PlummMeanGreen

Amen, brother Jack.👍👍 Were you at that MG Club meeting in the 70’s at the downtown Dallas One Main Place? That meeting when Abner & Ron Shanklin were sitting on the fancy sofa during much of that get-together? (Funny that Shank’ always called Abner “Father Time” whch ol’ #28 always got a big kick out of). Some of you have heard or read about this story but...at that meeting Abner was asked about the Jim Crowe era when he & Leon King integrated Texas intercollegiate sports at a traditional white Texas university. Abner proceeded to tell a group hanging around him & Ron Shanklin about when our team took a train down to Houston to play the UH Coogs. Long story short—the Hotel management told UNT coaches that Abner & Leon could not stay in the hotel. That announcement made the white players very mad so they told the UNT coaches to pass it onto hotel management they would sleep on the train with Abner & Leon that night—& they did. (Some call that doing the right thing). 🦅❇️🦅

Pinch me! Wake me! Never mind—don’t wake me! 🤠

😳 SWEET HOLY...

I’m honestly excited for Phil Bennett joining Littrell’s staff. We’ve just not had his pedigree as a coordinator hired since I started following this football program post-Indian wars. PB seems almost like a kid on Christmas Eve getting ready for the big day. Bennett seems to have many friends & supporters in the Great Southwest with recruiting contacts galore & at his age (not considered old by today’s standards) he seems ready to get the job done, instead of being outta’ here on the first plane out of Denton International Airport.😲 We really do have something to look forward to up in Mean Green Country. •••Should be fun to watch a 41,000 enrollment Texas university start spreading its wings. Top 25 rankings, bowl wins & record-breaking attendance at Apogee Stadium I believe can be attainable because of SL’s high flying offense & a “D” that will be able to dominate some games. 🦅❇️🦅

In a perfect Mean Green world it would be nice if we had a JUCO defensive player sign who’d come in & compete for a starting job. He would also have 3 years of eligibility. Twould’ be real nice. 🦅❇️🦅

Tithes will have to be larger to pay his salary. Congrats, Jason! 👍👍

And maybe because our coaches have no additional recruiting Info until tomorrow or even after signing day? It is my understanding that there are more 3 & 4 star athletes out there in the Southwest footprint.

What Network or Channel in DFW was the game on?

Certainly no disrespect to Rodney King, but maybe its time to heed his words?😳 🙄So proceed with the knowledge that at some point CV-19 will not be around forever & we can recover all our faculties or at least most of them.

Hold the board, greenjoe. 😊 There is a chance Captain Von Trapp may be related since my Grt-Grt Grandpappy spent some time in Canada 🇨🇦. I’m still researching it thru Ancestry & will next try to get Christopher’s family tree & check all its branches. (Not really much else to do during a 1 year pandemic, right)? Since you are a favorite son of Denton & in it’s music scene—did you know Sly Stone?

🎵😱Did you know...Denton native Sly Stone (of Sly & the Family Stone fame) & Denton native Abner Haynes are cousins? 🦅❇️🦅

Lamar Hunt, H.L. Hunt, Hank Stram, North Texas, the Texans, the Chiefs, Jim Crowe in the 1950-1960’s South & more Abner talks about. 🦅❇️🦅 🦅❇️🦅

A good hire for the ‘Stangs. SMU in one of their Russ Pots/Brad Thomas “Mustang Mania” type promotions should hype the 2 new DC’s Leavitt vs Phil Bennett in a post game wrestling match this September. Call it the, uh, “Battle of the Bruisers?” 😳 🦅❇️🦅

••• I met Scott Hall’s dad at the Big 10 Indiana Hoosiers/UNT football game at Apogee in 2011. Class act all the way plus—the Mean Green won the darn game.😊 •••SUMG reminded me yesterday that the ULL/UNT game was on a Friday night. 🦅❇️🦅

All the best to Dre Siggers, but our team & fans will show up & probably in larger numbers for this game. Ain’t college football a blast? 🦅❇️🦅

I’ve read somewhere (his bio?) what then SMU HFC Hayden Fry said about some doggone’ scary stuff concerning 🔺SMU🔹 great Jerry Levias & all the death threats to him even from Southwest Conference schools, specifically TCU. 🦅❇️🦅 Abner Haynes receives Presidential Medal of Honor Award 🦅❇️🦅

As one already said maybe not so much what Coach Bennett has to work with, but who he does have will be given the motivation & plan that fits who we have? 🦅❇️🦅

