So, here’s the deal. This week is the AC Crimson & Gold Challenge to benefit Roo athletics. To help out the cause, I’m giving away five signed, early copies of my new Roo Tales book, “the Rivals & Legends of Austin College.” If you want to win a copy, all you have to do are three things:
(1) Like or comment on one of my five AC Crimson & Gold Challenge posts this week. (2) Give to the AC Crimson & Gold Challenge. See giving link in the comments. (3) Hope that JR Ohr draws your name out of a hat of Roos who completed the two tasks above.
I’ll be writing about five “legends” in the book over five days this week, in order to encourage you all to give. Today’s legends are Heather Woods Sanders & Brien Sanders.
You may know Heather Sanders as the Head Coach of New Braunfels Canyon HS volleyball. Coach Sanders notched her 700th career coaching win last year, leading her New Braunfels Canyon Cougarettes to the state title game. By the time her career is done, Coach Sanders will most likely be in the Top 10 in Texas for all-time victories. Heck, maybe she’ll even be #1.
You may know Brien Sanders as the TIAA All-Conference offensive lineman on the 1988 & 1990 Roo football teams. The 1988 team was a conference champion; both teams secured NAIA playoff spots. Both Heather & Brien are stories in the book “Rivals & Legends.”
A 2019 Canyon playoff run ran through my own family’s high school: Austin Bowie, led by the daughter of a friend and work colleague. I used that playoff bout as an opportunity to write about Austin College, volleyball, and the career of Coach Sanders. That story is in the Legends section of “Rivals & Legends.”
NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg took over the moribund SMU football program in 1989 after its famous, two-year NCAA “death penalty.” Gregg was soliciting walk-ons to revive the program; he caught the interest of Brien Sanders, who briefly transferred in 1989. I used the passing of Forrest Gregg in 2019 to tell the story of AC football competition against rival SMU and Gregg’s return to his alma mater. That story is in the Rivals section of “Rivals & Legends.”
Comment on this post and give to the AC Crimson & Gold Challenge to have a chance at winning a signed, early copy of “Rivals & Legends.” You can then read both stories: the SMU story featuring Brien Sanders and the Legends story featuring Heather Sanders. Then come join me as we take in a future volleyball game with the Sanders family as New Braunfels Canyon begins yet another march towards the state tournament.
