1925 Bearcats
Some said it was the love of football that brought W. Zelma Compton to De Leon. Those in the know said it was the love of a De Leon girl. Either way, 1925 began an era of quality football in De Leon that would stretch over ten years. No De Leon coach matched the tenure of Compton until Grady West began his eleventh year in 1988.
The duties of principal were piling up on Bearcat Coach Ernie Johnson. The school was continuing to grow, with 250 students actually enrolling in high school on opening day. It was decided that a new coach would be hired and Johnson would only assist him when needed.
The president of the school board, Mr. Lightfoot, set out to secure the only man to receive four letters in the history of John Tarleton Agricultural College. In fact it was someone else who was luring Compton much more effectively. Her name was Ruth Harvey, later Mrs. W.Z. Compton. Mr. Compton came to De Leon to coach and teach Physics and commercial courses.
One of the first things Compton did was to try to encourage the return of the De Leon fans. He came up with the plan of selling season tickets for $4. Season tickets were not a new idea but these were different. The ticket admitted a holder to all football, basketball and baseball games. He did something even better that brought the fans back, he won football games. He also face one of the most controversial district competitions in the history of this area.
Please recall that the Oil Belt District a huge area of north and west central Texas with sectional champions in two size classes playing for the district title.
EASTLAND
The era began in Eastland as the Class B Bearcats took on one of the leading teams in the Oil Belt District, the Class A Mavericks. Over 2,500 fans saw a hard fought game.
The game was scoreless at half time. Three times in the first half, it looked inevitable that Eastland would score. Three times De Leon’s 5’ 6”, 125 pound quarterback, Zollie Steakley, who was described as “a bearcat for a little guy,” stopped Eastland’s Cox, a 200 pound running back.
In the second half Eastland went to what was called a “criss cross” offense and scored three touchdowns. In the fourth quarter, De Leon set up a score as Steakley connected with Alan Short for thirty yard gain followed by a pass to Raymond Butler for the touchdown.
Eastland had the option under the rules of the day to kickoff following the De Leon touchdown and did so. De Leon again drove down the field deep into Maverick territory but time ran out and Eastland won 19-7.
Wayne Mulloy emerged from the game with two black eyes. The De Leonian noted that “was all one man was allowed.”
CROSS PLAINS
In Compton’s first district game, Cross Plains came to De Leon and went home with a 49-0 whipping. De Leon dominated the game from the opening kickoff and had three touchdowns called back. Elton Boswell scored one touchdown on a fifty yard run and kicked seven extra points. W.W. Nance spent the afternoon in the Buffalo backfield on defense.
GORMAN
Gorman too, had hired a coach from Tarleton. Dewey Mulloy had captained the Tarleton basketball team in the ‘24-’25 season, probably playing with Compton.
The game was played in the mud and cold at Gorman on October 9, with neither team able to score a touchdown. De Leon had the ball on the Panther one yard line on three occasions but could not push it across.
With three minutes left in the game, Gorman kicked a field goal and apparently won the game 3-0. But, as the Gorman Progress stated, “Gorman got caught on the same hook as some other teams in this section.” Reading between the lines what was being said was that Gorman had been caught playing an ineligible player.
De Leon protested that Gorman had allowed Grandon Teaff to play in the game knowing that he was over 21 years of age. After much discussion around the district, the U.I.L. finally ruled that Gorman must forfeit the game and would be ineligible for championship contention. A 1-0 De Leon victory was thus recorded leaving the De Leon undefeated in district play.
RISING STAR
The sectional championship was up for grabs when De Leon and Rising Star met. Rising Star felt that their Wildcats should not have to play De Leon since Gorman had beaten De Leon and Rising Star had opened their season by defeating Gorman. Rising Star in addition to beating Gorman, also had district wins against three other district teams, Desdemona, Dublin and Thurber. A loss to Stephenville had dropped their district record to 80%. Only Stephenville and De Leon had better percentage records and the sectional champion would be determined on the best percentage of wins in the district.
The U.I.L. ruled that the schedule had been set and the game would have to be played in light of the Gorman forfeiture.
Joe Holleman had injured his knee in a previous game resulting in the Fort Worth Star Telegram favoring Rising Star. This greatly irritated the De Leon readership and they wrote the paper with their views on the upcoming game. The Rising Star Record pointed out that De Leon was “reported to have one of the fastest (Class) B teams in this section...and it would be a battle royal.” The largest crowd ever to attend a game in De Leon gathered at the north side field for the game.
