SPORTS
1974 champ shares season journey
The Bowie News is publishing a letter sent in from David Prater, who was the starting center, co-captain and named to the all-state tournament team on the 1974 Bowie boy’s basketball state title team. He is the son of Bettie and the late Paul Prater and wanted to give his first-hand account of that season as a tribute to his Coach Gayno Shelton after the team was featured in the looking back series. The letter will be published in two parts.
The excitement of moving should have been more tempered by the fact we were leaving a place we had called home for 10 years. Being an introvert, I had teammates, classmates and neighbors of which only a few I would say were friends.
Of course we were not moving to some strange town. We were moving to Bowie, where dad had played on the first team to go to state and mom graduated with Temple Tucker and saw four straight state championships. We had come to Bowie every Christmas and summer my whole life. I knew Heard’s Hardware, Bradley’s Jewelry, Piggly Wiggly and other downtown stores. I knew the names of lots of mom and dad’s friends and classmates. I just didn’t know anyone my age.
The team I was leaving had a 10–14 record that year. One of their better records and the first time for double digit victories in while. If you believed the newspaper, and as a 16–17 year old I did, it was implied and sometimes stated that the reason we didn’t win more was the poor post play.
If I had a good game, they wrote about the rarity of a good game by me and how it was wasted in a losing effort. I hoped the move would allow me to just play and not be the reason we won or lost. Bowie had a good basketball program with winning seasons, so I hoped I could just fit in.
We had been in town for a week or so and it was time for a haircut. Dad and I walked into the barber shop and were the only customers. I went first and after a minute the barber asked if we were new in town. I said we had just moved in from New Mexico and I was going to be a senior. He slapped me on the back a couple of times and said, “By God you are real. We heard a 6-foot-8-inch Mexican was moving in and you were all-state for three years!”
I was terrified, horrified, mortified and every other fied you can think of. I quickly tried to explain I wasn’t any good. I had barely made all-district honorable mention in a four team district. I was not going to lead the team to state. I wasn’t that good. I suddenly felt a lot of expectations and pressure.
Some time passed and dad decided we needed a break from repairs on the turn of the century house we were living in, so we went to see if we could get in the high school gym. We were in luck. The back door of the school was unlocked. We walked in and started looking at the trophy cases and pictures of old teams.
Found his team pictures and some state championship trophies. Suddenly we heard a heavy door open and close and out marched a short little janitor from the gym side. I could tell it was the janitor by the big wad of keys on his hip. He headed towards the front and glancing over his shoulder saw us. I swear he stopped in mid-stride, spun around on his back foot, marched right up to us, stuck out his hand while looking up at us and said, “Hi, I’m Gayno Shelton, boys’ basketball coach. Can I help you?” I hope he didn’t see the disappointment I felt when I was thinking, “Great, another little want-to-be basketball player who is trying to coach. What is he going to teach me about becoming a better post player?”
He took us through the gym, assigned me a locker and then started talking crazy. He gave me a basketball that I was responsible for keeping up with. He said the gym was open most evenings and on the weekend. That’s crazy! Gyms were only open during basketball season and only if there was practice or a game. We had 40 guys and half a dozen old basketballs between us. Who had their own real basketball? He then said he wanted me to do some weight lifting. That was something new also.
A few days later I got the courage to ride my 10-speed bicycle to the gym and see if it was open. There were quite a few people there. After introductions, we started a new game. One of the first plays, Bobby Brashear dribbled down the left side of the lane. I moved to the other side to get out of his way and found a pass heading right at me. I don’t know if I scored, but I remember thinking, I had better keep an eye on him all the time or I might find a pass in my ear.
It was a great summer. I met the church youth group which became a haven from the expectations of basketball and the disappointment people would have once they saw me play.
I rode my 10-speed all over town, played lots of basketball and lifted a few weights. I bulked up my 6-foot-8-inch frame to 180 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Indians wrapped up their first playoff berth since 2005 with a dominant win against Chico on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 10-0 in four and half innings due to run-rule to earn the district’s final playoff spot and break a nearly two decade drought.
Nocona was in a similar situation last year after beating Chico in the first game before losing twice more to the Dragons, once in the regular season finale and then in the play-in series.
The Indians won the first game earlier in the week 9-4, but knew they could play better. On Thursday they then proved it.
In the bottom of the first inning, Nocona got the scoring going as Wesley Murphey hit an RBI double. Two batters later, Landon Fatheree drove in two runs with a double.
Konnor Harrington followed with a groundout that scored another run as the Indians led 4-0.
In the second inning, Nocona kept up the pressure. Brody Langford drove in a run with a single. Later with the bases loaded, Caden Belcher was hit by a pitch that scored a run. A later passed ball allowed one more run to score as the Indians extended their lead to 7-0.
Nocona got one more run in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Wesley Murphey grounded into a fielder’s choice out that scored one run to make it 8-0.
The Indians got the final two runs they needed in the fourth inning. Walker Murphey and RJ Walker hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Nocona up 10-0.
Chico needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule. Instead Walker Murphey completed the shutout performance by retiring the next three batters to end the game and the Dragon’s season.
The Indians won 10-0 and earned the district’s final playoff spot.
Wesley Murphey and Fatheree drove in two runs each to lead the team. Walker Murphey led the team with three hits. The team finished with 11 hits and drew six walks.
Walker Murphey also allowed zero runs and one hit while striking out five batters and walking none. The defense behind him committed only one fielding error.
Coach Zach Denson was beyond proud of this team for breaking the playoff drought.
“The amount of growth that they have shown throughout the year has been the most incredible I’ve seen in 13 years of coaching,” Denson said. “We went on a little skid in the middle of the year and that could have derailed our young team, but it actually brought us closer together as a unit.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits were able to clinch the final playoff spot on Thursday with a senior night home win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-1 in a game where all of the offensive action happened in the first three innings for both teams.
Bowie came into the game needing to win. Failing to do so would mean setting up a series with the Bearcats for the final playoff spot. If the Jackrabbits just took care of business against a team they had already beaten once pretty easily then they could avoid that whole situation.
Henrietta knew it was playing for the future of its season and struck first. A one out double followed by a single two batters later put the Bearcats up 1-0 against Bowie’s top pitcher Edmond De Leon on the mound.
The offense responded in the same inning with a two-out rally. Troy Kesey hit a single and Hayden Rodriguez drew a walk. De Leon then hit a double to drive one run in.
Cooper Hammer was then hit a by a pitch to load the bases up. Rayder Mann then drew a walk that scored one run and the Jackrabbits led 2-1 before the next batter popped up for out three.
Bowie added to that lead in the second inning. Boston Farris led off with a triple. Tucker Jones then hit a groundball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Farris to score and make it 3-1 for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie then extended the lead in the third inning. Hammer hit a one-out single. Mann and Cy Egenbacher followed with hits that resulted in fielding errors for the Bearcats. The Jackrabbits scored one run on the second error.
Farris then hit a single that drove in another run. After a strikeout, a wild pitch then allowed another runner to score as Bowie was up 6-1. Another strikeout ended the scoring for the Jackrabbits.
The next three and half innings saw neither team score runs, though both had several chances with two runners getting on at times.
Henrietta’s best chance came in the fifth inning with two singles, but De Leon and Bowie’s defense shut that down. De Leon retired the final seven batters he faced as the Jackrabbits won 6-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.
To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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