Millerman was rare double state champ with Abilene High
By Sam Waller, Abilene Reporter-News, Texas | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Somewhat less well known is the fact the Eagles have also won seven state championships in track and field.
In the spring of 1954, Millerman ran the lead leg on the Eagle's gold-medal 440-yard relay team as AHS claimed its second team title (the first of three under coach
In honor of his achievements, Millerman will be inducted into the
"(The track championship) kind of started the ball rolling," Millerman said. "What we were proud of was that 49 straight games over those years. We still have the record for the big schools. Celina has it for all schools (68 in a row, 1998-2002) and then Southlake (Carroll) tied us.
"It's always fun to look back at those days and see how that got started. We also won some other state championships in the '50s. We won it in track one more time in the '50s (1959, the first of three in a row), and we won it in baseball (back-to-back in 1956-57). Some of these guys like
Before the successes came disappointment. In 1953, Moser's first season as football coach, the Eagles finished 7-2-1. One of the losses was 19-14 to
"We probably had a better team in '53 than we did in '54 when we won state," Millerman said. "We had some guys that graduated who were really good players. If we'd beat Odessa, we would have won the district. They beat us on a very controversial interference call.
"We didn't win, but we did have a good year that year. We beat Breckenridge. Somebody told
The spring of '54 helped sow the seeds of success. In addition to the sprint relay,
"Grose figured every angle there was," Millerman said. "He had it figured that he needed six or seven more points in order to beat Sunset. They had a great, great all-world runner named
"(Groseclose) found a guy in a PE class by the name of
The relay of Millerman,
"Dick was a guard on the football team, but he was a great athlete," Millerman said. "Most guards don't anchor a state champion relay."
In football, Millerman's senior season got off to a rather inauspicious start.
"In 1954, we had the three colleges there and
"When we did it, it was the weirdest thing that ever happened to me in football. My old friend
"I pulled those things up to be modest. Twyman had seen what had been done and was laughing so hard he couldn't even chase me. So I went 80 yards."
A few months later, Millerman scored the first touchdown in
"That game is the only game I ever got hurt in," Millerman said. "I got cold-cocked on a pass. I caught a pass down the middle and the safety gave me a rabbit punch or something. I was out of like a light."
After being checked over by team physician Dr.
"Dr. Sibley was holding up three fingers," Millerman said. "He asked how many and I said three. He said I was probably OK.
"By then, we were down on about the 4-yard line and Moser said get back in there and run a sweep. We had a big fullback named
After high school, Millerman played in the
Millerman has spent the past 56 years in the insurance business, starting with the family firm Millerman & Millerman in
"We had a real esprit de corps (in 1954)," he said. "We lost a couple of guys who kind of got a wild hair and left and we had to kind of regroup, but we went ahead and kept winning, kept doing it and got the job done.
"
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