Texas high school track champions, 1905-2012 Updated, April 22, 2012 by Dr. William (Billy) Wilbanks Self-Published by Dr. Wilbanks on Computer Disc in 2005 & 2006 Placed on Internet website in May

TEXANS HAVE DOMINATED SEVERAL EVENTS Not updated after 2006
Texas and California are the dominant states in high school track and field in the U.S. One measure of this dominance is evident from the 2006 National High School Sports Record Book published by the National Federation of State High School Associations. In 2005 Texas and California combined held 13 of 19 (68%) boys national records and 14 of 19 (74%) girls national records. Texas boys held 7 national records to 6 for CA boys (with 6 being held by other states) while CA girls held 10 national records compared to 4 for Texas girls (with 5 being held by other states). Events dominated by Texas include:
Boys: (not updated after 2006)

100-meter dash

Texans Roy Martin (1985-1990) and Henry Neal (1990-2005) have held the national high school record for the past 21 years and 9 of the top 10 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

200-meter dash

Texan Roy Martin has held the national high school record for the past 21 years and 9 of the top 11 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

400-meter dash

Texans Anthony Ketchum (1981-1984), Roddie Haley (1984-1991) and Deon Minor (1991-1993) held the national high school record for 13 of the past 25 years and 5 of the top 10 all-time best marks are held by Texans. Four Texas state champs (Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson, Derrick Brew & Kelly Willie) were members of the relay “pool” that won the gold medal in the 1600 meter relay for the USA at the 2004 Olympics.

110-meter high hurdles

Texan Dennis Brantley has held the national high school record for the past 26 years (1980-2006) and 7 of the top 10 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

300-meter hurdles

Eight of the top 10 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

Pole Vault

Texan Eric Eshbach has held the national high school record since 1999 and 6 of the top 10 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

Shot Put

Texan Michael Carter has held the national high school record for 27 years and the 2^nd best all-time mark is 2 & ½ feet under Carter’s 77 ft. Texans have held the national record for 45 of the past 63 years with DeWitt Coulter (1943-1946); Darrow Hooper (1948-1952); Sam Walker (1968-1979); and Carter (1979-2006). During the 63 year period only six Texans have held the state shot put record with 4 of the 6 holding the national record (Richard Inman--1960-1962--and Randy Matson--1962-1968-- are the two other state record holders during that time. Five of the top 7 all-time best marks are held by Texans.

400-meter relay

Ft Worth Wyatt has held the national high school record since 1998 and four Texas Teams have held the national record since 1985 (Dallas Roosevelt, 1985-1988; Austin Reagan, 1988-1991; and Wyatt, 1998-2006). All of the top ten all-time best national marks are held by Texas teams. In 2004 the five best marks in the U.S. were held by Texas teams.

800-meter relay

Houston Eisenhower (2006), Port Arthur Memorial (2003-2005) and Houston Forest Brook (2001-2003) have held the national high school record since 2001 and 4 of the 5 all-time best marks are held by Texas teams.

1600-meter relay

Seven of the top 10 all-time best national marks are held by Texans. Ten TX teams held the national record in the mile/1600-meter relay from 1960-1978.

Girls: (not updated after 2006)

High Jump

Amy Acuff has held the national high school record since 1992 and 5 of the top 10 all-time national marks are held by Texans. In 2004 5 of the top ten national marks were by Texans.

Triple Jump

Ychlindria Spears has held the national record since 2001 and 7 other Texans (Kathy Jones, 1972-1973; Retha Swindell, 1973-1975; Sheila Pettit, 1975-1977; Jackie Mays, 1977-1978; Easter Gabriel, 1978-1980; Terri Turner, 1981-1983; and Melody Smith, 1983-1984) have held the national record since 1972. Six of the top 10 all-time best national marks are by Texans.

Shot Put

Michelle Carter has held the national high school record since 2003 and 4 of the top 7 all-time best national marks are by Texans.

800-meter relay

Nine of the top 11 & 8 of the top 9 all-time best national high school marks are held by Texas teams. Alief Elsik held the national record in 2003-2004 and is ranked #2 all-time to national record holder Long Beach Poly (CA).

TX HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONS WHO BECAME OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNERS (The 2008 Olympics not included)
A total of 14 Texas H.S. state champions have gone on to become Olympic champions with an additional 6 winning silver or bronze medals. This list does not include all Texas Olympic champions as some Olympians did not win state high school championships. For example, Michael Johnson (gold in 1996 & 2000 Olympics) and Charles Austin (gold in 1996 Olympics) were Texas high school stars who did not win a Texas state championship.

