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

Williamson, Darold, 2001, SA Holmes; won 200 & 400 in 01; Olympic gold in 1600-meter relay in 04

Willie, Kelly, 2001, Houston Sterling; won 400; LSU All-American; Olylmpic gold in 1600-meter relay in 04

Wilson, Fay (Mule), 1922, Honey Grove; won 100 & 200; Football-A&M; NFL; A&M Hall of Fame

Wolcott, Fred, 1934, Snyder; won 220-yd low hurd in 1934; won NCAA 120-h in 38-39 & 220-h in 38-40


EDGAR ABLOWICH, 1930
Greenville’s Edgar Ablowich was a Texas state track champion in 1930, a track star at the University of Southern California, and won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics. Edgar Allen Ablowich was born in Commerce TX on April 29, 1913, the son of David Jonathan and Nita Jacobs Ablowich. The family moved to Greenville when Edgar was 5. Edgar was a star running back in H.S. in addition to being the schools’ top track athlete under Coach Jim Reese.
As a senior at Greenville HS in 1930 Edgar won the Texas state championship in the 220-yd low hurdles in a time of 24.0 (a state record from 1930-33) and placed 3^rd in the 220-yd low hurdles at the national interscholastic track meet in Chicago on May 31, 1930. Ablowich attended the University of Southern California on a track scholarship and was tutored by Coach Dean Cromwell, known as the “Maker of Champions”. He was co-captain of the USC track team in his senior year of 1934. At USC he concentrated on the 440-yd dash (PB of 47.4) and was named All-American in 1932.
Ablowich was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1932 and won a gold medal in the 1600-meter relay with teammates Bill Carr, Karl Warner and Ivan Fugua. Their time of 3:08.2 set a world record which stood for 20 years (until the 1952 Olympic games).
After graduating from U.S.C. in 1934 Ablowich returned to Greenville where he worked with his father in the family furniture store and was active in community affairs (e.g., Little League, Boy Scouts, Chamber of Commerce, the East Texas Relays). He married Virginia Mae Christopherson in 1936 and had two sons and one daughter. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was discharged as a Lt. in 1946.
In 1968 Ablowich earned an MBA from East TX State and in 1973 received a Ph.D. in management from North Texas State. He was a professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology at the University of Wyoming until he retired in 1981. He died in 1998 at the age of 84 and is buried in Greenville. He is survived by two sons, Dean Allen Ablowich of Virginia Beach, VA and Ronald Edgar Ablowich of Durham, NC; one daughter, Ann Gravely of Stratton NH; and five grandchildren and one great-grand child.
LEO BALDWIN, 1923-1924

Leo Baldwin, Wichita Falls’ “one-man team, won the Texas state track meet by himself in 1924 by winning four events after having won a “team” 2^nd the previous year. Baldwin began his state meet career by placing 3^rd in the HJ as a soph in 1922. As a junior in 1923 Baldwin won three events--the 120 yd high hurdles in 16.2; the 220 yd low hurdles in 26.2 (a state record) and the high jump at 5' 9". His 15 points gave WF a 2^nd place team finish behind the 21 points of champion Electra. As a senior at the 1924 state meet he won four firsts and one second (in discus) for 23 points as his “team” finished 1^st and defeated 2^nd place Cleburne 23-20. Baldwin broke three state records with a 15.0 in the 120 yd high hurdles; a 6' 1 & 1/2" high jump, and a 47' 9 & 1/2" shot put. He also won the 220 yard low hurdles but failed to break the state record of 26.2 which he set in 1923. He went on to compete in a national high school meet in Michigan and won the high jump, high hurdles and shot put to place Wichita Falls 2^nd in the team competition. In the national scholastic track meet in Chicago he qualified for the finals in a remarkable nine events (beating the national champion in the hurdles in the prelims) but a knee injury prevented further success.

