My Five from Texas

Perhaps in the spirit of July 4, the people at Sports Illustrated recently printed an article in which they listed the top five athletes from each of the 50 states. I had neither the time nor the inclination to go through the whole thing, so I checked to see what these young journalists had come up with for Texas. They displayed a woeful lack of historical awareness in choosing Simone Biles (gymnastics), Patrick Mahomes (football), Sheryl Swoopes (basketball), Shaquille O’Neal (basketball) and Clayton Kershaw (baseball). It is not my wish to denigrate Biles, Mahomes, Swoopes, Shaq-de-Shaq or Kershaw, but I have a completely different, and dare I say better, list.

Rogers Hornsby (1896–1963). A native of Winters, “the Rajah” played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Browns) and managed each of those clubs along with the Cincinnati Reds. Widely regarded as the best second baseman of all time, he was the National League’s MVP twice, won one World Series (1926), had a career batting average of .358 (second only to Ty Cobb), won two Triple Crowns, is the only player to bat .400 and hit 40 home runs in one season (1922) and had 33 inside-the-park home runs and 169 triples. A very irascible man, Hornsby is the author of this legendary quote: “People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

Babe Didrikson (1911–1956). I have already written about this flamboyant, multi-talented woman (https://richardpennington.com/…/the-one-and-only-babe…/), but I will gladly summarize her life again. Poor but proud, she dropped out of Beaumont High School and became the star of a women’s basketball team in Dallas that reached the AAU championship game thrice and won it once. Deftly switching sports, she took part in all 10 events in the 1932 AAU track & field meet in Evanston, Illinois; Didrikson won five. That year’s Summer Olympics took place in Los Angeles, and she made her mark by winning gold in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin and silver in the high jump. Back in Texas, she dabbled in swimming, bowling, tennis, baseball and her original sport—basketball. The lady had to make a living, so she focused on golf. She won more than 80 amateur and pro tournaments, ten of which were then considered majors. Jackie Joyner-Kersee knew of the Babe’s greatness. “She was able to show that if she wanted to be a superstar in basketball, she could,” JJK said. “If she wanted to be a superstar in golf, she was. If she wanted to be a superstar in track & field, it didn’t matter.”

Doak Walker (1927–1998). Like me, he was born and raised in Dallas. A five-sport star at Highland Park High School, Walker signed with SMU—the hometown college. Four times all-Southwest Conference and a consensus all-America running back in 1947, 1948 (when he won the Heisman Trophy) and 1949, he was noted not just for his obvious athletic skills but his good sportsmanship on and off the field. Walker was the prototype of the handsome post-war college football hero. My father kept a weathered drawing of Walker from his days as a Mustang, and I swear he is shown with what looks like a halo surrounding his head! Despite his size (just 5’11” and 173 pounds), he was taken by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 1950 NFL draft. Reuniting with his high school friend Bobby Layne, the Lions won the league championship in 1952 and 1953. He did everything for Detroit that he had done for SMU—running, receiving, passing, returning kicks, kicking and punting; he played defense when needed. Four times all-pro and twice the NFL scoring leader, Walker retired after just six seasons. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, although some people thought he got in mostly as a result of his collegiate accolades. He died in 1998 as the result of a snow-skiing accident.

Nolan Ryan (1947– ). It is not true that he is best known for administering a knuckle shampoo to Robin Ventura when the latter foolishly charged him during a game in 1993. But there was never any doubt that Ryan was Texas tough. He came from Alvin, just south of Houston, and had a hellacious fastball even as a Little Leaguer. Pitching for the New York Mets (with whom he won his only World Series, in 1969), California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, his career spanned 27 seasons. MLB leader in strikeouts with 5,714, he nonetheless gave up a lot of walks. As you probably know, Ryan threw seven no-hitters—three more than any other pitcher—and is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters (12). It’s an honor for a guy to have his number retired, and three of the franchises for which he played (Angels, Astros and Rangers) did so for him. How long was Ryan in the big leagues? He bestrode the mound during the administrations of Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Vince Young (1983– ). In three seasons at Madison High School in Houston, he compiled nearly 13,000 yards of total offense; Parade magazine named Young its 2001 national player of the year. I am ever so thankful that Mack Brown was able to convince him to pursue higher education at the University of Texas. As a redshirt freshman in 2003, he took over the quarterback position against Oklahoma (an otherwise disastrous 65-13 loss) and was thenceforth the team’s leader. Since I have already written rapturously about Young (https://richardpennington.com/…/he-seemed-in-vince…/), I will not repeat myself. The Texas offense for 2 1/2 seasons was built around this splendid 6’5″, 230-pound QB. He came in second in Heisman Trophy voting in 2005 and petulantly sulked about it. I did not like that or how he frittered away his NFL career (six mostly desultory seasons with the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles). But with the Longhorns, he was something else—truly an athlete in full. Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams did win the Heisman, and thus the field at Memorial Stadium is named after them. Great as they were, however, they could not match Young. He was the most transcendent player in UT football history, and that’s a fact.

(Other than Biles, Mahomes, Swoopes, O’Neal and Kershaw, honorable mentions go to Campbell and Williams, along with Carl Lewis [track & field], Abner Haynes [football], Eddie Southern [track & field], Tim Brown [football], George Foreman [boxing], Robert Griffin III [football], Jerry LeVias [football], Michael Johnson [track & field], Clarissa Davis [basketball], Jack Johnson [boxing], Hakeem Olajuwon [basketball], Sammy Baugh [football], Lance Armstrong [cycling], Tommy Nobis [football], Roger Clemens [baseball], Drew Brees [football] and LaDainian Tomlinson [football].)

Hornsby in 1925, as the Cards’ player-manager…

Babe Didrikson, a woman ahead of her time…

Statue of Walker on the SMU campus…

Ryan with the Mets…

Young beats USC to win the 2005 natty…