Friday Night Lights, Football, and Community
With the calendar already turned to August, we’re all getting excited for the return of Friday Night Lights.
Years ago I made my living as a sports reporter in the wilds of West Texas. Odessa, to be exact. Home of the Permian Panthers and the place where Friday Night Lights was born.
The guy behind the book, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, came to town while I was there. I don’t recall every detail, but I remember him explaining he had looked at multiple schools and communities for the perfect place that exemplified the love of community for their high school football team. He ventured to Cincinnati Moeller High School, Valdosta H.S. in Georgia and others before settling on Odessa and Permian.
Buzz was granted complete access by Permian – a move I think they later regretted – and Friday Night Lights began taking shape. Actually, the title was Friday Night Lights -- A Town, A Team, and A Dream. The book’s success – it hit No. 1 on the NYT list and sold a couple million copies – was indeed a dream for Bissinger. Not too sure it wasn’t a bit of a nightmare for Odessa Permian, in part because of all the scrutiny the school and program endured . . . and the aftermath. Here’s the thing. Permian was one of the powerhouses in Texas schoolboy football lore. The Panthers flexed their Mojo and won state championships in 1965, 1972, 1980, 1984 and 1989. The book came out in 1990 and in the 35 years since, Permian has won exactly one state football championship.
Bissinger’s fault? Too much fame? Who knows.
What I did learn in dusty West Texas though, was how absolutely loyal fans are in the Lone Star State. The editor asked me if I understood exactly how big Texas high school football was and I smiled. I explained that Indiana is home to Hoosier Hysteria and another pretty famous sports story that turned into a movie blockbuster, Hoosiers.
He smiled back. “Son, how many people go to your state championship in ‘Hoosier Hysteria?’ ” I told him that Market Square Arena, home of the Indiana Pacers, held almost 17,000 and we sold it out every year.
He smiled again. “Ratliff Stadium can hold more than 20,000 people and we sell it out every Friday night.”
Oh. Believe me, I get it; and love it! Just one old reporter’s opinion, but high school sports are one of the best things going in our community – heck, in our state. Check that. With the state of the country and world today, it’s one ofthe best things anywhere. Period.
So we’re excited at your favorite Texas weekly to get going with football and all the fall sports. Thanks to stellar editor Jennifer Paul and veteran sports editor Stephen Farris, we have a lot of great things planned this year including weekly previews, district stats and standings, spotlights on players, columns and more.
I hope you like what you see, and I hope you’ll take the time to share your thoughts with Jennifer, Stephen and me. Our goal is to give you the best local newspaper we can.
Period. Nice to connect again. I’ll be getting back to work now. We’ll talk again soon.
Timmons is a career newspaperman, award winning author and insudtry consultant. He is the group publisher for Moser Community Media’s Central and Limestone newspaper groups which inculdes publications in Cameron, Marlin, Thorndale, Rosebud, Groesbeck, Mexia, and Fairfield. You can reach him at tim@themexianews.com