Schools & Sports

The Trinity Valley Cardinal cheerleaders are champions after winning the national title today in Daytona Beach, Florida.

I am not the smartest or the most intelligent person, but I do consider myself an above average “noticer.” Shakespeare would have termed the skill as being “observant.”

Yes, those of you who really know me know that “DR. J.” is my all-time favorite professional basketball player and that Brad Davis is second on my list—for differing reasons! And though Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were each “something else,” in their own ways, they were not my favorites; Wilt Chamberlain was my “number three.”

By Don Themer Staff Writer

Anglers added two more Legacy Lunkers to the 2021 Toyota ShareLunker season totals over the weekend. The run at O.H. Ivie powered on, reaching double digits with 10 Legacy Lunkers this year courtesy of ShareLunker 603 Friday. On Saturday, Lake Tyler made a huge splash with Share-Lunker 604, recording the first ever entry for the lake in the ShareLunker program.

As guide Chris Moody eased the throttle back on his big guide boat last week, I could make out the mouth of a wide feeder creek entering Richland Chambers Reservoir. Once inside the creek, we were in a totally different world; a world I expect few people experience. No other fishermen had ventured into the remote area. The shorelines were lined with giant trees and plants of all sorts in bloom. The spring woods were just coming to life with pale green colors, the morning air was crisp and fresh; it was a great morning to be alive and Chris and our friend Larry Weishuhn and I were absorbing every minute detail of our adventure. Chris shut the big engine off, using the trolling motor to ease us along from one brushy area to the next, the only sounds were an occasional wood duck or heron taking wing or the chatter of a squirrel, spooked by our intrusion into their tranquil world. We were here to catch spawning crappie that had chased huge schools of shad into the slowly moving current.

When I was growing up, “boxing” was in the news quite often, with news of World, National, State, and Local bouts being considered important. I watched the matches with Dad as a little boy and kept up later with television, radio, and newspaper reports. I knew “a little” a Golden Gloves boxer, who lived at Buckner Orphans Home (as folks called it then), and a few years later, I listened to one of our area Lutheran Church members give talks to youth groups—Champion Curtis Cokes.

There was no doubt which was the better team in last week’s series between crosstown rivals as North Forney took control in the first inning of Tuesday’s game against the Forney Jackrabbits and never let up. When the dust cleared, the Falcons had earned their first ever season sweep of the Jackrabbits. These were only the Falcons’ fourth and fifth wins all time against perennial baseball power Forney.

By Tim Danziger Photos Courtesy of Jim Klenke

I was always drawn to cheering for Shawn Bradley when he played for the Dallas Mavericks Basketball Team from 1997—2005, more or less! And I am not only cheering him on now but, more importantly, praying for him, as he attempts to recover from being struck from behind by an automobile about two months ago, leaving him still “hospitalized” as of this writing. He is undergoing rehabilitation and learning the possible effects of paraplegia. Doctors have warned him that the fight against his traumatic injuries will probably be the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his life—even harder than injuries, struggles, and problems he ever encountered as an NBA basketball player.

As high school and college seasons closed, I recalled the Museum’s century format, remembered Don Morrison, and thought to myself, “Self, you lately haven’t written about basketball! I will work backwards.”

Her name is SHIRLEY KOST, and she is better known to many as “The Cookie Lady.” For about three decades now, she has been a staunch and stalwart Rangers fan, through good times and bad—but to her, they have all been good times, because she “loves her Rangers.”

The Forney ISD Warren Middle School dance team, the StarSteppers, recently competed at the American Dance/Drill Team Nationals in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, March 27 and were named the Junior High National Champions. It was the first time the squad had received the top honor.