NAME YEAR H IGH SCHOOL TYPE MEDAL WON
Kirksey, Morris	1920	Waxahachie Acad	Gold Medal in 400-meter relay & silver in 100-meter dash
State Champ in LJ, 100 yds, 220yd hurdles in 1914
Meadows, Earle	1936	FW Central	Gold Medal in Pole Vault
			State champ in Pole Vault in 1932 & 1933
Smith, Dean	1952	Graham	Gold Medal in 100 meters
			State Champ in 100yds in 1949
Hooper, Darrow	1952	FW Northside	Silver Medal in Shot Put
			State champ in Shot Put & Discus, 1948 & 1949
Morrow, Bobby	1956	San Benito	Gold Medals in 100 & 200 & 400 meter relay
			State champ in 100 yds in 1953 & 1955; 220 in 1954
Southern, Eddie	1956	Dallas Sunset	Silver Medal in 400 meter hurdles
			State champ in 120 hurd, 220, 440 yds, 1954-1955
Hansen, Fred	1964	Cuero	Gold Medal in Pole Vault
			State champ in Pole Vault and Long Jump, 1959
Matson, Randy	1964/1968	Pampa	Gold Medal in Shot Put in 1968; Silver in 1964
			State champ in Shot Put & Discus, 1962-63
Roberts, David L.	1976	Conroe	Silver Medal in Pole Vault
			State champ in Pole Vault, 1969
Jones, Johnny	1976	Lampasas	Gold in 1600 meter relay
			State champ in 100, 220 & 440 yards in 1975-76
Carter, Michael	1984	Dallas Jefferson	Silver Medal in Shot Put
			State champ in Shot Put, 1977-1979
DeLoach, Joe	1988	Bay City	Gold Medal in 200 meters
			State champ in 200 met in 1984-85; & 100 in 1984
Robinzine, Kevin	1988	Everman	Gold Medal in 1600 meter relay
			State champ in 400 meters in 1983-1984
Ritter, Louise	1988	Red Oak	Gold Medal in High Jump
			State champ in Ptj, LJ & HJ, 1973-75
Guidrey, Carlette	1992/1996	Houston Sterling	Gold Medal in 400-meter relay in 1992 & 1996
			State champ in 100, 200 TJ & LJ in 1985-1986
Gaines, Chrystie	1996	Dallas S. Oak Cliff	Gold Medal in 400-meter relay
			State champ in 200 in 1985 & 1987 & 400 relay in 1986
Wariner, Jeremy	2004	Arlington Lamar	Gold Medal in 400 meters & 1600 meter relay
			State champ in 200 meters and 400 meters in 2002
Williamson, Darold	2004	SA Holmes	Gold Medal in 1600 meter relay
			State champ in 200 meters and 400 meters in 2001
Brew, Derrick	2004	Klein Forest	Gold Medal in 1600 meter relay & Bronze in 400 meters
			State champ in 400 meters in 1996
Willie, Kelly	2004	Houston Sterling	Gold Medal in 1600 meter relay
			State champ in 400 meters in 2001 & 2002
Stevenson, Toby	2004	Odessa Permian	Silver Medal in Pole Vault
			State champ in Pole Vault in 1995

