Who doesn’t get the itch to relive the glory years?

From time to time, the urge arises, and you can’t help but pull out the old high school yearbook and let the nostalgia wash over you.

The newest inductees to the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, however, didn’t need a yearbook. They got to relive and rehash and reminisce about their high school football exploits at Saturday’s annual press conference and induction banquet — even though it had been decades since some of them were in high school.

Bob Goodrich (left) talks with former Temple High School football star Kenneth Davis Saturday at the induction ceremony for the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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James "T" Jones hands off one of the autographed footballs, which will go to auction, during the induction ceremony Saturday for the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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“It does bring back a lot of memories,” said former Kirbyville running back Earnest “Bubba” Bean, who later starred at Texas A&M and with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. “High school sports, to me, was the most fun I had playing sports. Because at that level, it was still a game. It was competitive, but still a game. I enjoyed every second of it.”

Besides Bean, the Hall of Fame’s inductee representing the era of the 1970s, the class of 2009 consisted of James “T” Jones of Childress (pre-1949), Corpus Christi Miller’s Johnny Roland (1950s), Dallas Wilson’s Bob Goodrich (1960s), Temple’s Kenneth Davis (1980s), Andrews’ Shaud Williams (1990s), the late Pat Shannon of San Antonio Jefferson in the coaching category and Dr. Newt Hasson, the team physician at Austin Westlake, in the special contributor category.

For all the inductees, the day served as a reminder of so many good times.

“I went to every game, even when I was 2 or 3 years old,” said Patrick Shannon, who was on hand to represent his father Pat, who died in 2002 at age 85. “The manager would pick me up at halftime, because sometimes I’d be asleep. But I was at every game.”

Bean, a prolific running back who racked up more than 5,500 yards rushing in high school, said his hometown — like many others across Texas — ate, slept and breathed high school football.

“As I relate back to Kirbyville, my town is only 5,000 people,” Bean said. “So if you wanted to rob the place, the best time to do it was on a Friday night, because everybody was at the football game. If we went out of town, that would have been the perfect time to rob the place. A town of that size, that’s what people went to do.”

For some, Saturday’s visit to Waco served as a kind of homecoming. Pete Ragus, 82, recalled that the 1961 Corpus Christi Miller team he coached — a team that featured inductee Johnny Roland as its star back — played and won its state championship game in Waco. That Miller squad was the first integrated team to win a state football title in Texas.

Hasson, the first team doctor to be enshrined in the Hall, also remembered his beloved Westlake Chaparrals waging many a playoff battle over at Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium.

“My first year (at Westlake), we went all the way to the state semifinals, and I thought, ‘Oh boy, this is the big time,’ ” Hasson said. “We played in big-time stadiums, we played in Waco twice, we played in College Station. It was absolutely wonderful.”

The memories of such long-ago games remained crystal clear in the minds of the inductees, most of whom were just glad someone else remembered, too.

“I’m glad there are still people above ground who remember those days,” Bean said, laughing.

“I think most people I’ve seen are surprised I’m here and still walking upright,” said Jones, who went on to become athletic director at Texas Tech. “Considering the vintage era that I’m from.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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