Wichita Falls H.S. had perhaps its greatest sports year in 1923-24 when the football team made it to the state semi-finals before losing to champion Abilene; the basketball team made it to the “final four” before losing to champion Oak Cliff; and the track team won the state championship. The star of all three Coyote teams was Leo Baldwin, who at 6'1' & 175 lbs., was named all-state in football; all-state tournament in basketball; and won the state track meet by himself by winning four events. Baldwin was a remarkable high school athlete as he was the center fielder and clean-up hitter (with a .500 average & 22 home runs) for the baseball team which in 1923 won the “North Texas championship.” He was offered a $2,000 major league contract if he would turn pro immediately after H.S. Leo began his H.S. football career as a center/guard/tackle in his soph and junior years in H.S. but was moved to running back as a senior and scored (or passed for) every TD (three per game) made by his team after the 3^rd game that season. He was also the team’s top defensive player and the “state’s top punter” and was named 1^st team all-state. In basketball he played center and led the Coyotes to the State Tournament (i.e., the final 16 teams) as a junior in 1923 and as a senior in 1924. WF lost in the first round in 1923 but made it to the semi-finals in 1924 before losing to champion Oak Cliff, 25-17. He was named 2^nd team all-state tournament in 1924.
Leo Baldwin went on to letter in football (1925, 27-28), track (1927-29) and basketball (1926) at the U. of Texas. He was captain of the 1929 track team and a three-time SWC champion in the shot put and a two-time SWC champion in the discus. He won the Texas Relays in the shotput in 1929 (45' 10") and the discus in 1928 (142' 5") and 1929 (144' 10"). He finished 2^nd in the discus in the 1928 NCAA meet and ran on the 2^nd place UT 440 yd relay team at the 1929 NCAA meet. Baldwin continued to run both hurdles during his UT track career and this versatility contributed to his being named captain of the 1929 team. In 1986 Baldwin was inducted into the UT “Wall of Horns” where his plaque hangs inside Memorial Stadium.

After college, Leo Baldwin taught and coached at Cotulla (where he replaced Lyndon B. Johnson) and Avoca before he moved to Austin to serve as the bodyguard to Texas Gov. James V. Allred. He then joined the Texas Rangers where he was a narcotics officer and later worked as a federal probation & parole officer in Houston and Ft. Worth. He retired in 1972 and died on April 20, 1990, at the age of 85. Leo J. Baldwin is buried in Ft. Worth and was survived by his wife of 50 years, Marga; 5 children; 6 grandchildren & 9 great grandchildren, several of whom work in law enforcement. In 1950 Harold Ratliff devoted an entire chapter (“Atlas of Texas”) to Baldwin in his book, Towering Texans, Sport Sagas of the Lone Star State.

