So I wrote this AC book you see. It took me about FIVE years. And I’ve discovered that I really enjoy just giving them away. When Austin College announced a FIVE day “Crimson & Gold” challenge to benefit Austin College athletics, I said “how ‘bout I give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE donors selected randomly by AC Athletics?” They gave me a high FIVE with that idea. The challenge starts today.
Well, if I’m going to give away FIVE books, I might as well tell FIVE stories from FIVE parts of the book. As Paul Harvey used to say, there’s always the “rest of the story.” These stories are FIVE developments after the fact. FIVE Chapters not yet written. FIVE Spinoffs. Think of these stories as shows like “Mork & Mindy” after Robin Williams hangs out with Austin College honorary graduate Henry Winkler on “Happy Days.”
Monday: Spinoff #1 – Austin College: Father of the Fumblerooski
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
The Fumblerooski is a deceptive misdirection football play where the ball is intentionally fumbled for an offensive lineman to scoop up and rumble in for the score. I was just a kid in 1984, when Nebraska famously used the play in one of the most exciting games ever. Turns out, that play was born at Austin College.
Nebraska had used the play five years earlier, leading former Coach and TV commentator Frank Broyles to shout: “I haven’t seen that play since Henry Frnka used to run it!” Frnka was a coach at Vanderbilt and Tulane during the playing days of Broyles. Frnka was also an Austin College Kangaroo.
Frnka used the play as Head Coach at Greenville, TX in 1932, which helped the Lions win a state championship. Frnka claims that the play was used frequently during his playing days at AC in the 1920s, and there is much evidence to support its birth at Austin College.
But now, the “rest of the story:”
John Cotton and I are colleagues at the University of Texas System. Last week, we were both in the office:John: “Just finished the Fumblerooski story.”Marc: “What did you think?”John: “Loved it. Of COURSE that play was invented at AC. That’s why it is called the fumbleROOski.”
How embarrassing. I wrote the doggone story, and never once saw the word ROO in the name on the play. For me, it was always the crazy name given to the Nebraska play from my youth. Could it really be that the name itself was born on the playing fields of AC?
I have doubts. There’s no documented evidence of the use of that name before the 1970s that I can find. But I’m still digging. And it’s fun to consider the possibility. And it’s a great story.
Give to the Crimson & Gold Challenge this week, and I might be sending you a free copy of “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.” Which includes this story about AC, the school which invented the fumblerooski and…………..maybe, just maybe………….also named it.
See the comments for more information about the Crimson & Gold Challenge. The Challenge wraps up on Friday around FIVE o’clock or so. Well, FIVE o’clock somewhere.
So I wrote this AC book you see. It took me about FIVE years. And I’ve discovered that I really enjoy just giving them away. When Austin College announced a FIVE day “Crimson & Gold” challenge to benefit Austin College athletics, I said “how ‘bout I give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE donors selected randomly by AC Athletics?” They gave me a high FIVE with that idea. The challenge starts today.
Well, if I’ve going to give away FIVE books, I might as well tell FIVE stories from FIVE parts of the book. As Paul Harvey used to say, there’s always the “rest of the story.” These stories are FIVE developments after the fact. FIVE Chapters not yet written. FIVE Spinoffs. Think of these stories as shows like “Mork & Mindy” after Robin Williams hangs out with Austin College honorary graduate Henry Winkler on “Happy Days.”
Monday: Spinoff #1 – Austin College: Father of the Fumblerooski
Tuesday: Spinoff #2 – Austin College: 1981 National Champions
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
The story of the 1981 AC National Champion football team is the shortest one in the book. There’s a reason for that. It’s the shortest story because it was the first story. It was the first story because it’s the best story. All those which came later were built on the shoulders of the 1981 Roos. The story of 1981 was a lot of fun when written back in 2016. But the 1981 team deserves more.
And now, the “rest of the story:”
You know what I love about the movie “Hoosiers?” It’s a celebration of Indiana basketball. Yes, it is a shout out to the 1954 state championship of tiny Milan High School too. But the movie is only loosely “based on a true story.” The movie is really about the celebration of the state sport of Indiana.
Texas has its own state sport of football, and there are many films with Texas football front and center. But in reality, most of these films are either gritty dramas or comedies. Some come close, but there are few feel-good “Rudy-like” Hollywood movies about Texas football.
But what if there were such a movie? You know, a film about a small Texas college football team that struggled on the gridiron, until a fiery coach from Nebraska changed the culture? A squad composed of players with varied backgrounds and different futures, yet who gelled around a common hatred of losing? What if this academically oriented institution suddenly began to dominate on the field, earning a conference title, advancing in the playoffs, and reaching the national championship game? What if that championship game came down to a last second kick, a kick that had to travel a mile and (gasp) hit the crossbar and bounced over for a national title?
