Austin College Kangaroo John Taylor “Bobo” Nelson was 13 years old when the great pandemic of 1918 hit Texas. Nelson survived the scourge that year and enrolled at Austin College five years later.
Nelson’s first love was basketball. After four years playing hoops for the Roos, Nelson decided to become a coach. He was a key part of a Texas basketball story of which you may have never heard: the Hoosiers-like dominance of the Athens (TX) Hornets. Over a span of eight years, little Athens won five state championships. Those tournament titles, all at the expense of much larger schools, took place at the University of Texas and its historic Gregory Gym.
From the Roo Tale “Athens and Austin College: A Texas Hoosiers Tale:”
“Athens scored a state record 188 points in its 4 wins at Gregory Gym [in 1933], an unheard of number for the game in those days. Nobody could keep pace with the Hornets, as they beat El Paso (62-29), Bryan (50-19), Dallas Thomas Jefferson (40-36), and Houston Jefferson Davis (36-20) in the final to win their fourth title in seven years. With most of the squad back in 1934, [Coach Nelson and] the Athens community expected a long overdue title defense. They’d get it.”
Gregory Gym was also the home of the Texas High School state swim meet in 1934, which was dominated that year by a young kid named John Russell “Hondo” Crouch. After swimming for the Longhorns at Gregory Gym, Crouch later transformed into a Texas icon. He bought the town of Luckenbach, declared himself mayor, and opened a music-oriented beer joint “where everyone is someone.”
All good things must come to an end though, and so did the heyday of Gregory Gym in the 1930s. Classifications were introduced in Texas, ending the Athens run as giant killers. High school basketball at Gregory Gym ended too, when the state tournament moved to the much larger Frank Erwin Center. It was at the Erwin Center where Claude Webb Jr.’s son Hondo led the Melissa Cardinals to the state tourney in 2011. Hondo Webb was named for that Gregory Gym icon Hondo Crouch.
Yes indeed. The best days of Gregory Gym are behind it, and the era of Roos gracing the gym floor have long been relegated to history.
Well almost.
The medical school at the University of Texas recently began administering the Covid vaccine for all UT faculty, staff, and students at Gregory Gym. The school generously announced that any UT employee who volunteered to help with vaccine administration could get a shot without reservation. That sounded perfect to me. Instead of just watching public health Roos like Laurie Barker James do the Lord’s work, I could finally contribute a small verse of my own. I headed down to the Gregory Gym of Coach Nelson and Hondo Crouch last week to help direct UT folks to open vaccine stations. It was a non-stop parade of burnt orange Longhorn shirts.
Well almost.
I couldn’t help but notice a crimson and gold “Austin College” shirt headed my way. GO ROOS, I yelled. That lone Kangaroo in an ocean of Longhorns was Kris Troegle, Class of ’99. While I was surprised to see a Roo approaching, Kris was even more shocked to learn that the Longhorn volunteer helping her was actually “that Kangaroo who tells all those AC stories.” I told her that I was planning on turning this experience into a story. Kris and I took a pic for Gregory Gym Roo Tale vaccination posterity.
Hondo Crouch’s famous beer joint in Luckenbach is one of many inspirations for Claude Webb Jr.’s beer joint “The Gar Hole” in Westminister, TX. They’ve weathered the pandemic so far, and the live musical acts just keep getting more impressive. Now that my vaccination has begun, I’m that much closer to a long overdue trip to The Gar Hole. Where everyone is someone.
We’re not out of the pandemic woods yet. National commitments to public health are suspect, virus variants are a big concern, and vaccine availability and acceptance is still a question mark. Still, by the end of summer we may have miraculously moved from vaccine creation to nearly all of us getting our shots.
I’m thankful I have my Gregory Gym shot, and I’m sure Kris Troegle is grateful for her shot as well. I’m excited to get to the Hondo- inspired Gar Hole at some point soon, where a tequila shot will be in order. And I couldn’t think of a better place to get my Covid shot than good ol’ Gregory Gym, where a Roo coach who survived the 1918 pandemic saw so many shots from his Athens Hornets basketball team hit nothing but net………….on the way to a Texas state title.