Dennis Brantley, 1979-80
Dennis Brantley has held the state and national record for the 110-meter high hurdles for 24 years (since 1980) and later was a track All-American at both SMU and Texas Southern University. He was the SWC and SouthwestAthletic champion and was national NAIA champion in the 60-hurdles in 1985.
Dennis Dewayne Brantley was born in Houston on July 13, 1961, to Estelle & James Brantley. He and his siblings (Odell, Grace, Leonard, Sammie, Tyrone, Sandra, Sharone & Patrick) grew up in Houston where Dennis became a football and track star at Worthing H.S. He was a 2-year team captain and QB in football passing for more than 1,000 yards as a senior.
He began running track while still in elementary school and was a semi-finalist in the Jesse Ownes summer track program in Houston. As a soph at Houston’s Worthing H.S. he was 2^nd in the district in the 110-meter hurdles and as a junior won state in the 110-meter hurdles in 13.5 tying the state record by Randal Lightfoot of Plainview (1971) and Allen Misher of Houston Sterling (1972). As a senior he set state and national records in the 110 hurdles at 13.1 and those records still stood in 2005. His state and national records are the 2^nd oldest on the books (after the 1979 state & national shot put records of Michael Carter). He also won the 300-meter hurdles as a senior at 36.8 (just short of the state record of 36.0) and was named the Most Outstanding Track Athlete and Most Outstanding Athlete of Texas in 1980. He was also named the Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of Houston in 1979 & 1980 and was a 2-time All-American in H.S. track.
Brantley went on to SMU where he was the SWC champion in the 110-hurdles in 1981 and was named an All-American after finishing 6^th in the NCAA indoor 60-meter hurdles at 7.29. In 2004 he still held the SMU school record in the 60-meter hurdles and is 3^rd in the 55-meter hurdles and the 110-meter hurdles at 13.79. Dennis competed for Texas Southern University in 1982-85 in football (as a receiver) and track and was the Southwest Athletic Champion at 60-meter hurdles and the national NAIA champ at 60-meter hurdles in 1985. He was 6^th at the U.S. Nationals and ran at the 1984 Olympic Trials.
Brantley retired from track in 1988 and received his degree in physical education from Texas Southern U. in 1986. He was a teacher/coach at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Missouri City TX from 1986-88 and history teacher and assistant football/track coach at Willowridge H.S. from 1988-1995. Willowridge was the state 5A track champion in 1990 and the state runner-up in 1991 & 1995. He was the head track coach at Sugarland Stephen F. Austin H.S. from 1995-2002 where his track team was state 5A runner-up in 2000 and 3^rd in the state in 1999. In 2002 he became head football and track coach at Thurgood Marshall H.S. in Missouri City TX.
Dennis Brantley lives in Houston with his wife, Carmen, and children, Candice, 19; Dennis, Jr., 17; and Dean Michael, 13.

Derrick Brew, 1996
Klein Forest’s Derrick Brew won the 5A 400-meter dash in 1996 and was an All-American at LSU before winning a bronze medal in the 400-meters and a gold medal in the 1600-meter relay at the 2004 Olympics.
Derrick Brew was born on Dec. 28, 1977, in Houston TX. He was a track and football star at Houston’s Klein Forest H.S. where he graduated in 1996. He won the 5A 400-meter dash at 46.67 at the 1996 state track meet and anchored his Sterling 400-meter relay team to a silver medal at the same meet. He ran for Barton County Community College in 1997-1998 where he led his team to two national JUCO team championships. He was the indoor and outdoor JUCO 400-meter champion and his (outdoor) 44.53 was the JUCO record and the 8^th fastest time in the world in 1998.
Brew ran for LSU in 1999-2000 and won the SEC indoor and outdoor 400 meters (44.29) as a freshman and was 2nd in the NCAA outdoor 400 meters; 3^rd in the NCAA indoor 400; and 4^th at the U.S. outdoor championship. As a senior in 2000 he was 4^th at the NCAA indoors (46.24) and made the finals at the 2000 Olympic trials. After graduating from LSU with a degree in business management, Derrick continued to compete and (in 2001) was 4^th at the USA outdoors (45.35) on Team USA’s gold medal winning 1600 meter relay at World Outdoor Championships in world-leading time of 2:57.54 and won gold medal on USA 1600 meter relay team at Goodwill Games. He ranked 6^th in U.S. in 2001 with a best of 44.80. Derrick was injured for most of 2002 but ran on USA 1600 relay at USA vs. The World at Penn Relays. In 2003 he was 4^th at the USA outdoors (45.05); 5^th at the USA indoors; and ran on USA’s gold medal 1600 relay at world outdoor championships. He was ranked #4 in the U.S. and #9 in the world by T&FN.
In 2004 Brew was 3^rd in the 400 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials and won a bronze medal in the 400 at the 2004 Olympics at 44.42 as part of the U.S. sweep of that event (with Jeremy Wariner, 1^st and Otis Harris, 2nd). He won a gold medal by running the 2^nd leg (43.6) of the USA 1600 relay team that won in 2:55.91. He was ranked #2 in the world in 2004. In 2005 Brew, 6’ 1” & 180 lbs., lived in Springs TX and continued to run for Nike under coach Antonio Pettigrew and Agent Charles Wells.

