Texas Tiger

In December 1950 my father's new wife of one month, was having what she thought was home-sick pains in the frozen plains of Woodstock, Illinois. He was working for Ford Bacon & Davis, an engineering company. He had recently graduated with a degree in Forestry from Stephen F. Austin University. The cold and snow was more than Mother could bear. She began to have stomach cramps and my father rushed her to the hospital. The doctor informed her that he thought she may be pregnant and was having a miscarriage. He proposed to perform a "DNC" if she was with child. He needed to determine if she was indeed pregnant or not. The test revealed that she was not and for some reason he decided to wait a few days to see if she would improve before he performed the procedure. She went home that night. I was born in late August the following year. The test result was incorrect. Yes I was actually conceived in Woodstock, and yes I was nearly aborted.

My father quit his job with FB&D a few days after Christmas and they moved to Waskom, Texas where he took a job that he would have for over thirty years. While living in East Texas my mother began having labor pains on a hot (it was 109 degrees) August afternoon. When my father arrived home from work he rushed her to a small clinic located nearby. The doctor informed my parents that the baby was in distress and would need to be delivered by "cesarean". He stated it had to be done right then and that they could not wait to drive to nearby Shreveport, Louisiana. I was born around 8:00 PM in a small clinic located on the Northwest Corner of US Highway 80 and North State Line Road, Harrison County, Texas. (The building today houses a BBQ joint) Shortly thereafter my mother and I were transported via ambulance to the Highland Sanitarium in Shreveport, Louisiana. A birth certificate was issued in the county seat of Harrison County, Texas (Marshall) and a birth certificate was issued in the parish seat of Caddo Parish, Louisiana, (Shreveport). I can legally claim that I am a native born Texan as well as a native born Louisiana. Yes, I am a Jack Ass and a Coon Ass.

I have always been proud to be a native born Texan. I am equally proud of my Louisiana roots. My paternal grandmother was actually cajun (Meloncon). I never heard her speak French until the last couple of years of her life. She, like my other grandmother, lived to the age of 98. She was living in a "rest home" and one of the nurses attending to her would converse with Bessie in Acadian French. To my amazement she sounded like a real coon ass ( of which I guess she was). She used to tell me that while she was young child living in a small community of Laccisine (Jefferson Davis Parish) she only spoke French. In fact she says she only learned English a few year before she married my grand father (Dit).

I embrace my cajun heritage (albiet distant). But I do not deny that I really am a Native Texican.

We moved to Louisiana in 1959. Growing up in Louisiana I quickly learned that the state was divided into two distinctive parts. I admit I-49 has bridged the two partially. But you are either from North or South. Growing up in Northwest Louisiana we were referred to as red necks or hillbillys. Some of us are called Y.C.A 's (Yankee coon asses).

Texas on the other hand is vast. Each area of the State has it's own uniqueness but all share in one common bond. There's North Texas, East Texas, South Texas, West Texas, The Valley, Central Texas, Gulf Coast and The Permian, The Golden Triangle, The Piney Woods, The Hill Country, & The Panhandle. We are all Texans.

My teen aged years were spent in Northern Louisiana. I participated in sports (baseball and football) in both Junior High and High School. I quickly became a die hard LSU fan. It all started when my cousin Donnie who was attending Louisiana State, got two tickets for my Dad and I to Tiger Stadium to witness a contest between the Number One team in the country (and defending National Champions) (LSU) play the number Three team in the country (Ole Miss). I was only eight years old and on Halloween of 1959, Dad and I boarded the "Tiger Special" and rode to Baton Rouge to watch the contest. We arrived around 3 PM and we visited the State Capital Building and the LSU campus. My cousin introduced me to Michael Mangum, a tight end for LSU who caught the winning touchdown pass in that year's National Championship game. Over twenty years later I would receive free tickets to LSU-Texas A&M games from that same Mickey Mangum. From that October day in 1959 I was hooked and addicted. I was, am and will always be a Tiger Fan.
Later in my life I too would attend Louisiana State University as a student. I actually attempted to try out for their football team but after three days of summer drills I quickly determined I would never make the team. Besides a month later I had plans to travel to upstate New York for a music festival. I also tried out for the baseball team in October of 1969 and to my surprise I did make the team. For the next two years I was a utility infielder playing mostly first and second base for the squad. My jersey number was 2. In my two years of playing baseball, I had a combined batting average of 276 and a total of one home run (hit against the University of Tennessee). I was a mediocre player playing for a poor team. I did accumulate enough playing team to qualify as a "letterman" (I never did actually receive my letter) I am eligible to be a member of the "L" Club (an organization of former lettermen athletes from LSU). I also played percussion in the Golden Band From Tigerland (Tigerband). In 1971 ABC Telivision and General Motors awarded us with the distinction as the number one college marching band in America. That award was only given one time. .

In 1974 I moved back to Texas and have lived here ever since. Like I said earlier I am a Native Born Texan. I am proud of that fact. But I am a Tiger Fan as well. I am a Texas Tiger.

I work with a couple of guys who live in West Virginia. They are each huge West Virginia fans. I admire their undying loyalty to their "school". They tend to be immensely proud of WVU and the Big East Conference. I have been an LSU fan since my dad took me on that train trip to Baton Rouge to see a future Heisman trophy winner romp 89 yards for a touchdown after all 11 opposing players had attempted to tackle him.

