This past weekend the area coaches association (SETCA) held its annual conference that culminates with a banquet where they induct new members into their Hall of Honor. The four men inducted included two who spent most of their career in Orange County and I know both pretty well.
Tom Woolley is one of the good guys. He was the girls basketball and softball coach at Bridge City and later LCM. Woolley’s teams were always competitive. He was also creative. I was broadcasting one of his basketball games and coach questioned a call by the ref. He preceded to dig in his bag and coaches weren’t allowed on the playing surface so he gave the rule book to one of his players to give to the ref which of course resulted in an automatic technical foul.
Some coaches earn their technical and/or ejection and he earned his that game. Top five most creative in my book. He would prefer me to forget that story but I can’t, it was too good. Coach and his wife Sharon, also retired from education, still go to games and he runs a bible study group for LCM coaches. Told you he was a good guy.
Gene McKinley is a trainer and started at LCM with Mike Gray who attended the banquet. Hadn’t seen Mike in a while so it was good to catch up. McKinley spent a couple of seasons in Vidor, but spent most of his career at Bridge City. Trapper as he is known, is all business, and you need that with a trainer when you have kids and coaches wanting to get back on the field. What I didn’t know is that Margaret Richey is Gene’s sister. Margaret and her husband Alan were also in attendance so it was good to catch up with them. If you want to read more about the four, you can click here.
I was fortunate enough to receive the Media Award for our sports coverage and I do not take it lightly because the coaches vote on it. I have so much respect for what the good ones do. For an athlete you remember all of your coaches names because of the influence they had on you growing up.
One of those coaches for me was Randy Theriot who was one of my junior high coaches. Theriot is now retired and a member of the Hall. His son Chris, who I covered when he was in high school, is now the defensive coordinator at BC and he won the Assistant Coach of the Year Award. Talk about your full circle.
Sorry for those of you looking for more than sports but I have to talk about one more. Mark Foreman was on our Behind the Mic podcast and it has been a hit. I’ve had a number of his former players reach out and talk about it. Once again….coaches….influence.
What we didn’t get around to talking about was the West Orange-Stark logo, aka the Flying WOS. Foreman was the artist. He and Cornel Thompson were coming back from a coaching clinic and Cornel thought they needed an identity, something bold and more visual than the hard to see wild mustang on the side of the helmet.
As the story goes, and you can read it in Coach T’s book, Cornel saw an ad for Whataburger and Foreman was carrying a TCU keyring that had the slanted or italic letters. He asked Foreman to draw up the combination and that is what you now see all over campus, tshirts, and buses. The logo was supposed to be unveiled in 1985 but the company was late in delivery so it made its debut in ’86.
If you’ve ever owned your own boat and fished Rayburn or TBend then you’ve probably visited Ann’s Tackle Shop in Jasper. And if you ever listened to Let’s Go Fishing on KOGT Radio then you know who Ann Thomasson-Wilson is.
It was just announced that Ann, along with fishing legend Rick Clunn, will be inducted into Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame this year and I couldn’t be happier for her. A pioneer for women’s professional fishing, she began her career as a professional angler in 1970 and competed until 1996. She won world championships in 1988 and 1989.
And she’s an innovator. She’s credited with inventing the color Plum Apple that you see in many soft plastics. She also created the Rat-L-Trap color that’s referred here locally as Rayburn Red and she invented a hook design for Gamakatsu that they still use today. Unfortunately she’s not at the shop on a daily basis now but her daughter Debra is so next time you go by there send her congratulations.
Angie and I had a date night with LeAnn Rimes at the Lutcher last week. Can’t say I’ve been to theaters all over the country but I can’t imagine many being as good as the Lutcher when it comes to accommodating their patrons. It’s a well oiled machine and that has a lot to do with their volunteers.
Being at KOGT when she debuted “Blue” in 1995 or 96, it was an instant hit and the most requested song at KOGT for a while because she sounded so much like Patsy Cline. She was only 13 at the time. But I remember learning a lot about the politics of the music business with that song because it won Single of the Year yet it didn’t make number one on the charts. Didn’t make sense. Still doesn’t.
Anyway the show was good and her voice is still fantastic. And her one man band was really good. But I just don’t understand why artists would want to change up their biggest hits on a live show. You go there wanting to hear the hit and sing the words and they totally change the song. I heard the original version of Prince’s Purple Rain the other day and I promise you it wouldn’t have been a hit. Go with what got you there!
Snow last week and 72 degrees today, only in Texas, right?! Thanks for the response to the new column. We’ll try it again next week.
-Gary Stelly-
gstelly66@gmail.com
Social Media