Greatest back of all time in Texas?

[Paratrooper]

Please vote on who you think is the all time greatest running back in the history of Texas high School football.

[wos fan1]

I've met Wooster before and had the chance again last Sunday as he was on the KFDM Sports Sunday show. Nice man..

[sinton66]

Probably should have included Roosevelt Leaks from Brenham.

[GreenMonster]

Where's LT???

[Paratrooper]

Here are the amount of yards gained and where people rank amoung all Texas High School players top 10. I know there are folks that I left off in the intial poll

RUSHING YARDS IN A CAREER

(1) 11,232 Kenneth Hall, Sugar Land, 1950-53
(2) 8,855 Wes Danaher, Calallen, 1992-95
(3) 8,441 Rodney Thomas, Groveton, 1987-90
(4) 8,423 Cedric Benson, Midland Lee, 1998-00
(5) 8,411 Robert Strait, Cuero, 1985-88
(6) 8,143 Buddy Hanson, Tom Bean, 2000-03
(7) 7,738 Billy Sims, Hooks, 1972-74
(8) 7,712 Shaud Williams, Andrews, 1995-98
(9) 7,621 Jeff Spikes, Burkeville, 1991-94
(10) 7,582 David Overstreet, Big Sandy, 1973-76

[Paratrooper]

Originally posted by wos fan1
I've met Wooster before and had the chance again last Sunday as he was on the KFDM Sports Sunday show. Nice man..

Worster was 4th in the running for the Heisman at UT. He was on the last team before this one that won the National Title. I know growing up in BC they have Steve Worster day over there. He really brought BC some headlines. I met him only once at a football conference we had back in 1983. Your right he is a nice guy.

[SilsbeeD]

wheres ricky williams?

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by SilsbeeD
wheres ricky williams?

He played HS football in California.

[Paratrooper]

Originally posted by SilsbeeD
wheres ricky williams?

I played against Ricky Williams of Silsbee. He was a good back, but there have been lots of good backs in Texas. This poll and the players with this are associated with some of the icons of Texas High School Football. These are all All Americans players and most are in the Texas High School Hall of Fame. Nothing to take away from Ricky though, he was a good back

[Pmoney]

gotta go with hall!

[Paratrooper]

Originally posted by Pmoney
gotta go with hall!

Just curious as ANYONE on this board ever seen the guy play. He's numbers are unreal.

[sinton66]

Wes Danaher was an absolute STUD at Calallen. Don't even know where he is now. Do you know maroon87?

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by sinton66
Wes Danaher was an absolute STUD at Calallen. Don't even know where he is now. Do you know maroon87?

I saw him at a couple of the Calallen playoff games this past season, but I didn't get to talk to him. I'm not sure what he's doing...I do know he went to SMU on a football scholarship, had some knee problems, and never really got his career off the ground. He looks like he could still play though...

[sinton66]

Wow, I hadn't heard about the knee problems, that's a real shame. He sure was a hoss.

[Paratrooper]

It is amazing isn't it how some of these guys never made the pro's. It really just let's you know how darn hard it is to make the cut.

[SilsbeeD]

sry misread the question i just thought you meant greatest back from UT

[lostaussie]

the tyler rose...........earl campbell

[GS#17]

When you look at the top 10 list earlier in the thread and players like Earl Campbell, Joe Washington, Steve Worster, etc. are not on there, how can they be considered the "greatest running back in the history of Texas high School football?" Not a knock on any player or anyone's views, just curious as to how they get votes.

[dutchman]

Mickey Herskowitz

July 23, 2003, 12:13AM
Sugar Land's Hall remains true Texas folk hero


By MICKEY HERSKOWITZ
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Who is Kenneth Hall and why, after no small amount of civic bickering, will a football stadium in Fort Bend County be named after him?

Let the record show we are not licensed to comment on the decisions of the Sugar Land school board. A case had been made for Buddy Hobson, a dedicated coach and administrator who spent his entire career within the system. But the Ken Hall faction won out, indicating memories are not as short as many thought.

So who was he and what did he do?

Kenneth Hall of Sugar Land was the greatest running back in the history of high school football, which might surprise a heck of a lot of people who did not live in Texas in the 1950s. Hall once owned every record worth owning and still holds some of them 50 years later, which is only part of the reason he became a mythic figure in a game that's already larger than life.

Records are only temporary, most of them, but goodness and greatness are forever. Hall had both.

