White Deer is Six-Man now . . .

[51eleven]

Reading about Zack Thomas going into the NFL Hall of Fame I remembered him going to Texas Tech and thought I remembered he was a pan handle native. So I went looking. When I saw he started HS in White Deer I thought, I never remember hearing or reading of him playing six-man. As the link below will tell WD was 2A in 1988 when Thomas led a shut-down defense to a 15 game undefeated state championship season. 5 shut-outs, 5 games of 6-7-8 points allowed. Only in the playoffs did Garden City and Rankin put up 20 points on them. They beat GC 21-20 in regionals, they won he SC 14-13 over Flatonia. Thanks to lonestarfootball.net for the details.

A West Texas kid made good, even if it was in 11 man.

How Zach Thomas went from White Deer and Pampa legend to NFL Hall of Famer

Before he was leading the league in tackles, he was dominating offenses in the Texas Panhandle.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[51eleven]

I got to thinking after I started this thread there are a lot younger players, fans, even coaches who maybe never heard of Thomas or barley remember the name as he retired in 2008. Few may realize he was I think 4th in tackles in NFL history at that time, after 13 years.
He reminded me of a few 6 man players in that he was undersized (in 11 man) and an overachiever. No one gave him a chance until Jimmy Johnson. Wish I could find the article I read earlier about his career, number of years all pro, pro bowl and more.
This is pretty cool though. Him noticing his JR high coach at the induction ceremony.

Zach Thomas' junior high coach surprises the NFL Hall of Fame inductee ahead of ceremony

If you want to see the game's greatest players at a loss for words, put them all together.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Old Bearkat]

Reading about Zack Thomas going into the NFL Hall of Fame I remembered him going to Texas Tech and thought I remembered he was a pan handle native. So I went looking. When I saw he started HS in White Deer I thought, I never remember hearing or reading of him playing six-man. As the link below will tell WD was 2A in 1988 when Thomas led a shut-down defense to a 15 game undefeated state championship season. 5 shut-outs, 5 games of 6-7-8 points allowed. Only in the playoffs did Garden City and Rankin put up 20 points on them. They beat GC 21-20 in regionals, they won he SC 14-13 over Flatonia. Thanks to lonestarfootball.net for the details.

A West Texas kid made good, even if it was in 11 man.

How Zach Thomas went from White Deer and Pampa legend to NFL Hall of Famer

Before he was leading the league in tackles, he was dominating offenses in the Texas Panhandle.

sports.yahoo.com

I watched the GC-White Deer game. That was one of the best 11 man games I ever watched. It was a barn Burner. It was not decided until the last minute

 

[51eleven]

Before I throw out the Sunday FW Star Telegram, from it. Thomas in HS told everyone he transferred from White Deer to Pampa for "better academics", then admitted he thought he had a better chance at a scholarship at a D1 college at a bigger school.

"The opening practice (at Pampa), the head coach held a tackling dummy in a drill. Thomas hit it so hard the coach stumbled backwards and fell into a bordering street. His glasses broke. His nose was scraped. He was bleeding. He was thrilled by this player."

 

[51eleven]

Just came across this White Deer story, not football related. But I thought it funny enough to share.

Ex-Trump doc Ronny Jackson’s detained following threats against state trooper: report

Former Donald Trump physician and current Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) threatened a state trooper amid an altercation with authorities at a rodeo last month, The Dallas Morning News reports, citing a sheriff’s incident report.Jackson threatened to beat the state trooper and “bury” a West Texas...

www.rawstory.com

 

[Old Bearkat]

Just came across this White Deer story, not football related. But I thought it funny enough to share.

Ex-Trump doc Ronny Jackson’s detained following threats against state trooper: report

Former Donald Trump physician and current Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) threatened a state trooper amid an altercation with authorities at a rodeo last month, The Dallas Morning News reports, citing a sheriff’s incident report.Jackson threatened to beat the state trooper and “bury” a West Texas...

www.rawstory.com

That IS NOT the story I heard. Typical liberal rag. I heard about it the day it happened, and the version I read had the deputy acting like a real jackass by not allowing Dr. Jackson to look at the girl while waiting for the ambulance to show up. The deputy actually cuffed Dr. Jackson. Instapundit had the story the next day

 

[Roach]

Love that Zach Thomas finally got his due. Don’t forget he did have that older brother that was 2 years older that definitely motivated him. Pampa had some studs at the time. Rayford Young (Tre Young’s dad) was another superstar that ended up doing great at Tech. There are always very few talent in the Texas panhandle that can play D1. However, it seems it’s becoming a bit better.