The History of Texas High School Basketball Volume II 1975-1979 By
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The History of Texas High School Basketball Volume II 1975-1979 By Mark McKee Dedicated to my sister, Sandy Herring “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Contents AAAA 1975 7 AAAA 1976 42 AAAA 1977 76 AAAA 1978 117 AAAA 1979 149 The Best of Decade, Class AAAA 193 AAA 1975 222 AAA 1976 229 AAA 1977 237 AAA 1978 243 AAA 1979 247 The Best of Decade, Class AAA 255 AA 256 The Best of Decade, Class AA 275 A 278 B 283 Check out the website for more books- txhighschoolbasketball.com 1975 AAAA Kashmere, out of Houston, grabbed all the headlines entering the ‘75 season. It was as if nobody else had a chance. The Rams were returning several key players from their state championship team. Two of the top players in the state were back in 6’5” Jarvis Williams and 6’4” Karl Godine. The scary thing about this team is even without Williams and Godine, Kashmere would have been one of the top teams in the state. To follow the 1975 season was to follow Kashmere. The numbers they put up were staggering and soon became one of the top teams in the entire country. Many knowledge followers of the game were making strong comparisons to the great Wheatley teams of the past. Would Kashmere lose any games? Would they repeat as state champions? Was it all hype or were they really as strong as advertised? These were the questions that the ‘75 season would answer in exciting fashion. I was living in Houston at the time and the Rams were always in the newspaper. This was one of the high points for high school basketball during the 1970s. The Arlington Classic in early December on the campus of U.T. Arlington set the stage for Kashmere’s first real test of the season. Ft. Worth Dunbar(19-12), W.T. White(18-11) out Dallas, Houston Worthing, Dallas Roosevelt, Dallas S.O.C., Houston Wheatley, Denton, and Ft. Worth Paschal would present a challenging field. Kashmere opened against a strong Arlington(27-10) team that would win their District. The Rams totally demolished the Colts 104-59. Ft. Worth Dunbar was next up and lost by twenty 102-82. In the semis, W.T. White played Kashmere close losing only 73-63. For the Longhorns, Walter and Alex Lewis led the charge and would be named all-tournament. In the other bracket, Dallas Roosevelt beat a tough Houston Worthing team and Albert Jones 90-81. The Golden Bears of S.O.C. destroyed Denton 102-49. Houston Wheatley advanced and played Ft. Worth Paschal, who had received a first-round bye. The Wildcats dropped Paschal 78-75 to advance to the semis against S.O.C. Coach Gales team had beaten rival Roosevelt 86-73 in the 2nd round. The semi-final game between Houston Wheatley and Dallas S.O.C. was much anticipated, and the outcome got everybody’s attention, not by who won but rather the score. The Golden Bears beat the Wildcats 116-80, in what was being called the worst defeat for Jackie Carr’s team in many years. Dallas W.T. White surprised Wheatley in the 3rd place game 89-75 and Houston Worthing beat Arlington Sam Houston in the consolation finals 80-76. Worthing’s star player was the top junior in the state, 6’7” Albert Jones. The championship game, which was a rematch of the state championship game of a year ago, Kashmere strength and experience showed as they took down S.O.C. 105-98. Karl Godine and Carl Belcher were named all-tournament along with Wayman Lister of S.O.C., Jones of Worthing, Stanley Carr of Wheatley, 6’10” Allen Windor of Arlington High, sophomore Michael Watley of Dunbar and Ronnie Newton of Arlington Sam Houston. Ft. Worth Dunbar had a very young team and would be the team of the future under the leadership of Coach Robert Hughes. In the Jaycee Tournament in Houston, Houston Kashmere defeated Houston Yates for the second year in a row 87-80 to capture the tournament title. In 2nd round, Kashmere thrashed Galveston Ball 95-54, with Karl Godine showing the way. His 27 points came from a wide assortment of shots. Houston Lee won their two first round games 53-50 against Houston Williams and 54-46 against Houston Waltrip. Waltrip had previously beaten Houston Lee prior to the tournament. James Harris of Houston Lamar set a single-game Jaycee scoring record with 49 points in last year’s tournament. Harris filled it up once again with 33 points against Hancock, Mississippi in a 114-70 route in the consolation bracket. Houston Furr