On to Vegas but Texas memories loom large
With all the travel to from Fort Worth to Las Vegas, I had a short Sunday stay at home and didn’t have time to elaborate on my impressions of Texas football.
Evan McKay, father of McKay Jacobson, was kind enough to meet me in Carroll, Texas and take me on a tour of Carroll High’s football facilities. It was impressive to say the least.
McKay played every year of his high school days for Carroll’s varsity and lost just one game, the others were 16-0 seasons. The Dragon Stadium where McKay played is a stadium that sits about 20,000 complete with press box. The stadium is located a few miles from the high school on a football complex site with a huge parking lot. Just two well-hit drivers away is another stadium, this one belongs to Grapevine High and is shared by another school. Both have artificial turf.
At the high school, which has only 11th and 12 graders, is the practice field right next to an indoor practice facility. Nearby is the athletic fieldhouse complete with a training room, weight room and locker room. Inside the locker room, the floor is carpeted and the walls painted with a design – all done by McKay four years ago for his Eagle Scout project, fulfilling the requirement for community service.
McKay ran a 10.5 hundred meters and on a wall outside the training room is Carroll’s school record holder, I think his time was 10.44.
Snow, Dixie State College and about every junior college in Region 18 I can think of would love to have facilities like I saw at Carroll, it was impressive. Carroll games routinely are seen on TV and the championship game McKay’s senior year against Katy was on ESPN.
One statement photo on the a wall crammed with action photos is a picture of Caroll Southlake’s team captains walking side by side on the field for the coin toss prior to the title game (2005) with Katy.
To give one an idea of how much talent was on that team, the captains were as follows: Mike Prince, OT, who is at Missouri; Pat Benoit, LB, at Vanderbilt; Jacobson who signed with BYU but is on Japan on a mission; Greg McElroy, QB, Alabama, and Mike Boydston, DE, Texas Tech.
Outside the fieldhouse, the school parking lot has assigned slots for students who pay for the rights to park there during the school year, part of a fundraiser. Students end up painting their spot with some creative messages.
I dunno. I was very impressed. Jacobson drove me around Carroll, showed me a neighborhood where some Dallas Cowboy players live. We drove into the driveway of legendary sportscaster Pat Summerall.
Back to the school. The entire football locker room facility was drenched in tradition with tons of framed prints of players and covers of game programs featuring stars. There was one wall full of giant billboards with looked like black Plexiglass with white print. These boards were filled with inspirational quotes from famous people, lines to inspire. Very well done.
One particular board that was about 40 inches tall, had the following positive thoughts for players to ponder:
It was entitled: A Winner’s Life is Always Half Full
“Never measure your self-worth against other people’s net worth” – Bryd Braggett
“Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world,” Anne Frank
“Here is the test to determine whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus
“The people who get on this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” — George Bernard Shaw
I was just very impressed with the effort and passion put into football in this state. And boosters and the state put their money where their hearts are.
Now, on to Vegas…