I remember the year (1980) so well; I was enjoying my 8th year of being an educator in F. I. S. D. and knew all the football-associated participants—and some of them very well, since quite a few had been “little kids” when I was a “big kid” in Forney, Texas. Many of the players on that football team had been playing together “forever,” and most were “pretty salty,” as my Dad liked to say about people who were “good” at doing something. And it seemed that year that just about all the folks who had active parts in leading on or cheering on the team were also “cream-of-the-crop” types!
I also recall that Principal Henry Sollers liked to say, “When the football team is going well, it seems as if the school and town go better, too!” And, he had had a fair amount of experience with different levels of football programs!
As I remember, we had eight football coaches, three primarily for Jr. High (Quinten, Whittemore, and Rigby) and five for High School (Richters, Woodson, Hamilton, Wolfe, and Gleason).
We had twenty-one (21) Forney positions named to All-District 1st Team, 2nd Team, and Hon. Mention. I am pretty sure that we were still a 2A classified school size then!
It seemed that the town was still small enough that it “closed down” the stores early so that everyone could make it to the games, especially the play-offs, on time!
The Band, Flag Corps, Cheerleaders, and Highsteppers put on great shows and displays of enthusiasm! Fans filled the stands and were raucous, but not unruly. Most of the time, Forney had more fans in the stands than the opponents, even if we were the visitors!
I also seem to remember that Mr. Sollers had a favorite cheer as we entered the play-offs: “Big Sandy, Big Sandy, hear our call—Monday starts your basketball.” He would substitute whatever team we were about to play into the “title spot” and had nothing against basketball. He just meant the opposing team’s football season was about to be a thing of the past!
Advertisements, featuring a Forney football theme, were common.
Varsity Players on this Championship Team were Bobby Shaddix, Thad Wilson, Jeff McAnally, Jim Seabolt, Ricky Medina, Johnny Pittmon, Jim Sollers, Joe Ransom, Paul Jackson, Gene Harmon, Bruce Benedict, Dewey Miller, Donald McGee, Steve Hurlbut, Richard Smith, Rob Schreiner, Devin Holt, Russell Marshburn, Patrick Wallace, Patrick Kent, Mark Harris, Jack Bandy, David Belz, Bobby Richardson, James Dalton, Harry Cates, Kacy Duncan.
And, the Varsity Cheerleaders were Shayla Horner, Tina Tune, Lisa Boyce, Lisa Beard, Lori Compton, and Lynn Ligon—plus, the Highstepper Officers were Pam Honeycutt, Belinda Miller, Becky Swain, Vivian Castleberry, and Monica Costello. With all the football players, cheerleaders, and drill team officers in my English Classes, I think I knew everything there was to know about the football scene at FHS—and I was glad to be a part of it all! Let’s hope I have all the information for this article “straight,” as this concludes the “looking back” for this year.
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