SPORTS
BHS names newest Hall of Honor members
The Bowie High School Athletic Booster Club announced on Friday during halftime of the football game the latest members who would be inducted into Bowie’s Hall of Honor.
Former Bowie athletes and coaches Ronnie Miller, Ralph and Jeanie Stark will have an official ceremony at a later date.
Ronnie Miller
Ronnie Paul Miller was a 1975 graduate of Bowie High School.
Miller was born February 2, 1957 in Wichita Falls, to Wayne and Joreen (Reid) Miller.
He was an accomplished multi-sport athlete and during high school played four years of football, basketball and track, three years of baseball and one year of golf. He was a member of the 1974 State Championship Basketball team and received All District honors in 1975. He was a two year letterman, and selected All District in both 1973 and 1974, and was selected as an All-State linebacker on the 1974 state semifinals football team. He also was a member of the 1973 Regional Championship Baseball team.
After graduating from the University of North Texas, he became an educator and coach for Bowie and an assistant coach on the 1991 state semifinalist basketball team. In addition to his long tenure at BHS, he also worked at Prairie Valley, Bellevue and Midway school districts for a combined teaching/coaching career of 42 years.
On July 30, 1983, Ronnie married Rie Sullivan in Henrietta. Ronnie and Rie raised two sons, Kelly and Matthew.
Ralph and Jeanie Stark
Ralph was a 1977 graduate of Bowie High School while Jeanie graduated in 1976.
Ralph was born on February 27, 1958 to parents Thermon and Billie Stark of Bowie.
He ran track and played football all four years of high school. He placed in district and regionals in the 120 and 330 high hurdles and the mile relay and was a state qualifier in the 330 high hurdles. In football, he played for a district championship team and led the defense that only gave up only three points to district opponents his senior year. After a third-round loss in the playoffs, Ralph received All District and the Texas Sportswriter’s Association All State honors as a defensive end.
Ralph married his high school sweetheart, Jeanie Proctor in 1978. Ralph and Jeanie had children Dylan and Chelsea Stark, who were both standout athletes at BHS.
Dylan later became a coach, head football coach and athletic director as well.
Jeanie was born to parents Homer and Beatrice Proctor of Sunset on July 28, 1958.
She was a four-year letterman in basketball and one year in track at Bowie High. She received all district honors three years in basketball. She went on to play basketball at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas from 1976-1978 and was named the MSU Female Athlete of the Year in 1978 when she averaged 16 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Jeanie graduated from MSU in 1981 with an Education Degree and later added a Masters in Education in 1999.
She was a teacher and coach at Montague ISD from 1981-1998 where she had a streak of five straight seasons without a single loss, winning 72 basketball games in a row.
She was honored and inducted into the Montague ISD Hall of Honor in 2011.
After a brief stint as a teacher and coach at Windthorst High School she moved to Bowie High School in 1999 where she started the volleyball program. She was a teacher and coach from 1999-2017.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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