Comments...
Subject: PA Greats Football Tournament
Thank you for putting together a wonderful site! I have a lot of great memories of playing with an unbelievable group of guys in McKeesport. The Pennsylvania HS greats tournament was very enjoyable and entertaining to read. I love how in depth you were with the stats and highlights of each game. Thanks again for including the 1994 Mckessport team. It was truly a pleasure to be associated with that team, although I think we would have faired a little better than the quarterfinals. HA-HA
Thanks again,
Bill Isbir
QB 1994 McKeesport Tigers
Hey I think this is an awesome idea...I wish someone would create a video with the same premise. I do have to comment on my Mckeesport Tigers losing to the 1945 Donora team...As member of the !994 Mckeesport defense, I can honestly say there is no way any team would have rushed for 200+ yards...It just wouldn't happen. I'm sure we weren't the only ones, but when we were blowing teams out, our starters would sit the entire 2nd half, some games we'd be sitting by the middle of the second quarter, I say that to say this, the numbers do not reflect our dominance. I heard about the 87 North Hills team, the one thing you have to take into account is that our offense ran a no-huddle, we owned the fourth quarter of every game for a reason. Not to mention we won the state championship without two of our starting linemen. Again, I appreciate the attempt but you can't deny greatness. We were the best to ever come out of Western Pa. Period. On a side note, the person who did your research may want to take note, that Saeon Coleman, Free-Safety was 2nd in total tackles behind Brandon Short, I think it's a safe bet to acknowledge him as a defensive star also...Of course I'm a little bias....
It is absolutely an honor for our team to be recognized almost 15 years later, along with the greatest high school teams ever! I agree, these were all great Championship teams.
Someone needs to contact EA sports, and get the video game in motion, it would be awesome! You guys definitely did your research.
I bet Bill Isbir, wanted a touchdown pass somewhere in there!! LOL!
Keep up the great work, and thanks again.
Sincerely,
Saeon Coleman
Mckeesport Defensive Back
1994 PIAA & WPIAL CHAMPION
Subject: PA Hoop Greats
Thanks for all your work with this mythical tournament. I played for P-W '63 and although we lost to Carlisle, it was a trip down memory lane. Laughed out loud noticing the officials were Duke Maronic (who actually had our state title game against Norwin), Steve Honzo, etcetera. You made it seem almost real.
Thanks for the memories. I am passing your site and tournament on to all my teammates and Coach Stofko who is 80 years old and will certainly get a kick out of it.
Jim Moore (Plymouth-Whitemarsh '63)
Texas All-time Football Tournament
Field of 16:
'56 Abilene
'59 CC Ray
'61 Wichita Falls
'68 Austin Reagan
'71 SA Lee
'73 Tyler John Tyler
'78 Houston Stratford
'85 Houston Yates
'87 Plano
'88 Dallas Carter
'90 Aldine
'91 Odessa Permian
'96 Lewisville
'99 Midland Lee
'03 GP North Shore
'05 Southlake Carroll
Doing anything I can to glom onto the upcoming NCAA tournament (and yet have it relate to football in Texas), I came across a tournament that declared the best high school football team ever to play in Texas.
And it was decided by a man in Michigan who -- to my knowledge -- has never seen a live Texas high school football game.
No, I'm not to the point of desperation for blog-worthy material.
This All-time Texas tournament is worth checking out. The research, remarkably, is quite exhaustive.
Steve Clark, the man behind the madness, told me via e-mail "it did take about a year-and-a-half to gather everything." He scoured microfilm and talked with players from teams among the field of 16 to get his facts straight.
From there, he inserted the teams into a "football board game that I invented when I was younger (long before Play Station) where I would create as realistic as possible 'team charts,'" he said.
Clark gives detailed play-by-play and analysis from each game of the fictional playoffs. Each game has full box scores, scoring summaries -- anything you'd expect from a real game.
He previews the final game between 2003 GP North Shore and 1991 Odessa Permian. He said he didn't see Permian's 9-3 win coming.
"I don't know if many would agree with 1991 Permian as the best ever ... but that's the way it played out this time," he said.
Clark admits the results from his creation shouldn't be placed in cement.
"The game is not for public consumption," he said, "but I thought it would be a different way to present the great teams other than just listing them. I can't emphasize enough that this is not meant to belittle or endorse one team or era over another; hopefully it will just create dialogue."
Clark said the experience was somewhat tiring, "but, it was a labor of love learning about some of the great teams in Texas' history," he said.
And now it's ours to chew on. Give it a look, but a warning, you might end up spending hours looking it over.
Subject: 1999 Detroit CC vs. 2006 GPN Baseball
Kevin writes:
The simulation that you shared with me looks pretty cool! Thanks for including the link in your e-mail. I have been coaching HS baseball in Michigan for some 20+ years and have had over 150 players go on to play at the collegiate or professional level. Currently, I have at least half a dozen former players playing D1, 9 in the minors and one in the major league--JJ Putz. Needless to say, I am in agreement that the '99 CC team was the best HS baseball team to ever play in Michigan. While a number of guys from that team played on the collegiate level, four are still playing in the minor league today.
