Sunday, September 13, 1998

Area football players make Top 50

By Bill Hart

Sports smorgasbord, while wondering whatever happened to former De Leon running back Jim West:

-- The honors are still coming in for area high school football players. Among the Top of Texas magazine's Top 50 players are wide receiver Mark Rau of Cooper, quarterback Justin Hill of Colorado City, tight end Donnie DeLeon of Abilene High, offensive lineman Dean Mayfield of Sweetwater, running back Willie Amos of Sweetwater, linebacker Coby Ford of Cooper and defensive back Tory Mitchell of Big Spring.

Mayfield was named to the Super Team offensive unit, and DeLeon, wide receiver Kenny West of Jim Ned, Hill and Amos were on the second team. Ford and Mitchell were on the first defensive unit and linebacker John David Caffey of Anson was on the second team.

The magazine originates from the Lubbock area, but don't ask how to get a copy. I don't know....

-- St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire hasn't broken all of the late Roger Maris' home run records. Maris still holds the American League record for most homers hit in a season (61), which, of course, is still the New York Yankees' club record.

This is for the few Yankees fans who live in the area....

-- Tracey Barnes, the great Abilene Christian University women's quartermiler, was to have competed in the World Cup track meet this week in Johannesburg, South Africa. But she turned down a chance to be on the Americas team, which includes her native Jamaica, because she would have to miss school for two weeks.

Apparently, officials wouldn't let her fly in just for the 400 race and return immediately for school....

-- ACU and Tarleton State know who their basketball opponents will be for the High Desert Classic in Las Vegas, N.M., Dec. 19-20. The Wildcats will face Northwest Missouri (23-7) in the first game and Missouri Southern (13-13) the second night. Tarleton goes against Missouri-Rolla (12-15) the first night and Central Missouri (14-13) the second.

Also in the tournament is the University of Central Oklahoma, another Lone Star Conference member along with ACU and Tarleton....

-- Recent wondering whatever happened to found former Ballinger football star Jimmy Davenport in the oil business in Odessa where he has lived the past three years.

Jimmy has a great-nephew playing for the Bearcats this year, center-defensive tackle Chris Workman. Two other great-nephews, twins Aaron and Darren Workman, were all-district at Ballinger last year....

-- Don Burch, who played tight end at Texas Tech in the early 1960s, has run a service station in Comanche for the past 21 years. Recently, the local newspaper ran a story about him, recalling some of his memories.

Burch had played wide receiver at Levelland with Doug Cannon, a Sonny Jurgenson-lookalike quarterback, who talked Burch into going to Texas Tech with him. Otherwise, he would have gone to Oklahoma and probably not wound up in Comanche.

Tech had another wide receiver then, David Parks of Abilene, so Burch was moved to tight end and started for two years before injuries ended his career. Also among his other teammates were E.J. Holub, Bake Turner, Roger Gill, Donny Anderson and Richard Hayes of Comanche.

Burch says Tommy Nobis of Texas was the best football player he ever faced. A lot of athletes can say "amen" to that. His most memorable game was in high school against Snyder when he caught the game-winning touchdown (28-21) on a fourth-and-eight play....

Bill Hart can be reached at 676-6773 or at sports@abinews.com