June 6, 2002
This is another "B" Line column, a periodic collection of news items of interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714
HELP WANTED? - A couple of former BU athletes, Robert Clemons (baseball) and Jim Payne (football) have teamed with pals Robert Clanton and Ray Freeman to form a Waco company called JR3. All Central Texas educators, the foursome have put together a firm specializing in supplying temporary teachers to help eliminate Texas' shortage of classroom instructors. The trick is this: While former educators are prevented by law from drawing retirement income while again spending time in front of the blackboards, JR3 hires the teaching talent and then contracts with area schools to fill their needs. The company already has dozens of school districts signed up for next year and a number of others are considering JR3's unique services . . . With the recent death of Bob Barfield, the only surviving member of the Baylor coaching staff that led the Bears to a 13-7 victory over No. 2-ranked Tennessee in the 1957 Sugar Bowl is Charlie Driver. He was on hand for the Houston area memorial service for Barfield on May 30. Also attending were former "B" Association president Dr. Jerry Marcontell and current "B" Association VP Lee Harrington. Both played for Barfield and Harrington later coached with him at Pasadena High School . . . Marcontell, Harrington and "B" Association president-elect Ronnie Goodwin are making plans to attend the June 21-23 National Letterwinners Conference at the University of Arizona . . .
DISAPPOINTMENTS - Is something happening to the Baylor Spirit or is living in Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas just too stressful for former Bear players and fans to turn out for athletic-related social events? The Baylor Alumni Association-sponsored June 1 luncheon in Houston featuring National Football League Hall of Fame member Mike Singletary was cancelled after only 18 people sent in their RSVPs. Making it even more embarrassing is the fact that the event designed to raise money for the Black Alumni Chapter Scholarship Fund had been postponed twice earlier due to slow advance ticket sales. Equally gloomy is the news that only 16 former BU athletes turned out for a "B" Association luncheon held in Arlington as part of the Big XII Baseball Tournament. However, those in attendance were happy to see Mark Jett, who was a 1989-92 baseball player for the Bears . . . Coming in for the Bears' first game in the tournament was track letterman Henry Cochran, now a pilot for American Airlines. You may recall reading about Cochran's Sept. 11 experience in a recent issue of The Baylor Line. Had fate not intervened, there is a good chance that the Miami native would have been piloting one the planes that were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in NYC . . .
RE-HEATED WEEKEND -- Here are some leftover items collected at Houston attorney Don Riddle's annual Tired Bears Weekend at Horseshoe Bay near Marble Falls: Among those on hand were former major league baseball players Jacky Davis, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, and Jerry Mallett, who performed for the Boston Red Sox. Ask Mallett, a retired Beaumont educator now working for the Baylor Development Department, and he will tell you that his first big league hit came in 1958 at Yankee Stadium. The pitcher? Hall of Fame member Whitey Ford . . . After former BU quarterback Doyle Traylor pontificated about how much larger today's high school and collegiate linemen are compared to their 1950s counterparts, someone suggested that a number of the former athletes in attendance at the Horseshoe Bay reunion could today hold their own in a weight-station scales competition . . . While Del Shofner, the all-everything for Baylor from 1953 to 1957, again missed this year's Tired Bears party, his former teammates and admirers recalled in detail the Los Angles resident's extraordinary talent in football, basketball, baseball and track. He played all four sports for the Bears after arriving on campus from the East Texas city of Center. "He also was a terrific pool player," one TB pointed out . . .
JACK LOFTIS
CO-CHAIRMAN
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