He was more than Hollywood handsome. He had an all-American face, looks that were made for a yearbook or the "after" photo in a dental pamphlet. He was every mother's son, a serious student, happy playing football but just as happy playing the trumpet in his high school band.

As a junior, he left football practice early once a week to work as an usher at the local movie theater.

Sugar Land was once a quintessential small Texas town, a company town, known for its prison farm and fields of sugar cane. The Imperial Sugar Co. employed nearly everyone.

The stadium where Hall worked his wonders no longer exists, and neither does the school. The new one will be in Missouri City with seating for a few thousand. In Hall's heyday, the Sugar Land Gators ran the Notre Dame box and played in a stadium with dim lights and wooden planks that seated a few hundred.

But in the 1950s, the fans understood that stadiums were meant to showcase champions, not replace them. A tailback who ran, passed, punted and kicked, Hall is defined by his high school career because his college and pro experience was fragmented.

This is the reason Hall is not in the pantheon of football icons, ranked with the Doak Walkers or Earl Campbells or Eric Dickersons among the many who trail him on the all-time Texas high school rushing lists.

What keeps this tale from becoming melancholy, or another take on the familiar theme of high promise unfulfilled, is the fact that by all accounts Ken has led a happy and exemplary life, with one wife and two sons, nothing but success in business and a smooth, active retirement. All of which cuts to the heart of the legend. Ken Hall was, always has been, a modest, caring, unselfish, unspoiled, uncomplaining character.

It was as if the football fates had decided he was the perfect high school hero and his golden boy, golden years would end there.

So this is the tradeoff: In his maturity, he was not in the forefront of public consciousness. But for those who consider high school the best years of their lives, Kenneth Hall was in a class of his own.

What a score you could make on one of those sports trivia quizzes if you were asked: What Texan holds the lifetime record for rushing yards? The answer would not be Walker, Campbell, Dickerson, Dick Todd, Billy Sims or Warren McVea. And never mind the rest of America.

The answer would be Kenneth Hall, who had 11,232 yards between 1950 and 1953. No other schoolboy ever reached 10,000. And for nearly 25 years, the answer was Ken Hall in four other major categories: most yards in a season, most touchdowns in a season and a career and most total offense in a career.

His record for 100-yard games, 38, stood for 33 years until a kid from Florida named Emmitt Smith broke it.

As a senior in 1953, against Lutheran High of Houston, he rushed for 520 yards, scored seven touchdowns and kicked seven extra points. Then, with the game in the second quarter, he came out.

Tackling Hall was enough to make a star of an opposing player. "To me, he was a big Doak Walker," said Bobby Williams, who played against him at Missouri City and later was a player and coach at Rice.

Hall was part of the greatest recruiting class Texas A&M ever had, including such coveted prospects as John David Crow, Jim Stanley, Loyd Taylor, Charley Krueger and Bobby Joe Conrad. It was so good the NCAA slapped the Aggies with a two-year probation.

The first time he touched the ball as a freshman, Hall scored, and the recruits were quickly hailed as A&M's Team of Tomorrow. But for the polite Hall, tomorrow never came.

There was no reason to believe Kenneth would not thrive at Aggieland, playing for a coach, Bear Bryant, who loved the running game.

On the varsity, he never started a game or finished a season, a lasting regret to Aggies of that period and the greatest regret of Bryant's career. Years later, he wrote Ken a letter saying so.

Hall wasn't prepared for the ferocious brand of football the Bear favored in those years. Bryant miscast Hall from the start, moving him to fullback and linebacker, positions he never had played. In the middle of his junior year, Ken went home and married his high school sweetheart. Crow would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, but he says if Bryant understood Ken better, "the world would never have heard of John David Crow."

Hall played in Canada and with the Colts, Oilers and Cardinals. He ran back a kickoff 104 yards for the Oilers, even though his knees were ruined. He gave up football at 26. He now lives the retired life in Fredricksburg, about 40 miles northwest of San Antonio, and is still surprised when passers-by ask for his autograph.

One of his Aggies coaches said he looked like "a Greek god." Ken Hall was no quitter, and his attitude was anything but bitter.

"Coach Bryant said I was his biggest mistake," he once mused. "There is honor in that."

[sweetwater07]

anyone here anything about Dee Walker of snyder...i know he went to SMU also but haven't heard anything about him....figured he might play some next year though in his sophmore season...

