Homecoming for 1974 Sandie State Champs
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – The 1974 Grapeland Sandies has great players, with a lot of talent and a lot of heart. Their parents and Head Coach Jim Payne may have told them otherwise, but there was no way they were ever supposed to win that year’s state championship against Aledo Bobcats.
Aledo then, as now, was a football powerhouse. The Sandies came into the game expected to lose by four touchdowns. Even looking back at the stats from that game, on paper, at least, the Sandies lost. They had nine first downs to Aledo’s 21, 145 rushing yards to the Bobcats’ 257 and 96 passing yards versus 123. The Sandies fumbled the ball twice in the game; Aledo only once.
None of that, in the end, made a bit of difference. Not to the young Sandies on that field just playing their game, and not to the final score, 19-18 Grapeland. The game came down, after all, to that Sandie spirit, and a group of young men who just wouldn’t give up, 50 years ago at Widcat Stadium in Temple.
Around 20-or-so of those team members will be making their way back to Grapeland this week for the 79th Annual Peanut Festival. They will have a special ceremony for them, honor them at the game, and celebrate that time our local boys showed the kids at the bigger school what we are made of.
It was Grapeland who struck first in that game, scoring a touchdown in the second quarter, before Aledo answered back with six points of their own. Grapeland put 12 unanswered points up in the third quarter, with Aledo answering with 12 points in the fourth. The game had less than two minutes to go, when Aledo, confident in a win, went for a two-point conversion.
The Sandies stopped them cold, with Sandies Jamie Jordan and Darold Turner taking the Bobcat down, leading to the final score, 19-18, and that team to go down in local history. While some of those Sandies are no longer with us, many other still live in the area, or travel to the area to visit friends and family.
It seemed to the young men half of Grapeland traveled with them to watch the game, so they were shocked when they got home, came out of those locker rooms in the old the gym, and the lights went on. There was the other half of the city, cheering and high-fiving the boys, ready to celebrate their victory and safe return.
#55 Scott Yates was born in Houston, and his family moved to Grapeland when he was 10. A big change for a young man from the big city.
“I climbed a lot of trees when I moved to Grapeland,” Yates laughed. “But it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I had two lakes to fish in and 500 acres to walk around in and it really was a great group of kids to grow up with.”
“We had a great team, and our coaches Payne and Assistant Coach Ivey Evans put their heart and soul into it,” said then-Sophomore #20 Tim Brown remembered. “I think Aledo was undefeated and we played that game in the rain, but it was unforgettable.”
Both men would leave the area to study and find work, but always happy to have been a part of Grapeland, and a part of that legendary team.
Grapeland ISD Superintendent Dr. David Maas has some surprises set for the men, when they return this week. There will be a special reception Friday, Oct. 11 at 4 p.m., before the Sandies’ homecoming game. There will be snacks, memories, the trophy itself, and some other tokens of gratitude for the returning champs.
“We’re excited about it – 50 years!” Maass said. “I think about the 70s and 80s as not being that long ago. That’s when I grew up!”
The entire team, present or not, will be recognized before the 7 p.m. Sandie game against Mount Enterprise.
Flushed with success, as the boys boarded that bus back to Grapeland after the game, they couldn’t have realized they would be welcomed back as the champions they had become.
“I think the whole town absolutely shut down to come there. I mean, businesses and everything,” Brown said. “The whole town was there. It was…it was marvelous.”
“When we walked out of the dressing room into the gym, they turned on the lights and the whole town was there,” Yates said. “In fact, the Baptist preacher was the one that led the pep rally – out there cheering. It was a great feeling. And it was something I’ll never forget, and I have never forgotten.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]