When the first quarter ended, things looked gloomy for De Leon. The Bearcats had not made a first down and Rising Star had the ball on the De Lon eight yard line with a first and goal.
On the first two plays of the second quarter, the Wildcats moved to the De Leon one. On third down they reached the one foot line. Then, on fourth down, the quarterback kept and went up the middle. He was met there by Fred Stover and was stopped short of the goal line. Boswell then hit a sixty yard punt to put the Bearcats out of danger.
The Wildcats’ chance for victory had ended. In the third quarter De Leon put together a good quarter as Boswell swept around end for the lone score of the game. The Bearcat defense and penalties kept the Wildcats out of the end zone in the second half and the game ended with a 6-0 De Leon win.
HICO
In a 53-0 romp, De Leon allowed only three first downs, two of which occurred while the reserves were in late in the game.
GORMAN II
A second game with Gorman had been scheduled for November 6. The outcome did not matter as any district games with Gorman no longer counted. The attitude of the Panther fans was expressed well by the Gorman Progress which stated “fur was going to fly.” De Leon pulled out a 6-0 victory. The De Leonian did not even mention this game and there is a conflicting reported score of 3-3.
STEPHENVILLE
A game with Stephenville was to follow the Gorman game but was not played. Stephenville, who was leading not only the section but the entire district, was also found to have a player who was older than 21. The De Leonian claimed that he was a professional player. The U.I.L. ruled Stephenville ineligible and disqualified them from district competition. That left De Leon without a defeat in district play and coupled with the combinations of teams defeating other teams De Leon was declared sectional champions. De Leon then elected to play the Tarleton J.V. instead of Stephenville.
TARLETON
De Leon rolled up three first half touchdowns in a 19-0 victory over “Jim” Tarleton. John D. Harvey scored one of the touchdowns on a 30 yard run. Both teams threatened but failed to score in the fourth quarter.
HOWARD PAYNE
Coach Compton was not with the Bearcats as they played the Howard Payne J.V. He was in Colorado City arranging for a district championship game. With Ernie Johnson acting as head coach the much heavier Yellow Jackets won 12-0.
COLORADO CITY
It had been a controversial year in District 10 and the controversy was not over. The championship game was to be played in Colorado City on Tuesday, November 16. The Bearcats arrived the day before, spending the night in a local hotel. Team members had already heard that Colorado High (the school goes by Colorado High not Colorado City High) had ineligible players on their team. That would be only part of the problem. It would be a dirty game.
Colorado High had already had a very controversial game with Anson which ended with Colorado City fans attacking the officials. The Abilene paper had accused Colorado’s coach Cantrill and others of punching and knocking out the referee Kuhn or umpire Simms following a call. The Colorado coach and superintendent both denied that either man was knocked out or even knocked to the ground. The Anson fans were apparently not involved in the incident.
Oil money was flowing into Colorado City much as it had in De Leon, Desdemona and Ranger only seven years earlier. Gambling had become a serious problem at Colorado High games and the administration had tried to rein it in. But certain “fans” had other ideas and decided to put their money to good use.
Soon after De Leon’s quarterback, Zollie Steakley Jr., got upon that Monday morning, there was a knock on his hotel room door. When he answered the door, two men whom he did not know, hurried into his room. They threw three rolls of bills on the bed and told Steakley that the money was his if he would throw the football game.
Steakley had never seen this much money nor had he ever been approached by someone with what he considered such an unethical request. He was seventeen, scared and had no idea as to how to safely get rid of these men. Luckily, Coach Compton came out of his room and started down the hall. Compton’s appearance startled the two men and they grabbed the money and ran out of Steakley’s room. It was the first time anyone attempted and failed to bribe Steakley. It would not be last in the career of the future Texas Secretary of State and Texas Supreme Court Justice and a thirty-five year Baptist Sunday School teacher. The money was apparently put to better use by the bribing of a referee.
Over one hundred telegrams were received by the Bearcats from fans in De Leon encouraging them on to victory and they appeared to work in the early part of the game.
