Search is on

Sports

Related Photos

File photo

Discussion

June 3, 2009

Orr, Estelle trying to track down ‘78-79 Navarro basketball team photo

Anonymous The Corsicana Daily Sun Wed Jun 03, 2009, 07:05 PM CDT

The goal, Navarro basketball coach Johnny Estelle said, is to honor history.

As someone with a history degree, I can appreciate that.

So it only took a nudge from our publisher, Raymond Linex II to use this space to help out Estelle and his mentor and former Navarro coach, Lewis Orr.

Here’s the skinny — Estelle and Orr stopped by the venerable Daily Sun offices to track down a team photo of the 1978-79 Navarro Bulldogs basketball team. That team, if you don’t know, was ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation that season.

Raymond, the great local sports fan he is, started rattling off names that I had never heard of, guys like David Burns, an athletic guard. “He might be the best player to ever put on a Navarro uniform,” Raymond said.

There were 6-6 twin towers Willie Whittenburg and Michael Taylor — remember this was a few years before the real “Twin Towers,” Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson at Houston. There was point guard Rudy Williams, the team’s most vocal leader, and also Greg Low.

The bench included freshman Hiram Harrison, a 6-5 swingman who jumped center as a sophomore and was also a Denzel Washington look-a-like. And there was Nicky Snell, a hard-nosed guard that Raymond compared to former Utah Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek.

Raymond even went back and went through our archives searching for the photo. But in this day and age of digital cameras and computers, I’m afraid the chances of finding old photos at any newspaper are a long shot.

So here’s the idea — if anyone has the ‘78-79 team photo, drop it off at the Daily Sun. Better yet, run it over to Estelle at Navarro. You’ll be making a friend for life.

You might even score some free tickets out of it (Editor’s note: I didn’t run this by Estelle, so if he can’t do it because of some NJCAA rule, I’ll personally cover the cost).

Remembering the past is something close to my heart. And Estelle’s too.

“I was digging back in the archives and the history,” Estelle said. “They were a pretty good team. I wanted to get them up on the web site and hang a picture in the gym.

“Coach Orr did a great job with that team.”

A quick refresher course — the ‘78-79 Bulldogs team stands as the best in school history, with apologies to DeAndre Brown, Matt Pressey and the rest of this year’s Navarro team that advanced to the NJCAA Division III national tournament for the first time in school history.

The ‘78-79 team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of that season, winning 25 consecutive games before falling to eventual national champion Western Texas College coached by Nolan Richardson, who went on to win a NCAA national title at Arkansas in 1994.

In the ironies of ironies, Paul Pressey, Matt’s father, was the star of that Western Texas team and went on to a solid NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks and several other teams.

The loss to Western Texas does nothing to diminish the accomplishments of the ‘78-79 Bulldogs.

“It was a special team,” Orr said. “We had several leaders on that team. We were a small team.”

Navarro was 25-0 when it lost at Paris by “two or three,” Orr said, that after the Bulldogs “beat them by 40 at home.”

The Bulldogs still gathered steam heading into the East vs. West showdown with Western Texas, and if not for a missed block out on a rebound, Navarro would have moved on in the playoffs, Orr said.

“They beat us at the right time of year,” Orr said.

This being the 30th anniversary of that great Navarro team, Orr said, Estelle has talked about honoring the team before a game this coming season. Estelle said the players on that ‘78-79 team deserve a tribute, a big tribute.

“That was a great group of guys,” Estelle said. “I know a lot of those guys. They come back for cookouts. They’re very loyal to Navarro College and I want to do something for them.”

—————

Todd Wills may be reached via e-mail at twills@corsicanadailysun.com

Want to "Sound Off" on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com

Text Only

Sports

College Baseball: Baylor gets No. 4 seed, Texas out of NCAAs
Baylor is the No. 4 seed nationally and leads an eight-team Texas contingent in the NCAA baseball tournament, while the Texas Longhorns will miss the postseason for the first time since 1998.

May 28, 2012
Lucas Oil Pro Motocross in Wortham: Dirt road
Freestone Raceway was the site of the second round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, on Saturday with an afternoon full of fiercely-contested competition. T

May 28, 2012 1 Photo
GC Baseball: Kerens 2B Kamp gets honor
Kerens junior second baseman D.J. Kamp was voted as the 19-1A Defensive Player of the Year by the district coaches.Kamp gets honor

May 28, 2012
Wills: Kinsler knows popularity
Ian Kinsler’s popularity with the Rangers’ female fans — particularly the teeny bopper crowd and under — is a well known fact around the Rangers clubhouse. Just ask the senior member of the Rangers and the club’s all-time hits leader, Michael Young.

May 26, 2012
Youth Baseball: CYBA gets Rangers Ballpark moment
For about five years, Carl White’s Autoplex has taken part in a North Texas Chevrolet promotion giving back to youth baseball promotions. This year, the exchange took place on sacred ground.

May 26, 2012 2 Photos
2012 Golden Circle Football Schedules
Here's an early look at the 2012 Golden Circle Football Schedules

May 26, 2012
Youth Football: Facing the danger
Already uneasy about the idea of letting her 7-year-old son Jason start playing tackle football, Elizabeth Giancarli made up her mind when former NFL star Junior Seau committed suicide.

May 26, 2012
Navarro Baseball: Sutton, Autrey commit to Lamar
The Navarro Bulldogs continue to be a pipeline to Division I baseball programs.
Outfielder Jake Sutton and pitcher J.T. Autrey verbally committed to Lamar University, totaling six Navarro sophomores to sign or commit off this year’s team which made it to the championship game of the Region XIV Tournament.

May 24, 2012
GC Football: Mildred OC headed to Normangee
The guy who brought the spread to Mildred and called the plays that led 47.9 points per game last year is headed south. Offensive coordinator Kevin Morton, 40, was offered the athletic director and head football coach’s job in Normangee Wednesday night and accepted. Normangee Superintendent Jerry Burger said Morton will be the only candidate presented to the board next Thursday.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Dirt bikes headed back to Wortham this weekend
Motocross team trucks are starting to dot the landscape in Corsicana in anticipation of this weekend's Freestone National at Wortham's Freestone Raceway.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Search is on

Orr, Estelle trying to track down ‘78-79 Navarro basketball team photo

Site Map

Contact Us