also advanced to the quarterfinals with two wins over Houston Sam Houston 65-49 and Houston Westbury 97-65. Houston Washington knocked off Houston Worthing in the first round 69-68, but lost in the 2nd round 72-61 to Houston St. Thomas. Houston Reagan eliminated Houston Milby 59-58 in overtime, while Deer Park beat Houston Wheatley’s junior varsity 87-60. Wheatley’s varsity was in Israel playing a holiday tournament overseas. John Falling scored 25 points for Deer Park and Frank Dishongh added 18 in Deer Park’s 64-60 win over Houston Lamar, in first round action. James Harris of Lamar was held to only 15 points in the loss against Deer Park. Houston Yates defeated Houston Madison 85-83 in overtime and Houston Jones 78-69 in their 2nd round match-up. James Anderson and Ricky Edwards led Yates in scoring against Houston Madison with 15 points each and Clarence Hill was top dog for the Lions against Houston Jones. Yates had a fine 14-3 record, as they entered the quarterfinals. Houston Lincoln advanced beating Houston Davis 101-88 in a great game and dropped Houston Sterling 73-68 in a 2nd round game. The Panthers of Lincoln improved their record to 15-3. For Lincoln, Edison Smith led the charge with 26 points against Houston Davis, and Fred Brown poured in 24 points for Houston Lincoln against Houston Sterling. In quarterfinal and semi-final match-ups, Kashmere eliminated Houston Lee 87-50 and Houston St. Thomas 87-58. 6’5” Jarvis Williams showed his all-state credentials against St. Thomas, hitting 22 points with a dozen rebounds. Carl Byrd of Kashmere ripped the net for 19 points from the corner, and Godine was limited to just 14 points because of early foul trouble. Against Houston Lee, Byrd had 16, Godine 15 and Williams and Henry Small finished with 12 each. St. Thomas had beaten Houston Furr 77-58 to advance to the semis. Gerald Jozwiak had 23 points for St. Thomas and Pete Kesser hit 22 points. Against Kashmere, Kesser had 19 points and Jozwiak had 15. The Houston Yates-Deer Park semi-final game was a rematch of the San Jacinto tourney finals in which Yates won 94-90 in overtime. In that contest, Deer Park’s John Failing scored 45 points and had 30 rebounds. How is that possible in a 32 minute high school game? John was definitely a baller. In the rematch, Failing was double and triple teamed and was limited to only 15 points, as Yates came away with a 73-62 victory. Seven of Failing points came from the foul line. With the loss, Deer Park’s record stood at 18-3. For the Lions of Houston Yates, they improved their record to 16-3, Clarence Hill came off the bench and ignited his team against Deer Park with 16 points, while James Anderson and Johnny Donahue each hit 12 points. Travis O’Banion led Deer Park with 17 points. In the quarterfinals, Yates proved too much for Houston Lincoln 92- 89. James Anderson led the Lions with 24 points and Edwards finished with 20. For Houston Lincoln, Jerrell Miller was high man with 28 points and Edison Smith had 22. Deer Park beat Houston Reagan 67-52 in the other quarterfinal game. In the championship game, Karl Godine was spectacular, scoring 34 points and coming away with a dozen rebounds, as Kashmere defeated Houston Yates 87- 80. A crowd of 4,000 watched the Rams improve their record to 24-0. Kashmere led at halftime 52-49. Madison Lane followed Godine in scoring with 21 points, while Carl Byrd had 11. Jarvis Williams scored only six points but pulled down 16 rebounds. For the Red and Gold, Clarence Hill led the way with 17 points, Edwards added 17 and James Anderson finished with 15. Yates and Kashmere had met previously in the semi-finals of the “Super 16” tournament in Huntsville, with the Rams topping the Lions 110-87. Deer Park won the third-place game defeating Houston St. Thomas 71-62. Once again John Failing proved to be unstoppable scoring 28 points, with 12 coming in the final quarter. Gerald Jozwiak added 22 points for St. Thomas. Forest Brook took consolation bracket defeating Houston Lamar 76-68. Forest Brook finished the tournament with a nice 18-3 record. Forest Brook had four players finish in double figures in their win over Lamar. Barry Ross had 21 points, Michael Walters finished with 14, Calvert Shelley had 13 and Zachary West had 11. James Harris had 30 points for Lamar and was the top scorer in the tournament with 131 points. All-tournament members were, Karl Godine, Jarvis Williams, Carl Byrd of Kashmere, Pete Kesser of St.