[Snyder_TigerFan]

I know that Shaud Williams is the back-up RB to Willis McGahee in Buffalo. He does get a little playing time.
Shaud Williams (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=7034)

As for Dee Walker, I haven't heard anything about him while he's been at SMU. I have checked their website through out the year and I don't think that he's had any playing time. Maybe he'll get to play next year.

[Paratrooper]

Originally posted by GS#17
When you look at the top 10 list earlier in the thread and players like Earl Campbell, Joe Washington, Steve Worster, etc. are not on there, how can they be considered the "greatest running back in the history of Texas high School football?" Not a knock on any player or anyone's views, just curious as to how they get votes.

What impact did they have on the game? I know Joe Washington, Steve Worster and Earl Campbell are in the Texas High School Hall of fame so they must have done something right. In college Worster was 4th running for the Heisman and Campbell won it. I think the Texas High School Hall of Fame may disagree with you on this one. Not necessarily do you have the most yards to be the best.

[sinfan75]

I think you go with Kenneth Hall. His career rushing mark could be forever be unbroken. And remember most of the games he played in he was taken out at halftime.

[Old Green]

Originally posted by sinfan75
I think you go with Kenneth Hall. His career rushing mark could be forever be unbroken. And remember most of the games he played in he was taken out at halftime. I'm for Hall

[neck_06]

how can you not pick Dickerson? he is the 2nd all-time leading rusher in NFL History!!!

[neck_06]

Eric "Demetric" Dickerson. . .Rams’ first-round draft pick, second player overall, 1983 draft. . .Rushed for NFL-record 2,105 yards, 1984. . . Gained 1,800 or more rushing yards three of first four seasons. . . Retired as the second all-time leading rusher with 13,259 yards on 2,996 carries. . .Named to six Pro Bowls. . .All-Pro five times. . .Led the league in rushing three times with Rams, once with Colts. . .Born September 2, 1960, in Sealy, Texas.

[STANG RED]

I truly believe, if Earl Campbell had played for a better team and better coach than Bum (idiot, moron) Phillips in the pros, he would have set records that would still be standing. Only Jim Brown had the same combination of size, speed, and power that Earl the Pearl possessed. Earl was probably a little faster than Brown.
At the pro level, Earl was the best, when he was at his best. Too bad Bum abbused (overused) him like he did.

Also, I'd like to give props to Kenneth Norman of Sweetwater from back in the mid to late 80s. I dont know what his his total yardage ended up being, but I know he had around 2000 in each of his last two years. He was awsome! He was also a two way starter, so he only carried the ball 15 to 20 times per game. He was also the main punt and kick returner. I dont know how many, but he ran many returns back for TDs also.

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by sweetwater07
anyone here anything about Dee Walker of snyder...i know he went to SMU also but haven't heard anything about him....figured he might play some next year though in his sophmore season...
Last that I heard, Dee reshirted this year. Wished I had read this sooner as he was at church yesterday and I could have asked.

[Paratrooper]

Originally posted by sinfan75
I think you go with Kenneth Hall. His career rushing mark could be forever be unbroken. And remember most of the games he played in he was taken out at halftime.

Really.....so this guy rushed for 11,000 plus yards and was taken out at the half? Man that is impressive.

[Hupernikomen]

Byerly from Newton was one of the all-time greats. Don't know his stats other than he rushed for over 3000 yards one season, but I know he is considered as one of the best ever in THSF. As far as the greatest of them all...Kenneth Hall holds the national record for yards in a career..tough to beat that.

[District303aPastPlayer]

how kenneth hall isnt running away with this is unreal. i dont know how you argue against 11,000 yards in 4 years in high school? i mean, average it out... its about 2800 yards a year... think about how rediculous that is...

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by STANG RED
I truly believe, if Earl Campbell had played for a better team and better coach than Bum (idiot, moron) Phillips in the pros, he would have set records that would still be standing. Only Jim Brown had the same combination of size, speed, and power that Earl the Pearl possessed. Earl was probably a little faster than Brown.
At the pro level, Earl was the best, when he was at his best. Too bad Bum abbused (overused) him like he did.

Also, I'd like to give props to Kenneth Norman of Sweetwater from back in the mid to late 80s. I dont know what his his total yardage ended up being, but I know he had around 2000 in each of his last two years. He was awsome! He was also a two way starter, so he only carried the ball 15 to 20 times per game. He was also the main punt and kick returner. I dont know how many, but he ran many returns back for TDs also.

I could not disagree with you more! The Oilers had a pretty good team and Bum was a great coach. Earl's biggest problem was his own mindset. He refused to go out of bounds to avoid a hit. He usually punished the tackler!