Well, you’d say, only in Hollywood. Except no. “Hoosiers” is “based on a true story.” Bobby Plump did sink a jump shot at the buzzer in 1954 to give tiny Milan High a state title. And the same Hollywood ending happened in Sherman too, when the 1981 team earned that national championship. Yes, I think the story of 1981 would make a great movie.
So that’s an idea I’ve been considering: writing a screenplay based on the true story of the 1981 Kangaroos. The names might be changed; like “Hoosiers,” it would be as much a celebration of Texas football as it would be a story of Austin College. I have zero experience writing a screenplay, but I believe that just because you may stink at something is no reason not to give it the ol’ college try.
And maybe with some collaboration, we could get that screenplay good enough to elicit the interest of Tinseltown. Once you hike the ball and hand it off, the big boys in entertainment sometimes take the ball and run with it. What would be my asking price if a Hollywood studio offered to purchase such a screenplay? Easy. A small percentage of future revenue, and cameos for everyone on the 1981 team. Crazy idea, huh? I don’t think so. And if you are wondering, no……I’m not gonna name it “Roosiers.”
Give to the Crimson & Gold Challenge this week, and I might be sending you a free copy of “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.” Which includes this story about the members of the 1981 national championship team. And if I had my way, every single one of them would be Hollywood stars.
See the comments for more information about the Crimson & Gold Challenge. The Challenge wraps up on Friday around FIVE o’clock or so. Well, FIVE o’clock somewhere.
So I wrote this AC book you see. It took me about FIVE years. And I’ve discovered that I really enjoy just giving them away. When Austin College announced a FIVE day “Crimson & Gold” challenge to benefit Austin College athletics, I said “how ‘bout I give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE donors selected randomly by AC Athletics?” They gave me a high FIVE with that idea. The challenge starts today.
Well, if I’ve going to give away FIVE books, I might as well tell FIVE stories from FIVE parts of the book. As Paul Harvey used to say, there’s always the “rest of the story.” These stories are FIVE developments after the fact. FIVE Chapters not yet written. FIVE Spinoffs. Think of these stories as shows like “Mork & Mindy” after Robin Williams hangs out with Austin College honorary graduate Henry Winkler on “Happy Days.”
Monday: Spinoff #1 – Austin College: Father of the Fumblerooski
Tuesday: Spinoff #2 – Austin College: 1981 National Champions
Wednesday: Spinoff #3 – The Most Perfect Game Ever Pitched
Thursday:
Friday:
A perfect game in baseball occurs when a pitcher does not allow a single hit, walk, or error over 9 innings. You are more likely to get struck by lightning than to witness one. There have only been 21 perfect games over the past ~500,000 major league baseball games since 1900. Amazingly, 1 of the 21 perfect games was thrown by Charlie Robertson. An Austin College Kangaroo. You can read about Robertson and that 1922 perfect game in the book “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.”
Robertson’s effort is not well publicized. It took place in the 1920s, before television. Robertson was a journeyman pitcher, not an All-Star. He threw his perfecto on the road in Detroit. And because of unjust treatment by White Sox owner Charles Comiskey (alongside his more famous 1919 Black Sox teammates), Robertson turned his back on baseball for good when he retired.
After 34 years, Don Larsen finally threw the next perfect game in 1956. Larsen did it on the grandest stage. He was a New York Yankee, and threw his perfecto during the World Series. It was captured on television; Yogi Berra’s leap into Larsen’s arms is iconic. After Larsen’s effort became a national story, reporters began a frantic search for Robertson to get his thoughts. They finally found him near Fort Worth, working as a pecan farmer/salesman. Robertson still resented his treatment by baseball. “That was a long time ago. Just forget about my game.”
And now, the “rest of the story:”
Sorry Charlie, I can’t forget. And here’s why.
Of the 21 perfect games, Robertson is by far the most amazing. He was a rookie, starting for only the third time. The game was on the road in front of a hostile crowd. It took place up north in April, a month of cold weather. Robertson kept very few balls from leaving the infield and threw fewer pitches than the others. And the most incredible stat of all. The 1922 Detroit Tigers, the team against whom Robertson threw his perfect game, was the best hitting team in the history of baseball. John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, called Robertson’s the “most perfect game ever pitched.”
Robertson’s effort needs more national publicity. And lucky enough for us, an anniversary is approaching soon. The 100th anniversary of his April 30, 1922 perfect game. I’m thinking about making a big deal about that anniversary.
