SPORTS
STORM CENTER: Missing an old friend
Earlier this week after having a medical test done in Wichita Falls, I decided to visit the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
PWHF president and curator Johnny Mantell has done a spectacular job putting together the museum, which is located on 8th Street next to the coffee house in downtown.
There was one part of the museum that really stood out for me.
In the entry way, there’s an old wrestling card from the world-famous Dallas Sportatorium.
Accompanying this story is an old advertisement for the Sportatorium, which was located on Industrial Boulevard in Dallas.
The barn-like structure became a mecca for entertainment, and not just for professional wrestling.
Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley were two musicians who performed at the Sportatorium for Ed McLemore – a longtime promoter from Dallas.
Back in its heyday, there were professional wrestling cards every Tuesday.
That’s right. It wasn’t like World Wrestling Entertainment just coming through town once in a while like they did Friday at Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.
Every Tuesday, top stars wrestled at the Sportatorium, and all the big names wanted to grapple there. Pro wrestling TV tapings were norm here.
The list of wrestlers reads like a who’s who, and many of them are enshrined in the PWHF.
Lou Thesz, Fritz Von Erich (real last name Adkisson, as many Montague County residents know), Dory Funk, Jr. and Gene Kiniski are just some of the standouts who laced up boots inside the Sportatorium.
Through McLemore’s efforts, Dallas earned the reputation as the “Professional Wrestling Capitol of Texas.”
The low cost of entertainment was another draw. Ringside seats, even in the late 1960s, were just $3. Box seats went for $2.50, and general admission was $1.50.
The capacity for the Sportatorium also helped, with only about 4,500 seats, both music and wrestling shows proved to be a hot ticket. Read more from this column in the Aug. 27 Bowie News.
Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.
Ed McLemore’s Sportatorium was the site for many top professional wrestling matches and country music concerts in Dallas back in the 1940s through 1980s. Today, the Sportatorium is no more, a vacant lot off Interstate-35 East on Riverfront Boulevard. (Submitted photo)
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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