He went by multiple names, played for three high schools, two colleges, two NFL teams, coached at one university and in the Poi Bowl and in De Leon High School football history he is one of the big three.  He is Cecil Paul “Honk” “Tex” Irvin.

Above:  Irvin with his 1922 De Leon Bearcat team mates.  Irvin is on the row behind the coaches fifth from the left (immediately to the left of coach Hardt).


Right:  Irvin with his Albany team in 1923.  He is on the bottom row, second from the right.


Below:  Irvin punting while playing for Cisco in 1924 or 1925.

Irvin 1

National Football League, New York Giants, Gumshoe Game, Canvas Sneakers, Cavanaugh Game, Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, Governor Preston Smith, Providence Steamrollers, Southwestern University, De Leon Bearcats, Deleon, De Leon, Texas, DeLeon, Texas, NFL Championship, Detroit Lions, Cisco Lobos, Stanford, Texas, Davis-elkins College.

    If you asked a De Leonian who was Cecil Irvin, he probably couldn’t tell you.  Even an old spots aficionado from New York City would also be lost if asked that question.  But ask a De Leonian who Honk Irvin was or ask the New Yorker about Tex Irvin and the memories start to click.  For Cecil Paul Irvin was always called “Honk” in De Leon and “Tex” at his stints along the east coast.  And to search for his records, you not only have to look under Irvin but also Irving, Ervin, Erving and Erwin.

    In De Leon’s football annals, there are really three great players from the early days, brothers  B.J. Pittman and Ralph D. Pittman and Honk Irvin.  Each member of this triple crown have been inducted into a football hall of fame.  Honk was probably the best football player to have ever played in De Leon, but is often overshadowed by the Pittmans because he only played on year for the Bearcats.

     Honk was born in De Leon in 1906.  He began his football career in 1922, when as a freshman he played for the Bearcats under Henry B. Hardt, one of the most noted coaches ever in De Leon.  One should realize that Honk was really an eighth grader at that time as the school systems of the day only had eleven grades.

   Little has been found about his year in De Leon, for as a freshman he probably played sparingly.  Yet, he must have played well enough to enable him to wear the stripped sleeve jersey for the team picture while other younger players were relegated to the plain maroon jersey.  He obviously played enough to come to the attention of several other schools in the famous Oil Belt District.  At times, that district consisted of all the schools in north central Texas from a Graham-Stephenville-Hamilton line on the east to Colorado City and Sweetwater on the west.  The district was divided into two divisions, with the larger schools like Cisco, Ranger, Brownwood and Eastland in division “A” and smaller schools like De Leon, Stephenville, Comanche, Dublin, Desdemona and Gorman participating as “B” schools.  It was a tough league, with recruiting of players rampant among the “A” schools and not unknown among the “B” schools. Big oil money was changing this country from a poor farming and ranching area into communities with some cash.  And like today, football was king.

    Honk’s father worked for the MKT railroad.  In 1923, he was transferred to Stamford, and that fall Honk played as a Bulldog.  The next year, Cisco called (read “recruited Honk”) and the Irvins left Stamford.  Honk’s final two years of high school ball were played for the Lobos (1924-1925).  De Leon, Stamford and Cisco were located along the old Texas Central Branch of the MKT railroad.  The Texas and Pacific crossed the MKT in Cisco.

    Even though Cisco was one of the larger schools in the Oil Belt, its football program had never been on a par with the better teams in the league like Ranger, De Leon and Comanche.  In 1922, Honk’s only year in De Leon, Cisco managed only four wins, two losses and a tie in what was their best season ever to that time.  The Lobos split two games with Breckenridge and tied Stamford.  The other loss was to De Leon 27-7.  Cisco set out to build a winning team--no matter what the cost.  Honk may have come to their attention in that 1922 game against the Bearcats.

   In Honk’s first season at Cisco, the Lobos were eliminated in the playoffs by the eventual State Champions, Dallas Oak Cliff.  That Lobo team beat Arlington Heights of Fort Worth 102-2, the most points ever scored by Cisco.

    Perhaps the best team ever to play at Cisco was the 1925 team that included Honk and Pinkie Alsabrook.  The team played fifteen games, giving up only thirty points to the opposition.  They were widely heralded as the “Big Dam Lobos” in deference not only to the size of the team but to the massive new dam that had been completed near Cisco.  During the season, Cisco defeated the Class B Regional Champions, Colorado City, 70-0.  Colorado City “beat” De Leon 13-6 to win the Oil Belt Class B Championship.  (The word “beat” is really inappropriate here.  The refs were paid off by oil money and that story appears in the 1925 Bearcats team page.)

    Advancing through the playoffs, the Lobos met Dallas Forest Avenue in the semifinal game.  It ended in a 13-13 tie.  In those days, neither penetrations, first downs, nor overtime determined a winner. They simply played another game.  Dallas won, 7-0, and advanced to the championship game against Waco.  In one of the games against Dallas, Honk punted from eight yards deep in his end zone.  The ball died inside the Forest Avenue twenty yard line, and was officially recorded as an 81 yard punt.

Cisco’s Big Dam Lobos of either 1924 or 1925.  Honk is on the back row fourth from the right.  Notice the American Glycerin Co. sign in the background, an oil “boom” company in the literal sense.

Baby picture of Honk Irvin

Honk standing, probably with his sister.

The Irvin family.  Grandparents seated, father in the center standing.  Honk is believed to be to the right of his father.

Honk standing.  Baby is probably Bill Irvin.