Title game week in Abilene

Five years ago, I published "Warbirds – How They Played the Game" – a history of Abilene High's 49-game winning streak from 1954-57. Three of those games were for state championships, in 1954-55-56, and the Eagles won all three.

Little did I realize at the time, that if the Eagles made it to another state championship game, it would enable me, and all Abilenians living in Abilene in the 1950s, to go back and feel the experience again. Now that has happened. The 2009 Eagles meet the Katy Tigers on Saturday for the Texas 5A state championship. I can go back and read my own book, not as a history, but as an experience in the here-and-now.

For example, I know what the Katy fans feel like this week. They are going for their third straight state championship. As a result, they have a certain confidence this week that it can be done, just as Abilenians in December of 1956 had that certain confidence. Hell, by 1956, the Eagles had become so good that we enjoyed something MORE than confidence. It was after the 1955 state championship game, when Abilene trounced Tyler, 33-13, that Waco High coach Carl Price said, "Abilene's state champions of this year are 30 points better than the 1954 champions. If they improve another 30 points next year, they might as well get in the Southwest Conference."

That quote is in my book, and the Eagles of 1956 turned out to BE that good. It became pointless to talk about how good the first team was. Instead, people began to wonder if Abilene's second team might finish third in District 2-AAAA, behind San Angelo and of course the Eagles' first team.

I also wrote about what it felt like, in Abilene, the week before the 1954 championship game, against Stephen F. Austin High School of Houston. There was confidence – the Eagles had a very good team – but there was also apprehension, of this new playoffs territory, playing teams outside the well-known environment of West Texas. There were legends lurking out there, legends like Hunter Enis, quarterback for Fort Worth Poly, whom the Eagles were to meet in the semifinals. In the book, I wrote:

" 'Hunter Enis' was a name to be feared, even more than the name 'Wahoo McDaniel,' because Enis was a quarterback and a bona fide star.

"Everybody in Texas who cared about high school football knew who Hunter Enis was. He was big and athletic and so good a passer that his school, the Fort Worth Poly Parrots, ran something called the 'spread formation.' Nobody in West Texas had ever heard of the 'spread formation,' in which ends and backs lined up from sideline to sideline and then ran downfield to catch passes from the strong, deadly arm of Hunter Enis.

"All week, Abilenians read the newspaper and wondered: 'We can stop Fort Worth Poly, but can we stop Hunter Enis?' They were the kinds of thoughts that could bedevil fans of upstart teams suddenly plunged into the rarified atmosphere of the state semifinals. Only three other teams left. And boy, they must have been awfully good to get here.

"And Poly was there because of Hunter Enis, who was so skilled that in college, at Texas Christian, he would make all-Southwest Conference and eventually play quarterback in the National Football League. Enis had passed for 1,111 yards and it didn’t matter that Poly had been beaten badly, 34-0, by San Angelo, or that the Parrots had lost three other games. Those were early in the season.

"The game was in Fort Worth, at 20,000-seat Farrington Field, the biggest stadium in which any of the Abilene Eagles had ever played. Around 2,500 Eagle students and fans made the trip and of course the Victory Bell was there. Thousands more listened on the radio at home, anxious to see if the Eagles could survive Hunter Enis and get into a state championship game for the first time since 1931 . . ."

The 1954 Eagles survived. They beat Poly, 46-0. Hunter Enis finished nine-for-20 for 99 yards with three interceptions, and Poly collected only 15 yards rushing and 10 first downs. It was a confidence-builder. But oh my gosh, now they had to play Houston Austin, whose QB Vince Matthews was supposed to be better than Hunter Enis . . .

That is the kind of excitement that stirs in the minds of Abilenians this week, who can't wait for Saturday, even if Katy has players who can leap tall buildings at a single bound. I saw a picture of a Katy player in the Houston Chronicle today who was roughly the dimensions of DeMarcus Ware.

This is so much fun. Thank you, 2009 Eagles. A lot of people, even a lot of Abilenians, don't give a hoot about football and wonder now, as they did in the 1950s, what the fuss is about. I can only say that if you are an Abilenian who likes football, winning a state championship gets into your blood, and it never goes away.