STATE TRACK CHAMPIONS WHO LATER BECAME WELL KNOWN
Many of the more than 8,000 boys and girls who have won state track championships have become well known to the sporting public and to the public at large. In addition to the Olympic champions and medalists discussed earlier many have gone to careers in the National Football League. A cross-check of the Texas high school track champion data base with a listing of NFL players from 1920 to the present produced a list of more than 100 high school track champions who later played in the NFL. The notation “NFL” appears at the end of the row devoted to each of the more than 100 champions in the Appendix in the “Individual and Team Champions by School” and the “Individual and Team Champions by Year.”
The first known Texas track champion to play in the NFL was Fay (Mule) Wilson who won the 100 & 200 dashes in 1922 for Honey Grove and later played at Texas A&M and in the NFL from 1926-33. Wilson is one of several NFL stars (Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson of Sealy and Don Maynard of Colorado City and Michael Carter of Dallas Jefferson, Johnny Jones of Lampasas and DeWitt Coulter of Masonic Home) who are the subject of separate narratives later in this volume. Other notable NFL stars to have won Texas state high school track championships are Lester Hayes of Houston Wheatley, Kenneth Hall of Sugarland, Ronnie Bull of Bishop, Max McGee of White Oak, Lee Roy Caffey of Thorndale & Riley Odoms of Corpus Christ West Oso. At least one Texas H.S. track champion played major league baseball as George Johnson of Sonora played for the Milwaukee Braves. Jamal Charles of Port Arthur Memorial was part of the 2003 national record breaking 800-meter relay team and went on to star for the UT Longhorn football team that won the 2005 national championship.
On the girls side, Chandi Jones of Bay City became an All-American basketball player at the U. of Houston where she led the nation in scoring in 2003 and later played in the WNBA. Cheryl Swoops of Brownfield (a relay champ) led Texas Tech to the NCAA basketball title in 1993, won 4 NBA titles with the Houston Rockets, and was a 3-time Olympian. Suzanne Snider of Robinson became an All-American basketball player at Baylor and is still the school’s all-time leading scorer. Kristee Porter of Tyler was a three-sport star (volleyball, basketball & track) at UCLA and played pro volleyball in Puerto Rico and Spain.
Other “famous” ex-high school track champions include such notable coaches as ACC’s Oliver Jackson of Denison; UT’s Clyde Littlefield of Marshall Training School; A&M’s Ted Nelson of Andrews and Charles Thomas of Cleveland & Splendora; Texas Tech’s Wes Kitley of Rule; UT’s Cleburne Price of N. Dallas; UH’s Art Briles of Rule; Howard Payne’s Joe Bailey Cheaney of Santa Anna; Baylor’s Ralph Wolf of San Marcos Baptist Academy and TCU’s Monte Stratton of Breckenridge. At least three men (Vance Vaughn of Kerens, Ronnie Urbantke of Riesel and Thomas Phillips of Franklin) who currently serve as superintendents of a Texas I.S.D. are former state high school track champions. One, Monte Earwood of Rock Springs, became sheriff of Kinney County (Bracketville).
Other ex-state champs who became well known are Max Emfinger of Brownwood as an NFL recruiting analyst; Doyle Brunson of Sweetwater as a world champion poker player; Garet Von Netzer of Fredericksburg as publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News; H.K. Allen of Austin as an international trade consultant and civic leader of Temple; Marty Akins of Gregory-Portland as a statewide candidate for Comptroller; Richard Romo of SA Fox as president of the U. of Texas at SA; Dr. Alton Thygerson as a BYU professor/writer; Regina Cavanaugh-Murphy of Killeen and Rice as a renowned psychiatrist; and Jolanda Jones of Alief Elsik and U.H. as an attorney and community activist in Houston.
NARRATIVES OF 39 SELECTED MALE CHAMPIONS
The listing of the 3,820 state champions who won individual boys or girls events from 1905-2006 does include some anotations as to the multiple events won by the athlete (e.g., A4 gold in 100 & 200 in 1983-84") and, where information was available, on the later career of the athlete (e.g., “Tr-UT” or “won NCAA HJ”). This chapter will present narratives on 39 male and 17 female athletes who are considered by this author to be among the most outstanding in the 104-year history of the state meet based on a combination of the state meet performance and later career. Some of the athletes (i.e., Randy Matson, Bobby Morrow) are well know while others (i.e., Willis Maxson, Morris Kirksey, Clarence Goodnight) in the more distant past have been “lost to history.” The listing below of “greats” will be followed by narratives on each athlete. The length of article is not indicative of the relative importance of the athlete’s career but only the amount of information available.
This selection of 39 men and 17 women was made in 2005 and has not been updeated since 2006.
Ablowich, Edgar, 1930, Greenville; USC All-Amer; gold medal & world rec in 1600-met relay at 1932 Olym

Baldwin, Leo, 1923-24, Wichita Falls; 7 gold in hurd/HJ/Shot, 4 state rec; UT All-am, 5 SWC titles in shot/disc

Dennis Brantley, 1979-80, Houston Worthing; 3 g; state/nat rec in 110hurdles; All-Am at SMU/TX Southern

Bronson, Brian, 1991, Jasper, 3 g & 3 state rec; 1993 NCAA 400-meter hurd champ & 4-time All-Am at Rice

