Junction Boys

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia.
Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(December 2007)

The Junction Boys is the name given to the “survivors” of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s 10 day summer football camp in Junction, Texas beginning September 1, 1954. The ordeal has achieved legendary status and has become the subject of a 2001 book The Junction Boys^[1] by Jim Dent and a television movie produced by ESPN.

1 The camp
2 List of survivors
3 Impact
4 References

[edit] The camp

Texas A&M University hired Bear Bryant as head football coach in 1954 replacing former coach Ray George. Bryant arrived in College Station on February 8, 1954 and began cleaning house. Bryant felt that many of the players on the team were weak and not properly trained or coached. He decided that his players needed a camp away from the distractions on campus. He arranged for the camp to be held at the 411 acre (1.7 km²) adjunct campus of Texas A&M at the small town of Junction.

At the time of the camp, the Texas hill country was experiencing an epic drought and heat wave. The drought, the worst in the recorded history of the region, had lasted four years and would last another two after the camp was over. According to the National Climatic Data Center, all 10 days of the camp saw hot temperatures with a couple of days topping 100 °F (38 °C).

The oppressive heat combined with the brutal practice schedule caused many players to drop out of the football program from illness or disgust. The situation was compounded by Bryant refusing to allow water breaks. This practice is now widely recognized as dangerous, but at the time was commonly employed by athletic coaches in an attempt to toughen up their players. The only relief provided the players were two towels soaked in cold water, one to be shared by the offensive players, one for the defense. One of the Junction Boys, future NFL coach Jack Pardee would later say in an interview that losing 10% of your body weight in sweat in a day was not unusual.

Practices began before dawn and usually lasted all day with meetings in the evening until 11:00 PM. The conditions were too much for many players and each day, there would be fewer and fewer players at practice as men would quit the team. By the end of the 10 day camp, only a fraction of those that started were left.

[edit] List of survivors

The list of “survivors” varies from 27 to 35. The Junction Boys listed by writer Jim Dent were:

Ray Barrett - G 5-9 195 Sr. San Angelo, Texas
Darrell Brown - T 6-1 190 Soph. Dayton, Texas
James Burkhart - G 6-1 185 Soph. Hamlin, Texas
Donald Bullock - HB 5-11 165 Soph. Orange, Texas
Henry Clark - T 6-2 205 Jr. Mesquite, Texas
Bob Easley - FB 5-11 190 Jr. Houston, Texas
Dennis Goehring - G 5-11 185 Soph. San Marcos, Texas
Billy Granberry - FB 5-7 155 Soph. Beeville, Texas
Lloyd Hale - C 5-10 190 Soph. Iraan, Texas
Charles Hall - HB 5-10 185 Sr. Dallas, Texas
Gene Henderson - QB 6-1 175 Jr. Sonora, Texas
Billy Huddleston - HB 5-9 165 Jr. Iraan, Texas
George Johnson - T 6-3 200 Jr. Ellisville, Mississippi
Don Kachtik - FB 6-1 185 Sr. Rio Hondo, Texas
Bobby D. Keith - HB 6-0 175 Soph. Breckenridge, Texas
Paul Kennon - E 6-1 185 Sr, Shreveport, Louisiana
Elwood Kettler - QB 6-0 165 Sr. Brenham, Texas
Bobby Lockett - T 6-3 190 Soph. Breckenridge, Texas
Billy McGowan - E 6-1 180 Sr. Silsbee, Texas
Russell Moake - C 6-3 215 Soph. Deer Park, Texas
Norbert Ohlendorf - T 6-3 200 Sr. Lockhart, Texas
Jack Pardee - FB 6-2 200 Soph. Christoval, Texas
Dee Powell - T 6-1 210 Sr. Lockhart, Texas
Donald Robbins - E 6-1 188 Jr. Breckenridge, Texas
Joe Schero - HB 6-0 175 Sr. San Antonio, Texas
Bill Schroeder - T 6-1 200 Sr. Lockhart, Texas
Charles Scott - QB 5-8 160 Soph. Alexandria, Louisiana
Bennie Sinclair - E 6-2 195 Sr. Mineola, Texas
Gene Stallings - E 6-1 165 Soph. Paris, Texas
Troy Summerlin - C 5-8 145 Soph. Shreveport, Louisiana
Marvin Tate - G 6-0 175 Sr. Abilene, Texas
Sid Theriot - G 5-10 195 Sr. Gibson, Louisiana
Richard Vick - FB 6-1 185 Sr. Beaumont, Texas
Don Watson - HB 5-11 155 Soph. Franklin, Texas
Lawrence Winkler - T 6-0 225 Sr. Temple, Texas
Herb Wolf - C 5-11 185 Jr. Houston, Texas
Nick Tyson- WR 6-1 181 JR. Norman, Oklahoma

It has often been portrayed that over 100 players made the trip to Junction. In fact, a smaller number actually went to the camp. Although Bryant started out with over 100 players on the roster, many had already quit or been cut by the time of the Junction camp. Accounts of the exact number that left for Junction vary, but all the survivors insist that it was less than 100.

[edit] Impact

Although the "survivors", as they came to be called, were mentally tougher after the experience, this new strength did not translate into immediate success on the field. In 1954, Texas A&M won only one game against nine losses, the only losing season in Bryant's 37 years as a head coach. However, it should be noted that the one win was against #1 ranked University of Georgia and all but one of the losses (the first game of the season) were by a touchdown or less. Two years later, however, the team went 9-0-1 and won the Southwest Conference.

Many of the Junction Boys went on to great success in various fields after college. Two of the Junction Boys, Jack Pardee and Gene Stallings, would go on to become head coaches in the NFL. Stallings would also become the head coach of Texas A&M and later took over Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide and won a national championship in 1992.