shooter
12-02-2007, 10:45 AM
I just read a book called "Twelve Mighty Orpans, by Jim Dent. This is the guy who wrote "Junction Boys" and several other books about Texas football.
He was watching an NFL films story about Hardy Brown, a man called the meanest man in football. Brown said he "played for the home, and you had to be tough to play for the home."
Dent wanted to know what was the "home"? An orphanage?
"Indeed, he had played high school football at an orphanage in Fort Worth known as the Masonic Home.... The scrawny players had played in some of the biggest games in the history of Texas high school football and gained a cult following from new York to Los Angeles."
Dent's book tells the story of the "Mighty Mites" the orphanage of 130 boys that petitioned the state to allow them to play in the biggest division. The had no uniforms and only had 12 players, and rode to their games on a flatbed truck. Their line averaged 140 pounds but they trounced teams with 200 pound lines. Their secret weapon was their unity and their coach, Rusty Russell. Russell utilized a bewildering offense with as many as six receivers spread out all over the field. An offense now known as the spread. His critics said that because the boys were at the home, Russell drilled football into them 365 days a year, which was probably true. This took place from 1927 to 1940, and Texas had a playoff systems even back then, decades ahead of Ohio.
I couldn't help but comparing this to Ohio high school football, and Massillon in particular. Paul Browns' accomplishments are probably greater than Russells, yet when I searched Amazon I found no similar book. It's too bad there isn't a book about Paul Brown and Massillon. A good writer could weave in those little stories about early Massillon; the steel mills, the canal, etc.
Anyway this book is nice little read about high school football,
He was watching an NFL films story about Hardy Brown, a man called the meanest man in football. Brown said he "played for the home, and you had to be tough to play for the home."
Dent wanted to know what was the "home"? An orphanage?
"Indeed, he had played high school football at an orphanage in Fort Worth known as the Masonic Home.... The scrawny players had played in some of the biggest games in the history of Texas high school football and gained a cult following from new York to Los Angeles."
Dent's book tells the story of the "Mighty Mites" the orphanage of 130 boys that petitioned the state to allow them to play in the biggest division. The had no uniforms and only had 12 players, and rode to their games on a flatbed truck. Their line averaged 140 pounds but they trounced teams with 200 pound lines. Their secret weapon was their unity and their coach, Rusty Russell. Russell utilized a bewildering offense with as many as six receivers spread out all over the field. An offense now known as the spread. His critics said that because the boys were at the home, Russell drilled football into them 365 days a year, which was probably true. This took place from 1927 to 1940, and Texas had a playoff systems even back then, decades ahead of Ohio.
I couldn't help but comparing this to Ohio high school football, and Massillon in particular. Paul Browns' accomplishments are probably greater than Russells, yet when I searched Amazon I found no similar book. It's too bad there isn't a book about Paul Brown and Massillon. A good writer could weave in those little stories about early Massillon; the steel mills, the canal, etc.
Anyway this book is nice little read about high school football,