State High School Championship

[Taras Bulba]

I still think that it doesn't get any better than putting on a big league uniform.  That said, a close second must be stepping out onto the Dell Diamond in front of your community and others and playing for all the marbles.  I was never on a team that good enough and I was never good enough to play at a higher level, but I got goose bumps just thinking about the thrill those guys felt in being there.

[JimR]

i do not know if you have to get that far to experience the incomparable thrill. i think having the uniform on and representing your school is as good as it gets. if you make it to the final game, that is wonderful, but nothing really beats the first time you go out on the field to play.

Mark was a co-captain of the football team his senior year, and i'll never forget what he told me after his first game. he said "Dad, i got goosebumps walking out for the coin toss and hearing the PA guy say 'representing McCallum, Mark Raup.'" he felt the same pride at that moment that i did watching him.

that is what athletics is to me. wear the uniform with pride. represent your school. play for your family and friends and community. do the very best you can do. win AND lose with class and grace. if you win it all, treasure the moment. if you do not win it all, you competed. there is nothing better.

[HudsonHawk]

i do not know if you have to get that far to experience the incomparable thrill. i think having the uniform on and representing your school is as good as it gets. if you make it to the final game, that is wonderful, but nothing really beats the first time you go out on the field to play.

Mark was a co-captain of the football team his senior year, and i'll never forget what he told me after his first game. he said "Dad, i got goosebumps walking out for the coin toss and hearing the PA guy say 'representing McCallum, Mark Raup.'" he felt the same pride at that moment that i did watching him.

that is what athletics is to me. wear the uniform with pride. represent your school. play for your family and friends and community. do the very best you can do. win AND lose with class and grace. if you win it all, treasure the moment. if you do not win it all, you competed. there is nothing better.

I remember the pep rally we had before our first district game my senior year.  The whole school was in the gym, and they called us all out onto the floor.  I was the team captain, so they called me last.  The pep band was playing, the cheerleaders were there with their pom poms...a great memory.

[austro]

I guess that's HH's way of saying "There's nothing more to say".

[Noe]

Oddly, I never got to experience prep baseball like my brother and several cousins did.  I went to a school that did not have a baseball team (my choice, I wanted to go to that school), nor football team.  Best thing they could do is field a JV Basketball team (I played starting guard, what is now the proverbial shooting guard position).  But I did come close to the same feelings in amateur baseball games played in minor league venues.  What I do remember is watching some friends of mine play in an amateur tournament after a Sunday Astros game in the Astrodome.  I did not make the squad (I was clearly not good enough and I knew it, so no hard feelings here).  There I was sitting behind the dugout in the Astrodome watching a bunch of guys I played against go at it against a rival league of all-stars.  A very well played game too, with our guys jumping out early to a lead and holding on for seven innings (all the innings the Astros would let us play).  I ended up in the dugout and many a player asked why I wasn't suited up.  I told them the truth, the manager didn't select me to be on his squad, but I was okay by it.  I was proud of these guys, they were doing well and played great baseball that day.  So I helped with scoring and other items in and around the dugout.  It was a great feeling, but I have to admit not the same as actually being one of the guys who would be on the team and playing out on the field.  I wanted to play in the Dome that day so badly, but I knew I'd have to wait to make the team next year.  I busted my butt the following year and played some outstanding baseball.  I was heartbroken when I was told that while I made the all-star team, we were not going to play in the Dome that year, rather at McGregor Park, near UofH.  I had fun, but it was just not the same.  For one moment, I could picture myself running out to second base or right field in the Dome taking my position ready to play a real, live, actual baseball game. 

It never happened, but I know had it happened, I would not have been able to describe how awesome it felt to do just that.

[BatGirl]

we spent the afternoon in lufkin today
the folks we were with were mighty proud of those boys
it was actually pretty cool to watch the game with locals
who were treating that game like it was the world series

when we left, one of the local radio stations had already
produced a very nice promo, congratulating the team
that was coming home as state champion "runner-ups"

[rpntex]

I dont post here often (thats an understatement), but I had to post on this one.  Thats because I have not only experienced the thrill of playing in a state tourney, but of winning the championship...not once, but TWICE!  Monterey High School from Lubbock took home the hardware in '72, '74, '81, and again in '96.  We also lost in the title game 5 times, and made 14 trips to the state tourney in all.

I was a sophomore on that '72 team.  I didn't play much (only had 4 ABs all season), but on that June night,   I didn't care.  The name everyone remembers on that team is Donnie Moore.  Yes, the same Donnie Moore that pitched for the Braves and Angels, and who tragically took his own life.  What a lot of people don't remember is that he was a helluva hitter as well.  We beat Houston Bellaire in the finals.

I was a senior on the '74 team, but had dislocated my left elbow the previous fall, and spent the season on the bench.  I couldn't swing a bat, but Coach Moegle let me stay on the varsity.  I got one pinch-running appearance and one inning defensively in a meaningless district game after we'd wrapped things up.  That team went 36-4, and won out last 30 games in route to the title.  Nobody on that team ever made it to the bigs, but we had six guys who did some time in the minors, including one (Scott Gardner-RHP) who spent a few years in the Astros organization.  We had four guys who went as high a AAA (Jimmy Shankle-Red Sox; Larry Horn-Expos; Rocky Alburtis-Expos; and Tim Leslie-Phillies).

Scott Gardner started the state semifinal, and got shelled.  Larry Horn went the final 5+ innings and we squeezed out a win.  Gardner came back in the finals and went the distance against Sharpstown.  He was only a soph, but a very complete pitcher.  We entered the top of the 7th trailing 2-1, but another sophomore named Richard Bowles hit a pinch 3-run HR to put us up 4-2.

Those two nights rank as the top two highlights of my life,with the exceptions of my wedding and the birth of my kids and grandkids.

[Taras Bulba]

Thanks for sharing that.  Post more.

[das]

i do not know if you have to get that far to experience the incomparable thrill. i think having the uniform on and representing your school is as good as it gets. if you make it to the final game, that is wonderful, but nothing really beats the first time you go out on the field to play.

Mark was a co-captain of the football team his senior year, and i'll never forget what he told me after his first game. he said "Dad, i got goosebumps walking out for the coin toss and hearing the PA guy say 'representing McCallum, Mark Raup.'" he felt the same pride at that moment that i did watching him.

that is what athletics is to me. wear the uniform with pride. represent your school. play for your family and friends and community. do the very best you can do. win AND lose with class and grace. if you win it all, treasure the moment. if you do not win it all, you competed. there is nothing better.

I absolutely agree.  And that support from and by the school, family and friends makes all the difference in the world.  As a sophomore at a newly opened school with only freshmen, sophomores and juniors, I was on a CC team that placed 2nd in Districts and a very surprising 3rd in Regionals earning a team trip to the State finals.  What we had achieved at the Regional meet with no seniors was so unprecedented that the entire community came along side us and rallied their support.  Every football player, every basketball player, all varsity and JV cheerleaders, soccer players, volleyball, softball, band members, etc... along with most of the teaching staff and hundreds of parents and community supporters made the 4 hour drive down to the UVA course and lined the course wearing their uniforms and creating an absolute ruckus.  Every step of the 5,000m course was lined with blue-wearing fanatics calling you out by name during the race. 

We came in 3rd place in the 3A (highest in the state at the time) State meet in one of the 4 toughest running states in the nation.  To this day, this team event and achievement surpasses any personal or team achievement I was a part of in high school or college and is a testament to the power that unyielding support can add to kids facing a difficult challenge.