Harvey kicked off for the Bearcats who were defending the east goal. The ball was taken at the ten and returned to the twenty. From there Colorado City’s Grist carried to the thirty where the drive stalled. De Leon took over but could not move and Boswell punted. As Gist received the punt, he was hit by Lewis Easterling and the ball spurted free. Harvey recovered on the Wolves thirty-five. It was the fifth time in the season that Easterling had separated the ball from a punt receiver.
Perry Farrow picked up a first down on the next play. Then, Boswell went off guard for a 25 yard touchdown. Boswell failed to kick goal but De Leon had a 6-0 lead.
The second quarter was a Bearcat nightmare. Colorado City had a first and goal at the De Leon four. In three plays they advanced to the one. On fourth down, the ball carrier was pushed back. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a referee ruled De Leon had been offside and gave Colorado City another shot from the one foot line. Again the Wolves were stopped in a pile up outside the goal line. Referee Winters again stepped in. He ruled that De Leon had pushed the ball back across the goal line after the play had been ruled over. Judge Steakley recalled that he was standing outside the goal line and that Boswell was between him and downed ball carrier. He remembered the ball as resting about three yard line and had not been any closer than that during the play.
On the extra point attempt, the kick was wide. But, referee Winters was again Johnny-on-the-Spot. He ruled De Leon offside and awarded the extra point to Colorado City without enforcing a penalty and rekick.
Throughout the first half, De Leon lost players to serious leg injuries reportedly due to illegal blocks. In the third quarter, Steakley made a fifty yard return of a punt to put the Bearcats in scoring range. But, on the next play Boswell joined the injured leaving only Steakley as the the only first string player in the backfield.
The final Colorado City score came when a De Leon pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Butler blocked the extra point attempt. De Leon had the ball deep in Wolf territory as time ran out.
The district championship was bought and paid for and was now owned by Colorado City.
COMANCHE
Today it seems strange that De Leon and Comanche would play a non-district game following both sectional and district competition. But, in 1925 scheduling was much more flexible and less important than today. So, De Leon and Comanche met on Thanksgiving afternoon in Comanche.
Physically, the Bearcats were devastated. The Bearcats running backs, Boswell, Stover and Butler as well as one other starter were out with the injuries suffered ten days earlier.
De Leon took the opening kickoff and soon turned the ball over on a fumble. The Native Americans’ recovery led to the first touchdown of the game. As the Comanche ball carrier crossed the goal line, he fumbled but it was ruled a touchdown. The ruling however, was not that he fumbled after crossing the plane of the goal but that the referee had blown the whistle before he fumbled. Comanche upped the lead to 12-0 at the half when they intercepted a Bearcat pass and returned it for a touchdown.
CHRISTMAS GAME
The traditional Christmas afternoon game between the Hasbeens (Alumni) and the Isses (Bearcats) was played even though the injuries of the Colorado City game had not healed. Coach Compton, Ralph Pittman and Bonner Nabors had to sub in for the Isses to field a full team.
Playing for the Hasbeens were Autrey Self, Kid Stover, Slats Bell, Finis Bell, Robert Patterson, Boyd Sharp, Edmond Grizzelle, C.O. Bragg, Hallie Stephens, Johnnie Walker, Clayton Black, Henry Bryant, and Lonnie Cozby. The Hasbeens scored first on a ”patented Johnny Walker run” and they rolled to a 13-7 victory.
1925
District 3
Section B Champions
DHS OPP
7 @Eastland 19
49 Cross Plains 0
6 Rising Star 0
1 @Gorman 0
53 Hico 0
6 Gorman 0
19 Tarleton 0
0 H.P.C. 12
6 @Colorado
City* 13
0 @Comanche 25
Top Row: Tom Nance, Roy Nabors, Ollie Stephens, Murray Nichols, ______ Spencer
Second Row: Whaley Smith Captain, Jack Smith, Wayne Mulloy, Perry Farrow, Fred Howe, Raymond Butler, W.W. Nance Jr.
Third Row: C. Nichols, Dever Gilder, Dick Weaver, Cecil Polnac, Joe Holleman, Fred Stover
Front Row: John D. Harvey, Alan Short, Zollie Steakley Jr., Elton Boswell, Lewis Easterling
Kneeling: Compton, E.C. Johnson Principal Asst. Coach, and D.M. Russell Superintendent
Supreme Court Justice
Zollie C. Steakley Jr.