson “Nemo” Herrera. An alumnus of the school himself, García investigates the school administrators’ project to Americanize the students, Herrera’s skillful coaching, and the team’s rise to victory despite discrimination and violence from other teams and the world outside of the school. Ultimately, García argues, through their participation and success in basketball at Lanier, the Voks players not only learned how to be American but also taught their white counterparts to question long-held assumptions about Mexican Americans.

“What difference does it make?”, the corner-stone quote of Hillary Clinton preparing for an election. That same statement can be applied today when coaches want instant gratification bypassing basic fundamentals of the sport they are coaching. Learning the fundamentals of any sport is a long process and doesn’t happen over-night. High school coaches that stay in high school, teach basic fundamentals helping everyone understand that there is no shortcut to success is what this book is about. Is there any sports fan who didn’t have a high school coach that make a difference in their life? This book covers all sports in the Texas Panhandle/Plains region governed by the UIL. There is a section for each sport showing the history of high school state championships between this area and other regions. What makes this book different is the legendary coaches are nominated by their peers and is about high school coaches only.

Dale Rory arrives in Paddock in the heart of West Texas cattle country, in pursuit of his dream of coaching basketball and owning a cattle ranch, something his recently deceased and highly principled parents had encouraged. Believing his faithfulness to their teachings has led to past accomplishments, he is equally convinced that they are his compass to future success. Hired by the school, he buys a four-hundred-acre spread, but aware of his need for help, he seeks out his neighbors, Sybil and Marilyn Stone. Sybil, a widowed rancher seasoned by hardship, brusquely doles out advice, but Dale quickly recognizes the value of her guidance, as well as the beauty of her eighteen-year-old daughter. When it becomes clear that Dale has jumped in over his financial head, he gets the break of a lifetime. Having bought five lottery tickets on a whim, he wins the jackpot and banks twenty-five million. With no more money woes, he considers what he will do with his fortune. Having been taught that "To whom much is given, much is required," he must now decide if all those parental tenets are just words or his guide for life? BUD CAMPBELL, a Texan and graduate of Mount Vernon High School, was an all-state member of their1948 state-championship basketball team, and subsequently played for Texas Christian University. After ten years of leading basketball programs at various Texas schools and inspiring youngsters to develop a winning attitude, Bud spent twenty-seven years as a school principal, the majority at North Mesquite High in the Dallas area. With humor, wit, and an upbeat personality, Bud has inspired thousands with his motivational speeches at banquets, civic organizations, and staff development programs where he stresses that life's richest blessings are realized through giving freely. GLEN ONLEY is the author of "Coach Catfish Smith And His Boys," "Beyond Contentment," "Discovery Tree," and "Sunset," all available from Sunstone Press.

Homer B. Johnson has been a coach in the Garland, Texas, Indpendent School District since 1948 and the athletic director of the GISD sincd 1963. When you coach in one place for that long, you are bound to have a story or two to tell - and Homer definitely has one or two. As Homer spins through one classic story after another in this book, you will see why he has had the cultural impact that he has had on high school sports in Texas. From a sideline fistfight that fired up future Baltimore Colts star Bobby Boyd, to University of Texas star Marquise Goodwin dominating the high school state track meet wo years in a row, all of Homer's favorite stories are told here in his down home, unassuming fashion, with some added insight and testimonials from his peers. If you know Homer or have heard him speak, then you know that his storytelling ability is almost as legendary as Texas itself. If you have not met Homer or heard him speak, you are in for a real treat as you meet him for the first time and relive 60-plus years of Texas high school sports through his eyes.

On January 30, 1892, the University of Georgia played its first football game, beating Mercer College, 50-0. Since this auspicious beginning, Georgia football has captivated the hearts and minds of fans for more than a century. Beginning with the 1896 season, Patrick Garbin recounts the most memorable seasons in the University of Georgia's football history. Spanning 115 years of Bulldog football, About Them Dawgs! provides a game-by-game recap of more than 20 of the school's notable seasons. Each of these seasons is covered with game highlights, facts, statistics, and photographs relating to the Bulldogs.

Billy Cannon’s name, his image, and his remarkable athletic career serve as emblems for Louisiana State University, the Southeastern Conference, and college football. LSU’s only Heisman Trophy winner, Cannon led the Tigers to a national championship in 1958, igniting a love of the game in Louisiana and establishing a tradition of greatness at LSU. But like many stories of lionized athletes who rise to the status of legend, there was a fall—and in the case of Billy Cannon, also redemption. For the first time, Charles N. deGravelles reveals in full the thrilling highs and unexpected lows of Cannon’s life, in Billy Cannon: A Long, Long Run. Through conversations with Cannon, deGravelles follows the athlete-turned-reformer from his boyhood in a working-class Baton Rouge neighborhood to his sudden rush of fame as the leading high school running back in the country. Personal and previously unpublished stories about Cannon’s glory days at LSU and his stellar but controversial career in the pros, as well as details of his indictment for counterfeiting and his post-release work as staff dentist at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, unfold in a riveting biography characterized by uncanny success, deep internal struggles, and a champion’s spirit that pushed through it all.

Late in 1937 Hugh Alexander, a kid fresh out of small-town Oklahoma, had just finished his second year playing outfield for the Cleveland Indians when an oil rig accident ripped off his left hand. Within three months he was back with the Indians, but this time as a scout--the youngest ever in Major League history. In the next six decades he signed more players who made it to the Majors than any other scout. His story, Baseball's Last Great Scout, reads like a backroom, bleacher-seat history of twentieth-century baseball--and a primer on what it takes to find a winner. It gives a gritty picture of learning the business on the road, from American Legion field to try-out camp to beer joint, and making the fine distinctions between "performance" and "tools of the trade" when checking out prospects. Over the years Alexander worked for the Indians, the White Sox, the LA Dodgers, the Phillies, and the Cubs--and signed the likes of Allie Reynolds, Don Sutton, and Marty Bystrom. This book, based on extensive interviews and Alexander's journals, is filled with memorable characters, pithy lessons, snapshots of American life, and a big picture of America's pastime from one of its great off-the-field players.

When teams meet on football fields across Georgia, it's more than a game--it's a battle for bragging rights and dominance in a state that prizes football above all other sports. Join seasoned Georgia sports journalist Jon Nelson as he tracks the history of college football statewide. Whether it's Georgia Southern's glory days with legendary coach Erk Russell, the bitter rivalry between Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, the Mercer College team's historic beginnings or Shorter University's up-and-coming program, every team in Georgia makes the cut in this hard-hitting history. Enhanced by an appendix with each school's records, championship statistics and coaching accomplishments, this is a book no Peach State football fan can do without.