Dave Campbell's Texas Football

Dave Campbell's Texas Football

The 2008 summer edition of Dave Campbell's Texas Football
Editor Greg Tepper
Categories Sports
Frequency Biannual
Founder Dave Campbell
Year founded 1960
First issue  1960
Company High Field Marketing
(Sports in Action)
Country United States
Based in Dallas
Language English
Website texasfootball.com
ISSN 0147-1287

Dave Campbell's Texas Football is an biannual magazine previewing American football teams in the state of Texas.

It previews football teams in Texas at all levels, from the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, college football, to the roughly 1,400 high schools (public and private) in the state.

The summer magazine is issued in June, about 1-2 months before the start of preseason football. It sells for $10.95 and is available in most Texas stores which sell magazines. A winter edition, which began in 2008, is published each January.

History

The magazine was started in 1960 by Dave Campbell, a longtime writer and sports editor for the Waco Tribune-Herald, along with fellow Waco sportswriters Hollis Biddle, Jim Montgomery, and Al Ward. He published the magazine out of his kitchen. On the cover of the inaugural edition was Texas Longhorns running back Jackie Collins. The cover price for the 96-page magazine was fifty cents.

It was bought in 1985 by Host Communications,[1] which was bought by IMG in 2007. In 2014, Sports in Action, a company operated by the family of Texas businessman Drayton McLane bought the rights to operate the magazine from IMG.[2]

It is one of the best-selling football magazines in the state and has been dubbed "The Bible of Texas Football".[3] Each year, the identity of its cover subject(s) is a tightly-guarded secret. At the age of 82, Campbell still holds the position of editor-in-chief.

Currently, Dave Campbell's Texas Football is a twice-yearly statewide magazine with over 400,000 readers.

To accompany the print version, a website, www.texasfootball.com, was created in 1999. In summer 2009, Texas Football announced a new statewide weekly radio program, known as the Dave Campbell's Texas Football Radio Hour. In 2010, the magazine started its own television program, Texas Football Game Day, a half-hour variety show. Game Day was filmed weekly at the stadium of a key game and broadcast (sometimes live, sometime tape delayed) on Fox Sports Southwest.

In 1999, Texas Football started its own high school football event, the Texas Football Classic, which is held at the beginning of each season at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

The overall brand is run by general manager Adam Hochfelder, and the magazine and website are run by managing editor Greg Tepper and associate editors Courtney Madden and EJ Holland.

Summer magazine covers

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Winter magazine covers

When the University of Texas won the BCS national title in the 2006 Rose Bowl, Texas Football put out a special championship edition of the magazine. Two years later, the magazine brought back the winter edition as a permanent feature.

Mr. Texas Football

When Texas Football revived the winter book after the 2007 season, it began giving a "Mr. Texas Football" honoring the top high school player in the state. It has since been renamed the Gridiron Legends High School Player of the Year Award, which is presented by Cavenders Boot City and Wranger Jeans.

References

  1. ↑ "Dave Campbell still has hand in popular state football preview".
  2. ↑ http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Campbell-s-Texas-Football-magazine-in-new-hands-5281704.php
  3. ↑ http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/pages/releases/2004_05/012/062305_40.html
  4. ↑ "Longhorns' Benson chasing RB legacies".
  5. ↑ "Texas Football magazine hits newsstands next week".
  6. ↑ "Texas Football Coming Soon".
  7. ↑ "2007 Dave Campbell's Texas Football hits the shelves starting today" (Press release).
  8. ↑ "Campbell picks Cove to win District 12-5A". Killeen Daily Herald. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  9. ↑ Williams, Don (26 January 2009). "Tech, Tigers get share of magazine spotlight". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Retrieved 26 January 2009.

External links