Author Michael Hurd joins the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Podcast to discuss his book Thursday Night Lights: The Story of Black High School in Texas, a book that celebrates the rich history of Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) football -- a league that produced many pro and college football stars including Dick "Night Train" Lane, Bubba Smith, and Ken Houston.
The PVIL stood as the governing body for black schools in Texas throughout the decades of segregation. The league provided a home for the biggest high school event in America in its heyday, the annual Turkey Day Classic between Houston Yates and Houston Wheatley.
Hurd shares with us the exciting history of PVIL football programs from the hardscrabble days of the 1940s when Joe Washington started his high school’s program while still a high school student in Rosenberg, Texas, and through the glory years in the 1960s when Charlton Pollard coach Willie Ray Smith, Sr. and Hebert coach Clifford Ozen seemed to produce football star after football star through their rivalry in Beaumont, Texas. Joe Washington’s son -- Joe Washington Jr. – wound up being the fourth-overall pick in the 1976 NFL draft. Three sons of Willie Ray Smith, Sr. were all major recruits coming out of high school, most notably future NFL legend Bubba Smith.
Hurd also conveys the excitement of Kansas City Chiefs star Otis Taylor showing off his new Ford Thunderbird to Hurd and his schoolmates as well as the tremendous athletic ability and ultimately tragic story of Eldridge Dickey, a man who earned the nickname, “The Lord’s Prayer” for his prayers before games and his accomplishments at quarterback.
This episode Texas Sports Hall of Fame Podcast is presented by the Hampton Inn Waco. The show is written and produced by host Jackson Michael, author of The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL.
Ep 28: Shane Lechler - In the Locker Room with Shane Lechler
Ep 27: 2020-2021 Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction
Ep 26: Remembering Gabe Rivera with Author Jorge Iber
Ep 25: Billy Sims - In The Locker Room With Billy Sims
Ep 24: Drew Pearson’s Greatest Moments
Ep 23: Jeff Bagwell -- In the Dugout with Jeff Bagwell
Ep 22: A Brief History of Title IX in Texas
Ep 21: Lost Stories from Dutch Schroeder
Ep 20: Robert Hurst and the Art of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame
Ep 19 Jody Conradt - Passing it Forward
Ep. 18: Doc Hayes and the Glory Days of SMU Basketball
Ep 17: First Annual Southwest Conference Legends Golf Tournament and Reunion
Ep. 16: "Little Mo" -- Maureen Connolly Brinker
Ep. 15: R.C. Slocum -- In the Locker Room with R.C. Slocum
Ep. 13: Greg Swindell -- In the Dugout with Greg Swindell
Ep. 11: Celebrating the Houston Comets -- with Cynthia Cooper and Van Chancellor
Ep. 10: Bob Lilly -- In The Locker Room with Bob Lilly
Ep 9: Larry Dierker -- In the Dugout with Larry Dierker
Ep. 8: 2019 Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Coach Carvalho Podcast
From Corner2Corner
Golf Podcast: next on the tee
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The MeatEater Podcast