I am going to strip out the Robertson story from the Roo Tales book and turn it into a book of its own. I’m going to promote the book to major league baseball, the White Sox, the Tigers, cable sports outlets, and online sports sites. I’m going to encourage them to write about Robertson’s accomplishments as the anniversary approaches. Shoot, I may even fly up to Detroit if I can get the interest of local media. Tiger Field is now a city ballpark and I feel like throwing out a pitch in front of a camera on the 100th anniversary to honor Kangaroo Charlie Robertson. I mean that stuff is what life is all about right?
Give to the Crimson & Gold Challenge this week, and I might be sending you a free copy of “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.” Which includes this story about Charlie Robertson and the “most perfect game ever pitched.” And shoot, come on up with me to Detroit on April 30, 2022. We’ll make it a Roo party.
See the comments for more information about the Crimson & Gold Challenge. The Challenge wraps up on Friday around FIVE o’clock or so. Well, FIVE o’clock somewhere.
So I wrote this AC book you see. It took me about FIVE years. And I’ve discovered that I really enjoy just giving them away. When Austin College announced a FIVE day “Crimson & Gold” challenge to benefit Austin College athletics, I said “how ‘bout I give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE donors selected randomly by AC Athletics?” They gave me a high FIVE with that idea. The challenge starts today.
Well, if I’ve going to give away FIVE books, I might as well tell FIVE stories from FIVE parts of the book. As Paul Harvey used to say, there’s always the “rest of the story.” These stories are FIVE developments after the fact. FIVE Chapters not yet written. FIVE Spinoffs. Think of these stories as shows like “Mork & Mindy” after Robin Williams hangs out with Austin College honorary graduate Henry Winkler on “Happy Days.”
Monday: Spinoff #1 – Austin College: Father of the Fumblerooski
Tuesday: Spinoff #2 – Austin College: 1981 National Champions
Wednesday: Spinoff #3 – The Most Perfect Game Ever Pitched
Thursday: Spinoff #4 – The Birthplace of Texas College Baseball
Friday:
1893. That’s the first year Austin College played a football game. The game took place on Thanksgiving Day, the same day that the University of Texas played their own first game. Every other college in Texas had yet to field a team. “The Birthplace of Texas College Football” argues that the Austin College game kicked off just before the Longhorn game, and that dear ol’ AC is the birthplace of this most Texan sport at the collegiate level.
That claim is debatable. The 1893 AC game was unofficial; full school sanction would not come until 1896. Longhorn football traces its roots to some local contests well before 1893. Finally, which team kicked off first on Thanksgiving Day 1893 depends upon the disputed definition of one word in a newspaper. Still, the argument itself instills a lot of Roo pride and is a fun read. Even if the Texas Longhorns are arguably the true birth of college football in Texas. There is debate about football.
And now, the “rest of the story:”
But not baseball. There’s no doubt. Little AC is absolutely the birthplace of college baseball in Texas.
Baseball was a Yankee game, born amorphously in the early 1800s throughout New England & the Mid-Atlantic. Its invention by Abner Doubleday in 1843 is a myth, but baseball’s evolution near Doubleday’s New Jersey during that decade is not. The Elysian Fields in Hoboken is frequently cited as the location of organized baseball’s first game in 1845.
The game of baseball was unknown in the South, especially so as tensions exploded into war. Southerners learned of baseball during the Civil War, as they watched Union soldiers play the sport during interludes between the fighting. After the war, Confederates from the Deep South rejected the game completely. Sympathizers near the Southern periphery (Northern VA, Louisville KY, St. Louis MO, Grayson County TX) did not.
Grayson County, TX before the Civil War was settled by immigrants from the periphery. Their attitudes towards the Confederacy were dramatically less supportive than their neighbors elsewhere in Texas. As a result, Grayson was one of very few counties in Texas to vote against secession. Because of the lack of hostility towards the Union, baseball also found fertile ground in Sherman.
Confederate veteran Charles Batsell returned to his Sherman home after the war with an enthusiastic love of this Northern game of baseball. He encouraged the formation of a minor league team in Sherman. When an early version of the Texas League was formed in the 1890s, it was composed of teams from Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Galveston, and…..Sherman. Batsell also donated land for an athletic park; “Batsell’s Park” hosted that first Austin College football game in 1893.
But AC baseball roots go back even further than 1893. The Dallas Morning News reports an AC baseball team as early as 1890. Confederate veteran and Virginia Military Institute graduate J.C. Edmonds, who founded baseball at VMI as a student in the late 1860s, established the program at Austin College in the 1880s. There may even be references to Austin College students playing the game in Sherman in the 1870s soon after the move from Huntsville. More digging is needed.
