SCURRY
Division 1A, 6-Man powerhouses Ira, Hermleigh launch with Midnight Madnesses
IRA, HERMLEIGH--The Ira and Hermleigh football teams stepped onto the field in full gear for the first time during Saturday’s midnight madness celebrations. Saturday was the first time high school teams could participate in full contact practice. The 12:01 a.m. scrimmages concluded the first week of practice. Ira head coach Toby Goodwin said his players are ready for the contact. “After warm-ups, we will get started with different drills and then an intrasquad scrimmage,” Goodwin said. “The players are ready to get it going. It’s going to be an exciting time to finally put the pads on.” Teams spent the first five days of practice in helmets and shorts and were able to add shoulder pads on Thursday. Goodwin said Saturday will be a new experience for the players. “For the younger players, it will be an eye opener,” Goodwin said. “It will be an opportunity for the older guys to show how much they improved since last season. All the players are ready for this. They believe football is finally here.” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said midnight madness will be a fun event for the players and will give the community its first look at the team in pads. “The players will enjoy it and get to hit each other for the first time this year,”Winters said. “I want them to have a lot of fun. It is the first reward for the players to put the pads on and hit. We want to be a physical team and this will be the first step.”Winters said it will be the first test for the players to put the lessons learned during practice on the field. “We want to make sure we do the small things right,” he said. “We will film the scrimmage, look at it and go from there. We want to keep doing the basics with the pads on. We will go No. 1 vs. No. 1 in the scrimmage and give them an opportunity to compete against each other.”
--The Snyder Daily News
STONEWALL
New coach leads Aspermont Hornets
ASPERMONT--In Aspermont, the community is looking to newly hired head football coach, Mark Weaver, to lead the Hornets to the playoffs this year. Weaver is a second generation coach with six years of experience under his belt and looking forward to being back close to home. With a roster of 20 this season, Weaver said the size of the Hornets team will hopefully serve as a strength. However, he said a new coach means a new system, and while some things will be familiar, there will be quite a bit still to learn. Another potential strength is the returning upperclassmen, as the Aspermont team is heavy with seniors. Weaver said he has been impressed with the leadership of that class. “They know what it takes and are really pushing the younger guys.” With traditionally strong competitors Spur and Jayton, Newcastle under Coach Julian Menchaca and Rotan now under Coach John Stanaland, Weaver said this season’s schedule is a tough one. “Whoever gets out of our district will be battle-tested, that’s for sure,” said Weaver. Everyone is invited out for Meet the Hornets August 16 at 6:30 p.m.
--The Double Mountain Chronicle
KING
6666’s O’Neal selected for NRHA Working Cowboy Award
GUTHRIE --Legendary cowboy Boots O’Neal, a top hand on the Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, will be the first recipient of the Ranching Heritage Association Working Cowboy Award during the 41st Annual National Golden Spur Award dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday, October 13, at the Overton Hotel in Lubbock. “This award is designed to recognize an outstanding individual who makes his living primarily on horseback caring for livestock on a daily basis,” said Jim Bret Campbell, director of the National Ranching Heritage Center (NRHC). The Ranching Heritage Association (RHA), a non-profit membership organization supporting the work and mission of the NRHC, will sponsor the new award on an annual basis to honor a working cowboy skilled in all aspects of ranch work and respected by the ranch crew and ranching community. At age 85, Boots is still working, still riding horses almost every day for 72 years and still enjoying “just ridin’ a horse.” “My job is cowboying,” he said, “taking care of cattle horseback. That’s what it’s been my entire life. I look forward to what we’re going to do tomorrow nearly all the time. I don’t dread the next day’s work because I enjoy it. It’s been a labor of love.” According to Campbell, nominees for the RHA Working Cowboy Award have to be individuals of high character. “The greatness of Boots O’Neal is not just that he is still cowboying in his 80s, but it’s the fact that he meets all the criteria for this award—honesty, courage, determination and optimism. Those traits reflect the values of more than 200 years of ranching in the American West.” Boots started riding horses in 1946 when he was a teenager living in Lefors, Texas. Two years later he and his brother broke 20 broncs for the RO Ranch for $20 per head. That was his first big job and he made $200. Since then, he has worked for some of the most historic ranches in Texas—JA Ranch, Matador Ranch, Waggoner Ranch and the Sixes. When Boots first started working with big ranches in 1949, the ranches kept their wagons out seven or eight months at a time. He lived in a teepee and stayed with those wagons. The JA Ranch in Palo Duro Canyon paid their cowboys $90 to $100 a month to work seven days a week from daylight until dark. Boots began working for the Four Sixes in 1990. Although he could retire and live a life of leisure after 28 years on the Sixes, he still rides the range every day. Through the years, the popular West Texas cowpuncher has appeared in countless magazine and newspaper articles and considers himself blessed with the health and physical ability to keep doing what he loves. “Not only has Boots lived a fascinating cowboy life, often shunning higher-paying occupations in order to stay in the saddle, but he also is beloved because of his genuine, amiable personality,” said Ross Hecox, editor-in-chief of Western Horseman magazine. “He continues to pursue his passion, carries an upbeat attitude, conducts himself with humility and shows respect for all people.” To register for the National Golden Spur Award dinner, call Vicki Quinn-Williams at (806) 834-0469 or register online at www.ranchingheritage.org/spur. Reservations are required by Friday, October 5. Tickets are $95 for RHA members and $125 for non-members.
(News release from the National Ranching Heritage Center)
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