Brew, Derrick, 1996, Klein Forest, won 400; LSU All-American; Olympic gold in 1600-meter relay in 04

Carter, Michael, 1977-79, Dallas Jefferson; 4 g in shot/disc, nat rec shot 1979-2003; s-84 Olym; NFL All-pro

Coulter, DeWitt E., 1942-43, FW Masonic H; SR-shot, 1942-43; NR-1943-46; All-Am, Army; NFL

DeLoach, Joe, 1984-85, Bay City; 3 g in 100/200, NCAA champ in 100, 1988 Olympic champ in 200

Frazier, Earl C., “Mule”1917-18, Hillsboro, 6 g in sprints/hurdles; 4-time S. Collegiate hurd champ, Baylor

Goodnight, Clarence 1916-17; 5 g in 440, 880 & mile; 2 state records; won 440, 880 & mile in 1917

Gonzalez, Robert, 1965-67, Falfurrias, broke state mile record 3 times, held record 38 years; Texas A&I

Hansen, Fred, 1959, Cuero; won state in LJ, PV in 59; All-Am at Rice; G in PV in 64 Oly; broke WR 3 tim

Holcomb, Roy E., 1909, Belton, won 4 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze for 64 points, still UIL meet record

Hooper, Darrow, 1948-49, FW Northside; nat HS rec, shot/disc; won NCAA (A&M) in 51; S in 52 Olym

Jones, Johnny “Lam”, 1975-76, Lampasas; 4 g in sprints; won SWC in 100/220; G in 400m relay in 76 Oly

Jones, Toya, 1992-95, Refugio; 13 gold in 4 years in LJ, TJ,& sprints; All-Am in relays at A&M

Kirksey, Morris, 1914, Waxahachie Academy, 3 g; Collegiate champ at Stanford; Gold & Silver at 1920 Oly

Martin, Roy, 1983-85, Dallas Roosevelt; won 200m 3 times; nat rec in 100 & 200 (1985-2003); SMU All-Am

Matson, Randy, 1962-63, Pampa; 2-time state & NCAA (A&M) champ in shot/disc; Oly g in shot, 1968; WR

Maxson,Willis Howard, Jr., 1911-12, Beaumont; 9 gold in 2 years; won 5 events (50,100,220,440,ham) in 1912

Meadows, Earle, 1932-33, FW Central; 2 g in PV; S. Cal; Gold in PV in 1936 Olympics; broke WR 2 times

Morrow, Bobby, 1953-55, San Benito; 3 HS g; 3 g (100, 200 & 400rel) in 1956 Oly; WR in 200 & 400rel

Neal, Henry, 1989-90, Greenville; set state rec in TJ; nat rec in 200 (1990-03); TSU; pro-track career

Nelson, Ted, 1959-61, Andrews, 6 g; 3 state/nat records; SWC champ in 440; coach-A&M for 39 years

Pollard, Frank, 1975-76, Meridian; won 4 gold in 1976 & 42 points (record); Football at Baylor, NFL

Reina, Reuben, 1984-86, SA Jay; 6 g in 1600/3200; Ark, 8-time All-Am; NCAA 3000m cham & USA CrossCountry

Rabb, Virgil., 1919-20, Smithville; 4 g in 1919 as he alone won team B champ, Tr-UT

Roberts, David, 1969, Conroe; Silver in PV in 1988 Olympics; broke World Record 2 times

Robinzine, Kevin, 1983-84, Everman; 2 g, 400m; SMU All-Am; won NCAA1600r; G(WR) in rel, 88 Olym

Southern, Eddie, 1954-55; Dallas Sunset; 4 g; SWC champ in 120h,100,220,440; UT-2nd in 56 Olym 400h

Smith, Dean, 1949, Graham; g in 100; won SWC (UT) in 100/220; G in 400-meter relay at 52 Olympics

Stevenson, Toby, 1996; Odessa Permian; won 5A PV; 1998 NCAA champ; silver at 2004 Olympics

Thomas, Charles, 1948-50; Splendora & Cleveland; 5 g; 3-time SWC & NCAA champ in 220; A&M coach

Walker, Sam, 1967-1968, Dallas Samuell; held state/nat (72'3") rec in shot for 11 years; SMU All-Amer

Wariner, Jeremy, 2002, Arlington Lamar; won 200 & 400 in 02; NCAA & Olym G in 2004 in 400, relay