But what is clear is that no other college in the state of Texas had any significant interest in the sport until nearly the 20thcentury. For decades in the 19thcentury, AC baseball was playing anyone they could find: minor league teams, city teams, club teams, scrimmages against each other, whoever wanted to play. But no other Texas colleges took them up on it. Those other Texas schools simply didn’t have the interest. We don’t know exactly when AC baseball came into being. But we do know the school that is the birthplace of Texas college baseball. Your Kangaroos.
Give to the Crimson & Gold Challenge this week, and I might be sending you a free copy of “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.” Which includes this story about Austin College as the birthplace of Texas College Football. Is that accurate? Arguably. But there’s no doubt about AC baseball, which this decade might be celebrating its 150th year of play on campus. Take a seat Longhorns.
See the comments for more information about the Crimson & Gold Challenge. The Challenge wraps up on Friday around FIVE o’clock or so. Well, FIVE o’clock somewhere.
So I wrote this AC book you see. It took me about FIVE years. And I’ve discovered that I really enjoy just giving them away. When Austin College announced a FIVE day “Crimson & Gold” challenge to benefit Austin College athletics, I said “how ‘bout I give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE donors selected randomly by AC Athletics?” They gave me a high FIVE with that idea. The challenge starts today.
Well, if I’ve going to give away FIVE books, I might as well tell FIVE stories from FIVE parts of the book. As Paul Harvey used to say, there’s always the “rest of the story.” These stories are FIVE developments after the fact. FIVE Chapters not yet written. FIVE Spinoffs. Think of these stories as shows like “Mork & Mindy” after Robin Williams hangs out with Austin College honorary graduate Henry Winkler on “Happy Days.”
Monday: Spinoff #1 – Austin College: Father of the Fumblerooski
Tuesday: Spinoff #2 – Austin College: 1981 National Champions
Wednesday: Spinoff #3 – The Most Perfect Game Ever Pitched
Thursday: Spinoff #4 – The Birthplace of Texas College Baseball
Friday: Spinoff #5 – Thank you Austin College Athletics
There’s a story in the Roo Tales book about tennis half a century ago. “Little School, Big Tennis at A.C.’s Biggest Rival” tells the story of Trinity Tennis before, during, and after the 1970s. Trinity is an AC tennis rival today, just as they were 100 years ago. But 50 years ago? Different story. Trinity defeated Stanford in 1972 to win the NCAA Division 1 title. Stanford’s John McEnroe won an NCAA individual championship in 1978 with just one loss on the season; that loss was at Trinity. I grew up in College Station, watching the Aggies try to defeat the Tigers on the tennis court. Texas A&M usually came up short.
Tennis just happened to be my whole life during that era of Trinity domination. I’ve got lots of stories, from USTA state rankings in High School to TIAA Conference tennis at Austin College. I even played a fella in high school who later won an NCAA Division 1 singles title for Stanford in 1992. By that year, Trinity’s D1 tennis glory days were behind it; Stanford’s Alex O’Brien did not have to go through Trinity to win his title in ‘92. And in case you are wondering about my match against O’Brien, uhhhhhh, yes…..he won. Haha.
And then, I was done. Burned out. If I was going to do something athletic after college, it wasn’t gonna be tennis. Softball? Sure. Soccer? Ok. Pickup basketball? Anytime. Marathon? Yessir. Tennis? No thank you. Been there, done that.
And now, the “rest of the story:”
I started writing these Roo sports stories around 2015. That led to a greater interest in AC sports in general. And THAT led to more interest in AC tennis specifically. Turns out, AC tennis is pretty doggone good!
And from there, well, it just spiraled. An AC alumni tennis weekend eventually led to joining an Austin Team Tennis League, an Austin doubles ladder, and the occasional ATX tournament. I had discovered a renewed “love of the game,” thanks in part to all of the Roo writing. I’ll be the first to admit that age as played a role as well; while some sports are no longer an option, tennis is one for a lifetime. Still, I have Roos to thank for my own personal athletic rebirth. Tennis is fun again.
So I guess you’d say I owe AC Sports. Well, I should repay them for that gift. Think I’ll make a Crimson & Gold contribution today to AC tennis.
Give to the Crimson & Gold Challenge this week, and I might be sending you a free copy of “Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.” Which includes this story about tennis at A.C.’s biggest rival during the days of my youth. And as for my tennis days today as an old guy? Give me a holler, and we’ll hit the court for a match, a lesson, or both.
See the comments for more information about the Crimson & Gold Challenge. The Challenge wraps up on Friday around FIVE o’clock or so. Well, FIVE o’clock somewhere.
