Championship 1952 NDHS Football Team Honored - 10/5/2010 on Vimeo
Jeanne Stern Laurie - 1952 Bulldog Cheerleader
Richard Cooke - Remembers Coach Hyde's Thank You Letter
Carl Hearne - "Lubbock suited up 125 players, we had 30"
Kelly Parks - "how this event happened"
David Abbott - "we lost by four blocked punts"
Corky McGee - "challenges we faced"
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From Robert Burgess -
quarterback - Before the 1952 season Jim
Lawson, of the Dallas Times Hearld, wrote an article with a
headline of: North Dallas Boasts Experineced Eleven. And,
in his very first paragraph he stated that ND had experience at
every position. And, that ND could very well bid for the Dallas
championship.
As I'm writing this I'm looking at our 1952 team picture.
Sure there were a lot of outstanding players like, Delfeld,
Ernie, Polen, Kingcaid, Cooke, McGee, Coker, Degrazier, Greer,
Mayo Neal, Verble, Edgar Phillips, Farley, Chester, George Cole,
Sellers, McCauley, Abbott, and many others. Too many to
single out. But most of all we had a team. And,
importantly we had the same coaches ND had in 1950 when the team
went winless. So, what was the difference? It was
the players and the spirit ND had that year. It even
carried over to 1953 when the team only lost one game and went 9
and 1. Guess to whom...Woodrow Wilson. Yes, it's the
players who make a team, who decide individudally what they want
to contribute and how much effort they want to put out.
With the right mix of attitude and determination we found, that
year of 1952, very little could not be achieved. We were
called a "Cinderella" team in 1952 by sport writers...a team
which rose above expectation and achieved the unexpected. But,
as players we expected to win, as losing was the unexpected.
That 1952 team had fun both at practice field and during the
game. As mentioned, we simply did not want to lose.
Did we lose? Yes we did but not often. And, after
losing we were not a happy group. We always thought if we
could just play that team again we would beat them! Defeat
was not what we were expecting. Every player on the 1952 team,
regardless of how often they played, added more to the success
of the team than they ever thought at the time. Our
practices were intense and our competitiveness between each
other was strong. As a result each player had a sense of
personal success and pride, and was proud to be a team member.
We walked the halls with our heads high.
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From Tony DeGrazier - Fullback - "As I look back through the years that I played football, 1952 at North Dallas was the most inspiring - even greater than my senior year at Baylor when we beat Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs of '52 did not have a legacy of football brilliance; our school lost every game in '50 and won only four in '51. Our '52 team was as undersized as our school, less than 900 students. I remember that Lubbock, our State Semi-final opponent had about 3,000 students. However, in spite of the lack of numbers and size, we could field a starting line-up with a quarterback who had a rifle arm, a running back who left the opposition in disbelief, an All American guard who weighed 145 pounds, great speed at the flanker positions and a fullback with the size of a tackle. Moreover, our line on both offense and defense was efficient and tough on every down. We lost our first district game to Woodrow Wilson knowing that we played poorly. After that and some soul searching, we won every game until the State Semi-final. We can know that it might have been a different outcome if we had not sustained so many key injuries, but Lubbock had a strong team and a lot more depth. You have got to believe that our '52 team and it's highly competitive culture gave all of us a sound foundation for future challenges." |
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INTERVIEW
WITH BILLY VERBLE OVER THE PHONE -
SORRY YOU MISSED THE 1952 “GLORY DAYS”
EVENT - I wish I could have joined you guys at that event.
There was never as good a season as 1952, without
question. We had a remarkable team. WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST OPPOSING TEAM?
- Woodrow Wilson game was one of the toughest games until we got
to Lubbock, WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST PLAYER YOU WENT
AGAINST? - It was
Glen Branch of Crozier Tech.
He was a 150-pound all city player who was extremely hard
to work. He was a funny
guy. I once asked Glen how he made all-city and he told
me that after every tackle he would run over and stand near the
tackled player and turn his back to the press box so they would
see his number. I
still talk to Glen occasionally.
WHERE DID YOU GO TO GRADE SCHOOL?
I went to James Bonham
grade school and Maple Lawn where I pitched softball. WHERE DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE? I interviewed
at Tulsa University with Robert Burgess to see if we wanted to
play there after high school.
I decided on Tulsa and played four years there.
Burgess stayed in Dallas and played at SMU.
I became a coach/teacher after graduation. DO YOU REMEMBER THE SLAP FIGHTS YOU HAD
WITH EARL FARLEY?
Yes. DID THEY HURT?
Actually after a while it didn’t hurt any more.
Farley got a scholarship at Rice.
He was a big kidder. Once we were in his backyard having
a shooting contest.
We were shooting at an owl in a tree.
No matter how careful I aimed, I missed all my shots.
Later he told me the gun I had was loaded with blanks. WHAT ABOUT THE COACHES AT NDHS?