Brian Bronson, 1991
Brian Bronson of Jasper won 3 gold medals at the 1991 state track meet setting state records in the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter relay. He went on to Rice University where he was a 5-time indoor and outdoor All-American and was the NCAA 400-meter hurdle champion in 1993.
At the 1991 state meet Brian Bronson won the 300-meter hurdles in 35.9 (a state record thru 1997 & 7^th best in U.S. history thru 2005) and anchored the Jasper 400-meter relay team (with Charles Adams, Terrance Davis, & John Davis) to a state record mark of 39.9 and the Jasper 1600-meter relay team (with John Davis, John Collins, and Zach Bronson) to a 4A record time of 3:11.8 (which held until 2003). Bronson’s 20 points led Jasper to the 4A state team title in 1991. Though he did not win the 200-meters at the state meet in 1991 he had a time of 20.62 (adjusted) in that event which ranks 8^th all-time in the history of TX. He was voted the National Gatorade Track Athlete of the Year in 1991. That summer he won the Pan American Games in the junior 200-meters.
At Rice University Bronson was the SWC outdoor champ in the 200-meters in 1992 (20.4) and 1994 (20.53) and in the 400-meter hurdles in 1993 (49.35). He was the NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles in 1993 at 49.07 and was a 4-time All-American (outdoors in 1992 & 1993 & indoors in 1993 & 1995).
Brian continued to run with the Nike Track Club after graduating from Rice and was coached by Kim Wrinkle and represented by Agent Bob Pelletier. He was ranked #1 in the U.S. in the 400-meter hurdles in 1996, 1997 & 1998 and was 5^th in 1995; 6^th in 1993, and 9^th in 1994. He won 3^rd in the 400 hurdles at the 1997 world championships and was ranked #1 in the world in the 400-meter hurdles in 1998 and was undefeated on the year while winning 10 Grand Prix races. His career best was the 47.03 he ran to win the U.S. outdoor championships in 1998 (he won the 1997 U.S. outdoor championships at 47.79). On June 21, 1998, he set a world record in New Orleans in the 400-meter hurdles for lane 3 at 47.03 (2^nd only to Edwin Moses’ 47.02 in lane 5 in 1983). In 1998 he set a Korte Stadium (near St. Louis IL) record in the 400-meter hurdles in 48.22 and ran a personal best of 47.74 in that event at Lille in June of 1996. Bronson won the 400-meter hurdles at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials at 47.98 but was eliminated in the semi-finals at the Atlanta Olympics. His career personal bests were 47.03 in the 400-meter hurdles and 20.28 in the 200 meters. In 2004 he still held the Rice school record in the 200-meters (20.28) and the 400-meter hurdles (48.63).
Brian Bronson was born on Sept. 9, 1972, in Jasper TX. In 2004 Brian was retired from track and field and lived in Houston TX.
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Michael Carter, 1977-79
Michael Carter has held the state and national high school shot put record for 25 years and went on to win 7 outdoor and indoor NCAA titles in the shot put for SMU. He won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics and played 9 years in the NFL. His daughter holds the national high school shot put and discus records.
