Eagle71

http://www.hudl.com/profile/11529816/Jeremiah-Harris

https://m.hudl.com/profile/8483070/Brandon-Thomas

https://www.hudl.com/profile/8650799/JeVaun-Dabon

https://www.hudl.com/profile/8437554/Jordyn-Morgan

4.41 https://www.hudl.com/profile/6131708/Shamar-Smith

https://www.theeagle.com/brazos_sports/a-m-consolidated-quarterback-caden-fedora-to-walk-on-at/article_3ceb22a6-4f93-11e9-a82b-972a6204b48f.html

4.34 40! That alone makes him worth watching.

Some of the concerns we had 50 years ago heading into Steve Ramsey's last year seem to still be hanging around. Fly Like An Eagle.

Thursday, January 30, 1969, North Texas State University, Denton, Texas. Basketball. When the Eagles were at home, my future wife knew where we were going. Glad we were there for this one. Returning home to “The Snake Pit”, the Eagles took on the highly ranked Drake Bulldogs. At this point in the season, Drake was 10-3 with wins over three of the top 20 teams in the nation (by the end of the season they had victories over seven top 20 teams). The Bulldogs were much in need of a victory against NTSU to keep their chances of winning the Missouri Valley Conference alive. But the Eagles, led by guards, Joe Hamilton (NTAHoF ’89) and Crest Whitaker (NTAHoF ’94), both of whom ended the year averaging over 20 points per game, had other ideas. The Bulldogs faltered early in the game and NT’s blistering shooting attack was something to behold that night. The final: NTSU 118 – Drake 99 in one of the all-time great basketball games in North Texas history. In that game, Chest Whitaker scorched Drake with 36 points, hitting 13 of 19 field goals and 10 of 11 free throws, and his counterpart Joe Hamilton poured in 31. No three-pointers in those days. It was something to see! That game was a high point for us in a season that saw us finish with a very respectable 15-10 record and a fourth-place finish in the MVC which was one of the toughest basketball conferences in the county. We won 12 of our 13 home games that year and averaged 99.8 points per game at home. The 1968-69 season was North Texas’ first winning season in 15 years and no NTSU team had ever finished higher than 7th in MVC play. It was also Drake’s last loss in the regular season, which they finished out at 20-4, and received a bid to the NCAA tournament. Victories over Texas A&M (81-63) and Colorado State (84-77) gave the Bulldogs a 12-game win streak and a trip to the “Final Four” where they faced the #1 team in the nation, the UCLA Bruins who were led by 7’2”, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Drake gave Abdul-Jabbar and UCLA a run for their money coming up just three points short (85-82) of beating the eventual National Champion Bruins. Two days later, Drake beat North Carolina to finish at #3 in the tournament and ended their season with a 23-5 record and a #9 ranking. I included a photo of the “old man” of the team, 27-year-old, Wendel Hart. It didn’t matter how loud it was in “The Pit”, when Wendel got up off of the bench to check-in to the game, it got louder, much louder, “Wendel, Wendel, Wendel”. Many times in the 67’-68’ and 68’-69’ seasons we loudly encouraged Coach Spika to put Wendel in the game. Wendel had been a JC All-American at Dallas Baptist and served four years in the Air Force before becoming an Eagle. Today’s “It’s a Small World” story. One of the starting guards for Drake that night in Denton was a young man named, Don Draper. And here we are 50 years later with, I am told, our own member of the family, #55 D.J. Draper, grandson of Don Draper and a big part of the reason that NT is 18-3 this season. Fly Like An Eagle!

6'3" 295 lbs. 5.21 http://www.hudl.com/profile/654610/Jett-Duncan

I guess I should have mentioned that also on the field that night as a player for Wharton H.S. was Gary Joseph who has gone on to have a pretty fair coaching career of his own at Katy.

North Texas State University. My 1966 edition of "Football Coaching" by John McKay which was the textbook for my 1969 Spring Semester, PE 235-Coaching Football class with Coach Fred McCain. My 1972 Max Boydston "All-American Playmaker" and my chalk holder, both of which were purchased when I was hired by the legendary Coach Eddie Joseph and became a member of the Wharton High School coaching staff. A few weeks after I was hired we had our first scrimmage. We loaded the buses and headed to Austin to get an idea of how our kids were coming along. One thing to keep in mind is that many of our players had never been out of Wharton County. So its easy to understand the reactions of our young men as our varsity and jr. varsity teams unloaded at Memorial Stadium and the lights came on. They were awestruck. Of course, I knew who we were there to scrimmage, but it was still an unbelievable moment to be introduced by Coach Joseph to Coach Darrell Royal and Coach Gordon Wood at midfield of Memorial Stadium! Yep, we traveled from Wharton to Austin to test our teams against Brownwood. I was asking myself "Does every first-year coach get to start this way?" We held our own that night and had a good season. Anyway, just remembering how great it was to be around Coach McCain and the rest of the coaching staff "back in the day." Fly Like An Eagle

6-2, 220, 4.5 25 offers incl: Auburn, OU, Texas, A&M... https://247sports.com/Player/Brennon-Scott-46042133/

6'2" 245 lbs. 4.6 15 offers incl: Alabama, Baylor, Georgia, OU, A&M, Texas... https://247sports.com/Player/Kendrick-Blackshire-46042943/

Not as worried about CB as I am LB (maybe I should be). Ozougwu is going to need to do his best EJ impersonation. And then there's the DL. Wait how many things do I get to worry about for next year?

6'2" 175lbs. 4.6 with some nice moves and awareness of the bigger picture on the field. Hope he'll give us some thought. https://www.hudl.com/profile/6042420/Damon-Smith

If Marvin Gaye was on GoMeanGreen.com football forum: I bet you're wonderin' how we knew 'Bout your plans to make us blue With some other school you knew before Between the two of us You know we love you more It took us by surprise we must say When we found out yesterday Don't you know that we heard it over in Grapevine Not much longer would you be with Fine Oh we heard it over in Grapevine Oh we’re just about to lose our minds Honey, honey yeah We heard it over in Grapevine Yeah, yeah We Heard it over in Grapevine....

Here is the write-up for NTSU in the 1965 issue of Texas Football magazine. We followed 5 pages about the Houston Cougars and a sophomore flanker named, Warren McVea and we were right after Abilene Christian and right before Austin College. We've come a long way since those days and I'm thinking that the 2019 issue of DCTF should have Mason on the cover. I know, the results of the Sugar Bowl probably negated that possibility, but I'll be writing to them anyway.

I'm still waiting to see a foul by us! What a bunch of touchy-feely calls.

Fall of 1967. My freshman year home away from home. Apparently, the girls stopped coming to the pool at some point before my time there.

Agreed. I married one of them nearly 49 years ago. She and her roommates had the premier room, #201, right above the front door. It was the best viewing spot for keeping up with the various "goins on".