The historical aspects of Haynes & King’s integration at North Texas & the first 2 blacks to do so for Texas colleges football would be the clincher for a statue, but the think tank on campus would I’m sure figure all this out. Of late, they are on a pretty good run of doing so. If this UNT bucket list item happened I’d hope they’d entertain the idea of putting such a statue on the UNT Student Side. That might be the ideal spot since this is all about being a very educational thing for UNT students who have no idea of this story. Even a single statue of both Haynes & King together would be nice &...very cool. 🦅I’d always heard Lamar Hunt signed Abner in the south end zone at Fouts, but have no idea if that’s true or just an urban tale. 🦅In 1959 Abner Haynes made the 1st team Time Magazine All America football team. ••• Time magazine was the premier All America team in which to receive a selection in that era. 🦅❇️🦅

2021: The year that Juneteenth became more than just a Texas holiday but—an American National holiday. All races should celebrate this day, but please leave the politics at the door. This day is so much bigger than anyone who’d try to politicize it. •••Here is the history of Juneteenth if you don’t know it completely. We have to learn from our history lest it be repeated (& we never need that to happen). https://www.history.com/.amp/news/what-is-juneteenth As far as the subject in the headliner? That would be Abner Haynes, of course. I should add that African-American Dr. Leon King entered the 1956 UNT Mean Green freshman class with Mr. Haynes. ••• Late Kansas City Chiefs owner, ie, 🔹SMU🔺alum Lamar Hunt called ❇️🦅❇️Abner Haynes “the American Football Leagues first superstar.” If you ever saw him play back then—you would agree. (Mr. Hunt’s widow, Norma, is a UNT grad). Some on GMG have made mention many times thru the years that a statue for Abner should happen while he is still with us. ❇️ Well, ain’t it time?🤔 ➡️••• A great article below about Abner, Leon & their white UNT teammates in the era of Jim Crowe. ••• Abner has told many of us on GMG the story about he & Leon King’s experience on a train when it pulled into Houston for UNT’s game with the Coogs. Heart-warming but sad (& typical) of the JIm Crowe era in the South. https://amp.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/vahe-gregorian/article243796387.html 🦅❇️🦅

Never forget reading Mickey Spagnola of the Dallas Times-Herald Q ‘& A with (then UA AD) Frank Broyles when he was entertaining the idea of Arkansas leaving the SWC for the SEC. Well, they did leave but at what cost has been the question of many. The SEC would have been better financially, but as far as SEC championships & total wins those have been too few.

I wish Jason Bean would do the necessary groveling & come back. Sideline attitude is something that can be taught, but how many of us threw a few glum & sour faces if we didn’t get what we wanted in our work-a-day world? If he finds another school we should all wish him well.

GrayEagle posted this below right after Kade Renfro “de-committed” from our favorite school. I think GE was pretty spot on except I think Jason Bean abandoned ship too soon & that before an iceberg was even in sight. Wish him well, but wish he hadn’t left. ______________________________ GrayEagle 3,285 Posted November 27, 2019 I recognize that Kade Renfro is an exceptional talent at quarterback but I'm less worried about that position. Austin Aune had the highest rating at that position of any of our quarterbacks when he came out of high school. If he recovers those skills I don't believe that Renfro could topple him. Will Kuehne is near to or equal to Renfro in passing ability. Ditto for Kason Martin. Jason Bean hasn't yet exhibited great passing skills but he is our best dual threat quarterback with plenty of potential. I believe that we already have very good quarterback candidates; perhaps moreso than any other position

The Mean Green would play in their 4’th New Orleans Bowl in a row weeks after this classic in ULL’s stadium which they call “the Swamp.” 🦅 UNT had beaten the CUSA co-champion Cincinnati Bearcats in the 2002 Big Easy classic. Enjoy! 🦅❇️🦅

I think most of us were pulling for all the G5’s who made the Top 25 last Fall to be in the polls, but let’s be real here—how many P5 conferences with schools that were regular fixtures in these T25 polls were shut down due to Covid & once they started playing didn’t have enough games under their belt to push the G5 schools out? 👍👍 Yet...way to go ULouisiana, ASU, Coastal & Marshall U (before their Rice Owls loss). 🦅❇️🦅

In the early 2000’s during the 4 years in a row we went to the New Orleans Bowl; anyway, as I recall the first 6 games of each of those seasons it seems we rarely had more than 1-2 wins so—-we’ve had bad season starts in the past yet came out OK. 🦅❇️🦅