Michael began setting shot put records as a freshman in 1976 when he won the T.A.A.F. shot put at 67'8"Ca record which still stood in 2005. He won the 4A shot put at the state track meet for three straight years in 1977-79 competing for Dallas Jefferson. As a soph in 1977 he won with a toss of 64' 09" and set a state record as a junior in 1978 at 71' 01.7" breaking the 10-year-old record of 68' 05" set by Sam Walker in 1968. As a senior in 1979 he won state in the shot put at 75' 09" breaking his own state record and also won the discus at 198' 0" setting a state record that stood from 1979-1988 (he was named a discus All-American in 1979 for his 204' 8" throw). His 1979 mark of 75' 09" in the shot still stood as the state record in 2006C27 years later.
Carter broke the national H.S. shot put record 9 times in his senior year with a final mark of 81' 3.5" at the Golden West Invitational in CA on June 11, 1979 (where he also won the discus in 201' 2"). That feat stands as arguably the greatest performance in the history of Texas high school track and field as no schoolboy in the nation has even come close to Carter’s 81' 3.5" mark in the last 25 years. The 2^nd best all-time U.S. high school shot put mark is the 75' 2" by Brent Noon of Fallbrook CA in 1990 and thus no one has come within 6 feet of Carter’s monumental 1979 throw. He was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Texas Relays in 1979 after winning the shot put at 74' 7.5" and the discus at 185' 11". He was named the national H.S. athlete of the year in 1979 by T&FN. On July 4, 1979, he set an age group record by throwing the 16lb shot 67' 9" at the USA vs. USSR meet in Boston.
Carter won a total of 7 outdoor and indoor NCAA shot put titles at SMU from 1980-84. As a freshman in 1980 he threw the college shot 67' 10" (the best throw in the world at the time) at the Mason Dixon Games. He won the NCAA outdoor (66' 11") and indoor (67' 5") titles in 1980; the outdoor (68'10") and indoor (69' 8"Ban NCAA record) titles in 1981; the outdoor (68' 6") and indoor (66' 9") titles in 1983; and the outdoor (66' 1") title in 1984 (he was 2^nd in indoor). He also finished 2^nd in the NCAA discus in 1981. His personal bests at SMU were 71' 4.7" in the shot and 203' 3" in the discus. He was a nine-time All-American in the shot put and discus. He was also a two-time winner of the U.S. Outdoor shot put title at 66' 11.2" in 1980 and 68' 10.7" in 1981.
Carter won a silver medal in the shot put at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles at 69' 2.5" but then retired from the sport to pursue his NFL football career. At 6' 2 & 275 lbs, he was a defensive lineman for SMU’s football team from 1979-83 as the Mustangs won the SWC in 1981 & 1982. Carter was an All-SWC tackle in 1983 and was named the MVP of the Holiday Bowl. He was taken in the 5^th round of the NFL draft by San Francisco where he anchored the 49er defensive line for 9 years (1984-1992) winning three Super Bowls (1985, 1989, & 1990). He was named an all-pro nose tackle 3 times (1986-88). Michael Carter is a member of the TX Sports Hall of Fame, the TX Black Sports Hall of Fame, and the T.A.A.F. Hall of Fame.
Michael Carter was born on Oct. 29, 1960, in Dallas TX to Douglas and Faye Carter. He and his siblings (Bobby, Carol and Douglas) grew up in Dallas where Michael graduated from Thomas Jefferson H.S. in 1979. He received a B.S. in Sociology from SMU in 1984. In 2004 Michael and his wife, Sandra, have three children, Michelle, 19; D’Andra, 17; and Michael Jr., 14. Michael is currently head of Carter Enterprise in Ovilla TX. Carter’s oldest daughter, Michelle, won 8 gold medals at the state track meet from 2000-2003 setting state and national records in the shot put and discus. His youngest daughter, D’Andra, was 2^nd in the 4A discus in 2003.