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by neck_06
how can you not pick Dickerson? he is the 2nd all-time leading rusher in NFL History!!!

Isn't he third?

[mrescape43]

Originally posted by Paratrooper
Here are the amount of yards gained and where people rank amoung all Texas High School players top 10. I know there are folks that I left off in the intial poll

RUSHING YARDS IN A CAREER

(1) 11,232 Kenneth Hall, Sugar Land, 1950-53
(2) 8,855 Wes Danaher, Calallen, 1992-95
(3) 8,441 Rodney Thomas, Groveton, 1987-90
(4) 8,423 Cedric Benson, Midland Lee, 1998-00
(5) 8,411 Robert Strait, Cuero, 1985-88
(6) 8,143 Buddy Hanson, Tom Bean, 2000-03
(7) 7,738 Billy Sims, Hooks, 1972-74
(8) 7,712 Shaud Williams, Andrews, 1995-98
(9) 7,621 Jeff Spikes, Burkeville, 1991-94
(10) 7,582 David Overstreet, Big Sandy, 1973-76

If Shaud Williams had not played the first 5 games in high school on the JV team, no telling how much higher he would be on the list. I read an article saying that he had scored 25 touchdowns in 5 games on JV before coach brought him to Varsity. If you take approx 200 yds a game that he averaged, he could very well be top 2 or 3 on that list.

[BullFrog Dad]

Originally posted by mrescape43
If Shaud Williams had not played the first 5 games in high school on the JV team, no telling how much higher he would be on the list. I read an article saying that he had scored 25 touchdowns in 5 games on JV before coach brought him to Varsity. If you take approx 200 yds a game that he averaged, he could very well be top 2 or 3 on that list. If you look at Cedric Benson's HS career it shows that he played only three years on varsity. If he had a fourth season with yardage equal to what he averaged the other three he finishes about a yard behind Hall!

[mrescape43]

Originally posted by BullFrog Dad
If you look at Cedric Benson's HS career it shows that he played only three years on varsity. If he had a fourth season with yardage equal to what he averaged the other three he finishes about a yard behind Hall!

I agree with you. Benson was incredible.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
I could not disagree with you more! The Oilers had a pretty good team and Bum was a great coach. Earl's biggest problem was his own mindset. He refused to go out of bounds to avoid a hit. He usually punished the tackler!

No! Earls "biggest problem" was Bum Phillips. Earl didnt call the plays! He didnt run the ball 35 to 40 times per game by his choice. Bum knew that he was ruining Earls body by overworking him the way he did. If he didnt, he was even a bigger fool than I think he was. I can think of alot of things you could call Bum Phillips, but great coach aint one of em.
I know what you are saying about Earls mindset though. I dont guess he ever ran out of bounds. Some defenders probably pushed him out a few time, just to keep from getting steam rolled.

[mrescape43]

Originally posted by STANG RED
No! Earls "biggest problem" was Bum Phillips. Earl didnt call the plays! He didnt run the ball 35 to 40 times per game by his choice. Bum knew that he was ruining Earls body by overworking him the way he did. If he didnt, he was even a bigger fool than I think he was. I can think of alot of things you could call Bum Phillips, but great coach aint one of em.
I know what you are saying about Earls mindset though. I dont guess he ever ran out of bounds. Some defenders probably pushed him out a few time, just to keep from getting steam rolled.

Earl rolled over many defenders. I like the highlight of the Ram that he ran over. I don't remember his name.

5 or 6 years ago 2 of my sons friends were at the Alamo and Earl was there with a group of 10 or 12 people. Earl was very nice and let them take many pics with him. He also signed autographs for everyone that wanted one.

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by mrescape43
Earl rolled over many defenders. I like the highlight of the Ram that he ran over. I don't remember his name.

5 or 6 years ago 2 of my sons friends were at the Alamo and Earl was there with a group of 10 or 12 people. Earl was very nice and let them take many pics with him. He also signed autographs for everyone that wanted one.
Wasn't that Isiah Robertson??

[mrescape43]

Originally posted by DaHop72
Wasn't that Isiah Robertson??

Could have been. It just looked like the wrong guy had the horns on his helmet!

Bo Jackson rolling over Bos was also classic.

[HillBoy]

My Dad told me David Overstreet of Big Sandy was one of the best he ever saw. He went to OU and his freshman year they used his game tapes to show backs how to block.