“Untold Stories” are the Roo Tales yet to be written for a second book after the first book is finished and published. Hope you enjoy these untold story previews.
Here’s one:
“Twelve Mighty Orphans,” the best-selling novel by Russell Roden‘s friend Mr. Jim Dent, will soon be a movie. The book chronicles the Masonic Home “Mighty Mites” football team in the 1930s that captured the nation’s hearts during the Great Depression and nearly won a state title on four separate occasions. Masonic Home fell in the state finals in 1932, and the semifinals in 1934, 1938, & 1940. The movie will follow the story of Masonic Home Head Coach Rusty Russell, and one of his best players Hardy Brown. The football program at Amarillo will be a big screen foil in the Jim Dent tale.
A football story in the 1930s? Why, the Roo ties are everywhere:
(1) Rusty Russell played his college ball in the early 1920s at Howard Payne, competing in football and basketball against Austin College in Sherman.
(2) Russell started the underfunded football program at Masonic Home in 1927. Russell scheduled a game against the powerful Sherman HS Bearkats in exchange for supplies. Sherman, coached by Roo Dutchy Smith, got a ridiculous 97-13 win. Russell got new uniforms for the Mighty Mites and got to work over the next 5 years.
(3) Dutchy Smith then left for Amarillo HS, where as head coach he built the Golden Sandie program that began competing for a state title. Meanwhile, Russell was turning Masonic Home into a football power of its own.
(4) In the 1932 playoff quarterfinals, Masonic Home got revenge for 1927 and defeated Sherman. The Bearkats were coached by Roo Verde Dickey.
(5) In the 1932 playoff semifinals, Masonic Home defeated Amarillo. Blair Cherry, Amarillo Head Coach who succeeded Dutchy Smith, built upon the success of the Roo in the 1930s and established a Golden Sandie “Golden Age.” Cherry will have a prominent place in the movie.
(6) Amarillo got its revenge in the 1934 playoff semifinals, defeating the Mighty Mites. Amarillo Coach Blair Cherry was a TCU man, and like Rusty Russell competed against Austin College in Sherman as a Horned Frog in the early 1920s.
(7) Masonic Home’s 1938 run ended in Lubbock, at the hands of Kangaroo Weldon Chapman and his Lubbock High Westerners. The playoff semifinal game was played at Texas Tech’s home field.
(8) Texas Tech Coach Pete Cawthon was a Masonic Home fan. Before the game against Lubbock High, the former AC coach allowed Russell and the Mighty Mites to use Tech facilities, and offered Tech uniforms for pregame Masonic Home practices.
(9) Masonic Home’s 1940 run ended in Amarillo, in the playoff semifinals. Amarillo won state titles in both 1934 and 1940 after defeating Masonic Home. The 1940 game came down to the wire when Hardy Brown was stopped at the goal line.
(10) After graduation, Hardy Brown had many college football options. He chose Tulsa, coached by Kangaroo Henry Frnka. A career in the NFL awaited after his time with Frnka’s Golden Hurricane.
And perhaps my favorite Roo Tie of all? Friend and Kangaroo Melinda Massie appears as a “football fan” extra in the movie.
The movie will be out this fall, and a story will probably be written at the same time. It’ll be another great “untold story.”