My Mountaineer compatriots like to trash my beloved Tigers. They tend to feel we are overrated and not up to the caliber of WVU athletics. I differ with them and I offer the following as my proof.

Since 2000 (the past nine years) the following has happened:

LSU won 2000 & 2009 National Championship in Men's Baseball
LSU won 2000 & 2003 National Championship in Women's Outdoor Track and Field
LSU won 2001 & 2004 National Championship in Men's Indoor Track and Field
LSU won 2002 & 2003 National Championship in Men's Outdoor Track and Field
LSU won 2002, 2003, & 2004 National Championship in Women's Indoor Track and Field
LSU won 2003 & 2007 National Championship in Football
LSU was in the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in 2006.
LSU was in the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, & 2008.
LSU was in Men's Baseball CWS in 2000 (they won) 2003, 2004, 2008, & 2009 (they won)
LSU was in Womens' Softball CWS in 2001 & 2004

Thats a total of 13 National Championships.

WVU won 2009 National Championship in Men's Air Rifle.

Since first competing athletically Louisiana State University has won 44 NCAA National Championships.

This ranks them 1st in their conference (Southeastern) and 5th nationally. Alabama (the State which includes the University of Alabama and Auburn University) can only lay claim to a total of 18 National Championship. The University of Florida and the University of Georgia combined can not claim as many National titles as LSU. The Ohio State University only has 26 National Championships. If you add every single National Title from every school in the State of Texas (including Texas A&M's recent National Championship in Men's Golf, and both Women's Basketball titles from Texas Tech and Baylor) you still would not have more than what the Tigers has won.
In team sports, LSU has never lost a championship game for the National title.
No Division I team in the nation has actually won more National Championship games in football than LSU. Only one team (USC) in the nation has won more National Championships in Men's Baseball than LSU (6).

West Virgina University has won a total of 14 National Championships (not too shabby) all in the same sport (?). In fact they won this year too. The Men's Air Rifle Team defeated the University of Alaska at Anchorage at the National Championships held at TCU in Fort Worth Texas


The February 12, 2009 issue of The Daily Atheneaum (the official school newspaper of West Virginia University) is quoted as saying

WVU rifle team deserves respect

It’s the first time a West Virginia team has been ranked No. 1 since the football team earned the ranking on Nov. 25, 2007.
It’s still the only West Virginia team to ever win a NCAA National Championship.
In fact, the team has 13 of them. And it’s sad that only a handful of Mountaineer students actually know that the WVU rifle team is soaring above all competition this year.
The lack of support isn’t just with rifle this year. The theme of poor student support has been seen all year for West Virginia athletics. Even though a record number of student football tickets were requested this year, most of the students were gone before the fourth quarter even started. WVU men’s basketball head coach Bob Huggins has already had to plea to the students for more support at home games, while the number of fans women’s basketball head coach Mike Carey sees on any given night could be counted on his own two hands.
Gymnastics has seen decent support this year but mostly from local elementary and middle school kids. WVU students are hard to come by.

And then there’s the rifle team – the most successful team at the school. I would doubt that a single student has ever seen one of its matches.


On September 8, 2007 the Hokies of Virginia Tech University claiming to have the nation's number one rated defense, left Death Valley after being pummeled 48-7. At the end of the regular season they actually argued that they were more worthy of being in the national championship game than the Tigers ( who eventually thrashed The Ohio State University)

I am saving my nickels and dimes to attend the Tiger Feast of September 25, 2010. I plan on going to that bayou beat down.

Now I know this could all be considered "smack talk". But the facts are indeed the facts. But I admire my Mountaineer friends. They are not fair weather fans. They are proud of their team just as I am. They proudly where their Old Gold and Blue garb. They, just like us, win and they loose but they still are fans and that is really all that matters.

My friend Eric likes to say "It's a good day to be a Mountaineer". It's always a good day to be one. And it is a good day to be a Horn, an Ag, a Frog or even a Tiger.

As a native born Texan I have to be proud of the State's University (s). The only problem is which hand gesture do I use, Sic em Bears, Hook em Horns, Guns Up, or Gig em Ags? I prefer to do as LSU's baseball coach recommneds. Raise fist into the air and then simply extend index finger into the air and proudly admit we are indeed Number One!

At least at the Old War Skule our fight song does not mention another specific school and we certainly do not advocate physical harm to their teams' mascot. But I do like the Aggie War Hymn. Their "Gig em" phrase comes from a quote from a former A&M Board of Regents member, Pinky Downs, when asked what his team would do to intra state rivals Texas Christian University. Besides since my oldest (soon to be a TCU grad) is married to an Ag thus including me into the Aggie Family.

..... Good bye to texas university - So long to the orange and the white-Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies They are the boys who show the real old fight -'the eyes of Texas are upon you' That is the song they sing so well Sounds Like Hell - So good bye to texas university - We're gonna beat you all to Chigaroogarem Chigaroogarem - Rough, Tough, Real stuff, Texas A&M Saw varsity's horns off - Saw varsity's horns off - Saw varsity's horns off -Short! A! Varsity's horns are sawed off - Varsity's horns are sawed off Varsity's horns are sawed off Short! A!

In summation I leave you with my favorite LSU Tiger cheer

Hot boudin - Cold cush-cush - Come on Tigers - Push - Push - Push !

Air rifle? Hell that is about as much as sport as NASCAR.



Geaux Tigers !



The Third



Post Script:

For my Longhorn fans: How 'bout dem Tigers ?

3rd