History Dissertation Help

[zachlumpkin]

I am a senior in college getting my teaching certification to become a teacher/coach. I grew up in a sixman high school and this year I have to write a 15 page paper over "any" topic in history in order to complete my bachelors program. I want to do it over sixman football, but im not sure how to approach it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ModeratorOld Bearkat]

Talk to Leman Saunders. He might have a few ideas. @Leman Saunders

 

[Tigerfan85]

Talk to Leman Saunders. He might have a few ideas. @Leman Saunders

Yep that’s where I’d go

 

[DFW7jonpardi]

Leman is our lore master

 

[Pdevitt13]

I'll fourth this sentiment and go to @Leman Saunders for this.

@Old Bearkat is no slouch either

 

[51eleven]

Yes, Leman, OBK and Granger the Guru if you can get his attention. They would all make good references in your work.

Did you play in Texas? Is it the focus of your paper? Either way if it's about the history of the game early on you need to address Epler in Nebraska, 1934. The first game in Texas. National popularity into the 1950's. Texas first game, state championships starting in the early 1970's. Teams with multiple championships. Great players from Jack Pardee to Grayson Rigdon. Great coaches. Maybe interview a few. Lee of Strawn, Reed at Gordon, recently retired Richey of Borden County or current coach there Steele, recently retired Crawford of Abbott. Any of these would add credence to the effort. Food for thought.

 

[C. LaTransviejo]

Yes, Leman, OBK and Granger the Guru if you can get his attention. They would all make good references in your work.

Teams with multiple championships. Great coaches. Maybe interview a few. Lee of Strawn, Reed at Gordon, recently retired Richey of Borden County or current coach there Steele, recently retired Crawford of Abbott. Any of these would add credence to the effort. Food for thought.

51, maybe just a little bit biased? Kinda like the ABC News debate moderators last night. I think you left out the greatest of all time, Jerry Burkhart, 9 time State Champion!

 

[51eleven]

51, maybe just a little bit biased? Kinda like the ABC News debate moderators last night. I think you left out the greatest of all time, Jerry Burkhart, 9 time State Champion!

I left his name out because he is still currently suspended by the UIL. This young man doesn't need to go into that in his dissertation. Mentioning Richland Springs success and TE's exploits should be included imho. I.E., TE threw for a record X yards, a record X TD's, rushed for X yards and X TD's, total yardage records, 3 state championships. Teams since have amassed 6 more, a state record.

 

[GetARealProblem]

There is no way to realistically talk to all these people for something as short as 15 pages (sounds crazy, I know) and it will take more time than you have to dedicate to the research. If you want to do sixman history, I suggest you refine focus some more. Maybe you want to focus on the teams that have had more than one era of state champion appearances, or focus on a couple of teams per decade, or not focus on any team. It would be a fun read to see where the game started and how it evolved in numbers of schools and rules.

If you do want some people.
Coach Vance Jones (retired) would have my vote as the best ever. He also knows the game from when it started, I think the early 70s. He also won state championships at several schools (which is how I think he proves hes the best). He is also a man character and honest.
Roddie Maddox, not even sure he is alive anymore. He coached Cherokee to state championships in the 70s. Another man of good character. He also coached an athlete by the last name of Belltran if you decide to focus on the great players of sixman. Belltran is often overlooked because his day was so long ago now. Based on old timer stories, he is right in there with the great players we know.

Last thought. If you are looking for a focus, you could easily get stats and records for many of the top players from Lehman. It would be a quick source of information to begin writing from.

Good luck. If you are proud of the paper you write, I would like to read it when you are done. I will offer no critique and just appreciate the work and perspective presented.

 

[ModeratorMike]

Here is something that was compiled by @granger and @Leman Saunders:

The history of six-man football.

The history of six-man football, as written by Granger Huntress and Leman Saunders.

sixmanfootball.com

That might give you an idea on where to start, but I'd definitely get in contact with some of the people, and coaches, listed here for more information.

 

[granger]

We've been replying to each other via private messages, but my message would apply to anyone who is doing a project like this... start local. Many times you need libraries and newspapers which are not digitized for this kind of research. Being in East Texas, he's got a great opportunity to look into the evolution of six-man in that region. Starting in the 30's to now, there have been fluctuations... why? there's got to be at one good story in there.

 

[Leman Saunders]

Thanks for all the endorsements...having done this exact thing and published an award winning paper on it I did offer some advice much like a few have suggested already. He will have advisors that are probably saying the same things. They like smaller focus ideas...15 pages in nothing to sneeze at but also a lot can be done with a narrow focus...a team, a season, a town history wrapped around the game are good examples. Local is good bc you have easy access to sources, but now bc research is so much easier with databases it doesnt have to be. Picking a topic with living participants would be great for content to help give first hand perspective and eat up the word count. There is also a big difference in if it is a BA level or MA level paper. BA level should be a narrow history...a topic I think would be great and you can get great primary resources is the first state championship season and O'Brien in 1972. An example of a larger scale MA type paper would be research say Stephen Epler, the 1930s and rural America and tie in how and why 6man was needed and what it meant socially on a broader sense, how it represented that time an space in American history. Or why 6man decreased in popularity as it relates to the state of the nation in the 1950s as society moved from rural to urban areas...there are some great papers to be written out there and hopefully he has good advisors to guide him...I had great ones

I will see if Mike would be able to publish my research paper on the site that way anyone can read it and mine it for sources...that is a pro tip...read past works and look at and read their sources...save you time in searching blindly.

 

[51eleven]

I'd really like to read Leman's paper myself. Guru's advice seems intuitive. Where are you from, what makes you love the game should be included, though maybe not the focus of 15 pages.