Tag Archive | Huntsville

Playoff Fever Spreading In Huntsville, TX

by Cheval John

NCAA FCS playoff fever has spread throughout the nation.

It’s not more evident than in the city of Huntsville, TX.

Huntsville, home of Sam Houston State University with a population of about 39,000, have been in a frenzy since the Bearkat football team have made the FCS playoffs for the second consecutive year after finishing the season at 8-3 overall and claimed a share of the Southland Conference title.

Now, they are one game away from returning to the FCS national championship game after they slaughtered Montana State Bobcats 34-15 in Bozeman, Montana last Friday.

Bearkat fans gathered either in Huntsville area bars or across the country (in the case of SHSU’s alumni base) to watch the matchup between the Bearkats and Bobcats that was televised nationally on ESPN2.

Many people who have lived in Huntsville and have been around to see the Bearkat athletic teams have said that they have not seen anything like this.

They have good reason to say that because before, the Bearkat football team have made the playoffs a total of four times since becoming a member of the NCAA Division I in 1986.

Those four playoff appearances happened in 1986, 1991, 2001, and 2004 under Ron Randleman.

After Randleman’s retirement in 2004, Todd Whitten served as head coach from 2005-2009 without much success and was fired.

When SHSU’s athletic director, Bobby Williams hired Willie Fritz, many were hoping for a renaissance of the football program.

After a 6-5 campaign in 2010, people started to believe that great things was going to happen in his second year.

Before the 2011 season began, the SLC’s pre-season polls expected the Bearkats to finished fourth in the conference because they only had 12 seniors on the team.

The Bearkats did the opposite: finished the regular season at 11-0, won their fourth SLC title (first undisputed), were the No.1 seed in the FCS playoffs and brought the Bearkat nation together.

From there, they defeated No. 7 Stony Brook, Montana State and Montana to reach the title game in Frisco, TX where they fell short against North Dakota State.

With the playoff fever amidst in Huntsville, the Bearkats know that they have to play extremely well against No.2 seeded Eastern Washington on Saturday at 3 p.m. if they want to make it back to Frisco.

What they also know is that playoff fever is amdst in Huntsville with a loyal fan base with who will be watching them on ESPNU and cheering them on to victory.

Wendell Baker: The Martin Luther King of Huntsville

by Cheval John

Today begins the month of black history. Everyone knows about Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus in which it led to her arrest and started the protest in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. That led to the emergence of Martin Luther King, who organized and led protests in the South for civil rights. Everyone knows his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, D.C. in 1963. But few know about the Martin Luther King of Huntsville and Walker County, who organized and led protests for integration not only at Sam Houston State University, but also for the entire city of Huntsville. That man is Wendell Baker. He was born on November 13,1922 in West Walker County, Texas to Jesse and Fannie Baker. He was the eighth of ten children. He grew up in a farm in Walker County and learned the lessons of hard work and dedication from his parents. He was a very talented and smart person. He graduated from Sam Houston High School in Huntsville in 1939. He wanted to attend Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University), but couldn’t because they did not accept African Americans. He served in World War II and after the war, he attended Texas Southern University and graduated in 1949 with a bachelors degree in chemistry. He had aspired to go to medical school and taught at Huntsville Intermediate School as a science teacher. With a wife and a growing family, he realized that he would not fulfill that dream. He was the chair of the science department there and continued to teach there until 1962 when he got fired for building his home near a new white subdivision. That not only changed the destiny of Mr. Baker, but would also change the destiny of Sam Houston State. In that same year, he got hired at the Goodyear Tire Company in Beaumont as a quality control specialist, making him the first African American technical professional in the Golden Triangle. He got promoted to chemical engineer in which that position increased his salary and it allowed him to be an activist for civil rights in Huntsville and Walker County. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed in Congress and the winds of integration began to shift. In that same year, Angie Kizzie applied to Sam Houston and was denied admission because of her race. The same thing happened to another black student. That led Mr. Baker, along with the Voter’s League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) to file a suit with the federal district court. Before the suit could reach the court, the governor, knowing the negative publicity that they would recieve, ordered the Board of Regents to change the policy and admit black students. The board did just that and in that same year, John Patrick became the first African American to enroll at Sam Houston State. Since then, the university have a diverse student body. Mr. Baker continued his activism until Huntsville was fully integrated. He stayed with Goodyear until 1984. Now he is retired and still lives in Huntsville. Sam Houston State University is a much better place thanks to Wendell Baker, the Martin Luther King of Huntsville.