Friday, May 17, 2024
Hood County News
LOOKING BACK IN SPORTS
Looking Back in Sports is a column that highlights articles retrieved from local newspaper archives.
74 YEARS AGO
DECEMBER 1949
The opening of Decker Gym was exciting for basketball fans living in Granbury in late December, 1949. A front-page article published in the Hood County News-Tablet on Dec. 29, 1949 described what it was like to finally have access to a nice playing facility:
“The cement sidewalk was still being laid, the dirt from around the building hadn’t been carried off. But there was the gym … the one that Tink, the basketball fiend, Billy Charles, Suzy and I had hoped for. We wanted so bad not to have to go to Lipan, Godley, and Alexander to play off our tournaments. But we did.
“Now Granbury High School has a gym. A gym with a stage big enough to put on any kind of junior or senior play that the classes can dream up.
“While I was at the gym with Suzy Tippett Browning, Billy Jarrard came in. Just to try out the basketball court, he said. He had to play outside on a dirt court when he was going to school.
“Makes us sound kind of ancient, doesn’t it? Diane’s crowd thinks we are.
“But we’re glad that kids like Jeanette Martin, Lanny Lancaster and all the rest will get to use the gym to its full advantage.
“We like it and we think it’s wonderful. And it kinda makes us feel good to know that the bonds we left for the gym fund were finally put to use.”
85 YEARS AGO
DECEMBER 1938
On Page 5 of the Dec. 1, 1938 edition of the Hood County Tablet, an article titled “The Pirates Treasure” — with a subhead stating that it was “News from Granbury Public School” — it was noted, “The Granbury Pirates are giving their sighs of regret and waving a hand of farewell as they store their suits for a period of ten months till football season will again take the country by storm.
“To a number of the players the career of high school football is at an end. They regret it but can look back upon their experiences and be proud of the record they are leaving behind.
“Quite a few of the players yet have a few remaining seasons in which to reach further toward the goal every player wishes to obtain. As a whole the high school is proud of its team, the team’s record, its captain and its coach. We will endeavor to carry on in future sports and games.”
The staff members who put together the “Pirates Treasure” information at GHS were listed as: Editor in Chief Aleene Bryan; Assistant Editor Rebecca Shoemaker; Society Bette McElhaney; “Is It You” Mary Tom Harris; Agriculture Reporter Edward Dub Bird; Homemaking Catherine Williams; Senior Reporter Champ Coulston; Junior Reporter Ben Estes; Sophomore Reporter Opal Lee Maples; Freshman Reporter Billie Claire Cherry; and Faculty Adviser Mrs. V.R. Aiken.
