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More thoughts on the 1983 Daingerfield team
We have a story today about a DVD Willie Everett has put together on the 1983 Daingerfield football team, which won the Class 3A state title with a 16-0 record, outscoring its opposition, 631-8.
I don’t think it can be told enough about how this team has been woven into the folklore of Texas high-school football history. I heard about it quickly when I took my first Texas sports writing job in Corsicana in Sept. 1993, and there hasn’t been a fall since where the 1983 team gets compared with the best-ever teams. I’m amazed how Daingerfield’s Class 3A enrollment is a minor factor when the best-ever talk gets fired up. That’s a tribute to the defense allowing eight points.
Yet early in the conversation, a question that always pops up is, “Who scored on them?” Everett gave me the answer, thanks to a book written on the ‘83 Daingerfield team, “Year of the Tiger.”
The first points was on a safety in a 35-2 decision over Kilgore to open the season. It came off a bad snap and Daingerfield quarterback Doug Pittman had to eat a safety. Everett said he wasn’t sure who made the bad snap.
The only touchdown scored on Daingerfield came in the third game, a 10-6 decision over Carthage - which advanced to the Class 4A state semifinals that year. Carthage quarterback Ryche Rougely threw a 55-yard pass to Wyche Walton.
My thanks to Everett for sharing that story, a hats off to the 1983 team. The 25th anniversary salutes to the team should be a lot of fun.
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