Abilene High School - Flashlight Yearbook (Abilene, TX)

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First Row: Tommy Hill, lay Witbeck, Tom Burditt. Second Row: Ioe Humphrey, Iarnes Atkinson, Chuck Francis, james Cullar, Third Frow: George Steakley, Rufus Sivley, B. C, Rogers. TENNIS Thirty boys reported for tennis last fall, but this number was gradually reduced to the following five who did most of the competitive match playing: Rufus Sivley, George Steakley, Chuck Francis, B. C. Rogers, and Tom Hill. Usually only seniors are included on the senior teams, but this season Rufus Sivley and Tom Hill, juniors, were thought fit players for the senior division. Coached by Mr. Humphrey, the ten- nis teams played Stamford, Coleman, Mclviurry, Breckenridge, San Angelo, and Sweet- water without the loss of a game. They were defeated by Midland in a series of matches, but not before putting up a game fight. The interscholastic League rep- resentatives for Abilene tennis were Rufus Sivley and George Steakley, senior doubles, and Tom Hill, senior singles. Aided by the donation of the use of the tennis courts at North Eighth and Orange by Robert M. Wagstaff, and by the assistance of the Kiwanis Club, that donated money for the improvement of the courts, james Cullar, coach of the junior division, has given much attention to this division, the reason being that the 1939 team will prob- ably be built around these players. Outstanding junior players were Earl Hoppe, junior singles, and Tom Burditt, Dick Star, Wood Butler, lay Witbeck, and jimmy Atkinson, all contestants for the junior doubles team. Besides the regular practice and coaching, Fred Perry, world's amateur champion of 1935 and 1936 gave the teams some advice that only champions can give. The outstanding statements in the advice given were that in practice games players should not go on the court just to Win but to get practice and experience and net- ters should not burn themselves out early in their career, but should take their course leisurely until they have become experienced players. His advice was ac- cepted with enthusiasm. From the hard-working junior players of 1938 may be developed a record-brealo ing team of 1939. Page 106

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'm '51, 1 3 IAMES BEAM WILLIE PHILLIPS H. H. HUGHES ma.: Booman District Five Track and Field Meet On April l6, at Sweetwater, Loraine's Bulldogs won heavily in the field. events to outscore the Abilene Eagles by a half point for the District Five track and field cham- pionship. Abilene led the other contestants most of the afternoon, but the Mitchell county tracksters, coached by Pinky Brooks, former McMurry athlete, bounded to the front in the next to the last event and his boys still held a 25 l-2 to 25 score over the Eagles at the finish of the Meet. Inspired by the beautiful spring day, Abilenes mile relay quartet broke the only record of the Meet when they toured the mile on the slow high-school track in 31351, lowering by less than a second the mark estab- M -.A. My A, ,. lished by another set of Abilene runners in - ' 1933. Willie Phillips and Iarnes Beam gave F, f the Eagles a fifteen-yard lead at the half-way fi A-:Al-j-if-' F ' point, but lack Boozer, almost exhausted from -.---V--M , W a strenuous day's work, was only five yards .-...,,....,., .1 ahead of the Colorado team at the last ex- ..,..,-.s.,.-.. change. R. H. Hughes breezed home with a , . xi A 4 ll good margin to spare, establishing a record- it y f E' the first new one in District Five since l935. , ln the 440, B. H. Hughes led his old rival, M .:' ' Abbott of Aspermont, to the tape with a last- I 'ifl 1 Y second kick that sent him five yards in front of I I the field. B. H. chugged home in the very re- spectable time of 52.9 seconds. Boozer and l l A Phillips produced the other Abilene blue rib- ' ' bons in the furlong and broadjump. Boozer finished two yards ahead of Beard ot Anson - ' ' to win the furlong in style. Phillips' victory Szgm, 1- . - came in the broadjump when he got off to a . .r ' I 1- ' 1 - 2 - ,V s,Q'.r.I.,. leap of 20 feet, 8 1-2 inches. ,,.V.,. K VP - 'I I Although the Eagles lost the Meet, they fought '... H . . . .. a hard, clean fight and in doing SO established II l 'Hn 'A V' the new District Five record. ZQLU5 MQTLEY Page 105

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'xx j f ryyiji - j ' it if. . ' 6' y i-.......: - -ig'T 'E'E ' . ff? A Hot One Over the Net TENNIS Doubtful as to their ability to play, Ioe C. Humphrey found that his Eagles were steady and dependable when they defeated Breckenridge in a series of matches on February 26. ln the first games Abilene won 3 to l. Rufus Sivley and George Steak- ley next defeated lack Cox and Earl Turner 6-2, 6-U. ln singles Sivley trounced joe Gray 6-2, 6-2. ln the junior division Chuck Francis and R. C. Rogers were defeated in a bitterly contested match 6-2, l-6, 7-6. The same week, in the matches with Cole- -----Y man, the junior teams proved that they did not always lose when Earl Hoppe defeated Sam Cobb, Coleman singles man, 6-8, 6-3, 6-2. ln the doubles Don Bowers and Langford Willhitt, Coleman, lost to Dick Star and Toni Burditt 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. On March l5 Abilene made a clean sweep of doubles matches and won all but one singles A v match in a five-way tournament at Sweetwater. 'V Other teams in the tournament besides Abilene and Sweetwater were Hamlin, Rotan, and Roby. George Steakley and Rufus Srvley, Abilenes Number One doubles team, downed Clark and Headstream of Roby 6-l, 6-3, and then took the matches with Hamlin's Number One doubles pair 6-3, 6-2. ln the feature skirmish of the day, Abilene's netters defeated the favored doubles team of Sweetwater with a brilliant court per- formance that showed all the striking points of a champion tennis team. With a long string of victories behind them, the Eagle netters turned to new competition in the form of the San Angelo teams. After some hard battles, the Eagles came out of the fight with more victories to their records. Mr. Humphrey's net- ters won the District and Regional doubles title and they will journey to State, where he ex- pects them to make a good showing. RUFUS SIVLEY Page107 w,r .w,, 41:-J I 1 View I, A