I loved Rufus Hyde and Mr. Adkins.
Also Mr. Bollinger was a good baseball coach.
I played first base.
Other memorable players were Red Board, George Poston,
Robert Burgess. I just want to tell all the 1952 players on
the NDHS football team that are left that it was a great year. |
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FROM JERRY POLEN - END - THE 1952 BULLDOG SEASON WAS
OUTSTANDING. WE WORKED HARD AND PLAYED HARD.
EVERY MAN KNEW HIS JOB AND IF ANYONE WAS HURT HIS
REPLACEMENT WAS READY TO GO. WE WERE A TEAM. MY
CHANCE CAME WHEN COACH HYDE SAID HE WAS MOVING DEGRAZIER TO
FULLBACK AND HE WANTED TO KNOW IF I COULD PLAY LEFT END.
I SAID YES AND THAT I WOULD NOT LET HIM DOWN. I DON’T
THINK I DID.
SOME OF THE OUTSTANDING PLAYERS WERE:
KINCAID, THE OTHER END, HE KNEW HIS JOB AND DID IT.
BURGESS WAS THE LEADER, DEGRAZIER WAS THE WORK HORSE, WHEN WE
NEEDED YARDAGE MANICCHIA WAS THE SPARK PLUG. IT WAS HARD
TO BLOCK FOR HIM---YOU NEVER KNEW WHERE HE WAS GOING TO RUN. DEFENSE HAD SOME REAL BAD BOYS:
COKER, CHEWNING, VERBLE, FARLEY, KINCAID, HEARNE, HOLCOLM,
McGEE. THESE ARE JUST A FEW, THERE WERE MANY MORE. THERE ARE TWO PLAYS THAT I REMEMBER
WELL. WOODROW WAS ON OUR 40 YARD LINE—THEY CALLED A
RUNNING PLAY RIGHT AT ME. I KNEW I WAS GOING TO MAKE THE
TACKLE, BUT THEIR RIGHT HALF LED THE PLAY. HE HIT ME IN
THE THROAT WITH HIS FIST AND BROKE THE CARTILAGE IN MY ADAMS
APPLE. I WAS SENT TO PARKLAND HOSPITAL AND IN THE
AMBULANCE I OPENED MY EYES AND THERE WAS O.S. HOLDING MY ARM AND
SAYING I WAS OK AND WE WOULD WIN THE GAME. THE SECOND PLAY WAS WITH THE UNBEATEN
SAN JACINTO GOLDEN BEARS. IT WAS A DEFENSIVE BATTLE.
I REMEMBER COKER—THE MAN IN FRONT OF HIM KEPT GROWLING AT HIM.
COKER GOT MAD. THE MAN HAD ONE OF THOSE STEEL FACE GUARDS.
I SAW COKER GRAB IT AND BREAK IT IN HALF. NO MORE GROWLING
FROM THAT GUY. OF COURSE THERE WAS THE 62 YARD PASS THAT
BURGESS THREW AND KICKED THE EXTRA POINT TO WIN 13 TO 12. ROAD TRIPS WERE GREAT, GOOD FOOD, GOOD
FRIENDS, AND YOU ALWAYS HAD MANICCHIA DOING SOMETHING TO KEEP US
LAUGHING. THE LUBBOCK GAME WAS A DISASTER—WHEN
YOUR NUMBER ONE QUARTERBACK AND KICKER IS OUT THE CHANCES OF
WINNING ARE SLIM. WE ALL GAVE IT ALL WE HAD. I FEEL
LIKE WE WERE OUT COACHED. NONE OF OUR COACHES HAD EVER
ADVANCED THIS FAR AND I THINK IT AFFECTED THEM—LUBBOCK’S ROSTER
OUT NUMBERED US ABOUT 4 TO 1 TOO. |
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FROM A DALLAS NEWSPAPER - This tells what a great team NDHS fielded in 1952.
FOUR BULLDOGS ON
COACHES STAR TEAM
North Dallas, co-holder
of the 1952 city
championship along with
Adamson, placed two
lineman and two backs on
the Coaches Official
All-City football team
announced Saturday.
The coaches’ team,
selected by head coaches
of the six city high
schools in District
4-AAAA coincided for the
second straight year
with The Times Herald
All-City Eleven.
The North Dallas
players, End Jerry Polen
and Guard Carl McGee,
were the only unanimous
choices. Other
Bulldog players named by
the coaches were
Quarterback Robert
Burgess and Fullback
Tony DeGrazier.
Adamson and Woodrow
Wilson each garnered two
places. Guard
Jackie Wood and Back
Freddie Goodman are the
Leopard representatives,
and Back Bobby Ewell and
Tackle David Mitchell, a
guard, received three
votes at tackle and two
at guard to earn a berth
as tackle.
Other players named were
End Tommy Kelly, Sunset;
Tackle Bill Reinle,
Forest; and Center Glen
Branch, Crozier Tech. |
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