DeWitt E. (Tex) Coulter, 1942-43
DeWitt (Tex) Coulter of Ft. Worth Masonic Home set state records in the shot put in 1942 & 1943 and set a national H.S. record in 1943. He was later an All-American football player on Army’s 1944 & 1945 national championship teams and was an all-pro while playing in the NFL for the New York Giants and the CFL.
DeWitt Echoles (Tex) Coulter was born on Oct. 26, 1924, in Red Springs TX to Hal and Lottie Land Coulter. His father died when he was 5 and his mother moved her two sons to Ft Worth where DeWitt and his brother, Ray, enrolled in school at the Masonic Home. DeWitt, 6'4" & 200lbs, was an all-state tackle for three years at Masonic Home (1940-42) under Coach Rusty Russell and led his team to a 34-5-1 record and three district titles. The versatile Coulter also played QB at times and was the team’s kicker. In 1984 Coulter was named to the Dallas Morning News all-time all-area team at DT and as the most outstanding high school player of North Texas for the first 50 years of organized H.S. football.
DeWitt’s career at the Texas state track meet in Austin began as a FW Masonic Home junior in 1942 when he broke the state record in the shot put held by H.B. Pendleton of Woodsboro in 1942 with a throw of 54' 6.8" in the preliminaries and 56' in the finals beating the 2^nd place boy by over 5 feet. There were no class divisions in 1942 as all high schools competed together. The San Antonio Express declared that Ait was Coulter’s “best effort of many brilliant performances this spring.” He broke his own state record in 1943 as a senior with a throw of 58' 9.1" (beating the boy finishing 2^nd by 7 & 2 feet). Coulter threw 59' 1.5" at the 1943 Texas Relays (and was named the meet’s most outstanding performer) to break the national high school record (58' 10") of Elwyn Dees of Lorraine KS set 13 years earlier in 1930. Coulter’s national record held thru 1946 when John Helwig of Los Angeles threw 59' 5.8". In 2004 Coulter was one of only six Texans to hold the state shot put record from 1942-2004 when Texans also held the national high school shot put record for 43 of the 61 years. Coulter’s track career ended in 1943 due to his football career and to his becoming a pro in 1946 (pros could not compete in amateur track & the Olympics)
After graduating from Masonic Home H.S. in 1943 during World War II DeWitt was drafted into the Army and was soon assigned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. DeWitt picked up the nickname “Tex” at West Point and earned All-American honors as a 6'5" 240 lb. soph and junior offensive/defensive tackle on Army’s 1944 & 1945 national championship teams that featured Heisman trophy winners Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard. Army was 18-0 during those two years and outscored their opponents 916-81 while leading the nation in rushing offense and scoring defense. Coulter was dismissed from West Point in 1946 for failing trigonometry and (with the war over) decided to accept an offer to play pro football with the New York Giants. Coulter, at 6'5" & 270 lbs, played six seasons (1946-1949 & 1951-52) for the Giants at offensive tackle and center & defensive tackle and end. “Tex” was named All-Pro in 1948 & 1949 as the Giants finished 1^st in 1946; 5^th in 1947; 3^rd in 1948 & 1949; and 2^nd in 1951 & 1952. Notable teammates during his career with the Giants included QB Charlie Connerly, Tom Landry, Emlin Tunnell, Frank Gifford and Kyle Rote. He then played four seasons (1953-56) for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League and was named the CFL’s first Most Valuable Lineman in 1955. He was inducted into the Texas H.S. Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1997). In 2004 Tex was honored at the TX state high school track meet along with five other state shot put record holders from 1942-2004
In 1967 Sport Magazine named Coulter the “toughest football player who ever lived.” Tex was noted for his “ferocious” play on the field and his mild manner off the field. The “gentle giant” became a cartoonist and artist. He wrote sports cartoons for the Dallas Times Herald during his brief retirement in 1950 and later for a Montreal newspaper. He went to art school while playing for the Giants and later became known as one of Canada’s most prominent artists. He progressed from charcoal and watercolors, then oils, and later acrylics and was known for his sports portraits as well as for his cartoons. He also worked in commercial art and advertisements and was even a “color commentator” for CFL games. Tex moved his family to Austin in 1978 and was a homebuilder and special education school administrator before his retirement.
DeWitt married his (Masonic Home) H.S. sweetheart, Ruth Tindle, in 1946. In 2004 the couple had four children (David, Ann, Jeff and Dena) and eight grandchildren (Lori, Kendra, Brendon & Dana Coulter, Kim, Ryan and Scott McKinley, and Devin Brown.