youbetcha

Interesting, thanks for the link.

Wouldn't the Superdome in New Orleans be another one? After Katrina it was the pits. Look at it now.

I was there that day. Aldine made the playoffs for the first time in 20 years in '78. Our very first game in the dome was against Vidor, where Aldine head coach Bill Smith was from. It was like going to the circus for the first time. We also played La Porte that following week. I don't remember which week the Bengals were in town, but I saw some of them them take the field. Aldine played in the dome 34 times between 1978 and 2003, Smith's last year. There were schools that played more than that. The most games I ever saw in a day was three and I left before the last game.

On channel 11 news last night.

http://www.khou.com/...-144994555.html

I have lots of great memories about the Astrodome. I'll never forget the first time I was there. Saw several Astro games that first year when new attendance records were being set. The thing I miss the most is the high school football playoff games there. Spent many Saturdays there watching high school football.

Well that was just very special. I think I have reached some new level of astonishment at this guy's claims and the apparent gullibility of the Brits.

I agree.

Firebird, everything you've said is just as I remember it. Thanks for your efforts on all the history of the Aldine area. At some point a free-standing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was built between the little strip center containing the U-Tote-M and the first house on Sunnywood in Hidden Valley. At first I thougth that was kind of neat because my mother would never fry chicken at home after a little grease fire incident one Friday night when she was preparing some filleted fish for dinner. It didn't take long for me, however, to become a little nauseated when, on the rare times the wind came from the east, the whole neighborhood smelled like fried chicken.

I love the smell and taste of good food before and when I am eating but, after I finish my meal, I don't want to smell it anymore.

I have to give Firebird65 props here. He has done miles and miles of research on this area and the Aldine Mustangs football team and makes it available to those interested, for nothing (free). This is high quality stuff. I have printed it off and bound it. Just for fun I looked up the KFC restaurant mentioned and quickly found it was opened in 1974 at 739 W Mt Houston. You're missing out if you don't take him up on his offer to e-mail you a copy. Thanks Firebird65.

Fond memories of this area. I was from out of town, but my future wife lived nearby. We had our first date at the Granada in November of 1958. We used to drag Jensen Drive and frequent Prince's. I was from a small town and this was like the "wild" side to me. Seems "tame" today.

Although I cannot remember where it exactly was located and I find nothing about it on the Internet, there used to be a Log Cabin Restaurant in Houston that served huge, family-style meals. They provided different menu selections every day, grew many of their own vegetables and baked fresh bread and rolls from scratch. It was quite good and very popular back in the 70s and 80s. If you didn't get there early, there was a line out the door. It was also a favorite of Marvin Zindler. I am wondering if this is what you're seeing. Unfortunately, I could find nothing about it online.

The Log Cabin Restaurant was on Hwy59 (Eastex Fwy) at Aldine Mail Route

Here is a wonderful review by lana7018 from Atascocita.com “what is your favorite restaurant of all time?”

“ Well they've been closed for years but if your an old area native you'll remember the Log Cabin on 59 at Aldine Mail Route.

They served family style at big tables. You had either white meat chicken, dark meat chicken, (fried only of course) the BEST chicken fried steak I ever ate (and I've been on that hunt for many years logging thousands of calories in my quest) and steaks.

They canned their own fig perserves which you got before your meal to spread on crackers along with some kind of cream cheese spread that I can't really remember. The fig perserves were too good to need anything else to start with.

Out back they grew their own beans, pea's, okra, corn, potatoes, oinions, squash and peppers. Along with the platters of your main course they served bowls of the veggies out of their garden along with homemade biscuits and cornbread.

If that weren't enough they made their own dumplings. None of those fat fluffy gooey bisquick version either. Nice firm hand rolled flat dumplings like my grandmother used to make.

Another word on the chicken fried steak. One night after my rave review my waitress told me the secret. They only used prime ribeye steaks to make chicken fried steaks. (Most places use the cheapest cuts - round or top)

Now nothing sounds good for dinner ”

As I recall, the LC Cafeteria was accessed by escalator or stairs leading down from the street level. Your estimate of the 800 block of Main (west side of the street) seems to be about right. It was in the basement of an office building that was either new or remodeled post-WWII.

The LC Cafeteria may have been discussed in a previous topic on this forum.

It was accessed as you say. It was beneath Walgreens. They had a "mean" Rum Cake.

This is good. Duncan's a class act and I doubt he did anything to provoke the attack he received. I'm fine with Crawford being back in the league next year, we just didn't need the distraction of him reffing the playoffs this year. Could you imagine if he were assigned a Spurs or Mavs game?!?

Like Jake O'Donnell ejecting Clyde Drexler in the 1995 playoffs. And like Crawford, O'Donnell was one of the best. Sometimes they just feel like they are bigger than the game.

Very nicely done! I lived in Northline Terrace for almost forty years and have been an Aldine Mustang fan since '59. This was almost too good to be true. I enjoyed the total package. Great work and thanks a million.

If anyone is interested in getting a report, please drop me a line and I'll be happy to share it. The total final report will be about 116 pages, so it will be a big file. I'll have scores, highlights and standings from 1936 to 2005. Eventually I'll add more Aldine area and school history for an enhanced Version 2, but that's awhile off.

BTW... what's up with the uniforms??? Saw the highlights... er, make that "highlights"... on Channel 11 and man, those were some nasty threads. Yuck-o!!!

I attempted to send you a message and may have repeated it. Sorry.

When Aldine's new coach took over he changed it all including the uniforms, more along the Titans look. I haven't seen them this year. Did they change again? I preferred the ones they wore at the time Smith retired. Guess I'm an old stick in the mud.

Must have been a great one.

It was almost perfect. Yates (like so many of the other schools) had signs saying the dome was their second home. I remember reading in the Chronicle that, if that was true, Aldine should be charged with home invasion.

The Yates game did provide some consolation for the loss to Westlake. (for me anyway)

That's a lot of great information. I owe the Aldine football teams a big debt for all the enjoyment they have provided over the years. Lots of excitement, some disappointments but all in all who could ask for more? The state championship was the frosting on the cake. The most bitter and disappointed I was in all those years was the '83 quarterfinals. 13-10 Yates (we was robbed). The '96 quarterfinal win felt so good I was almost ashamed of myself for enjoying it so much.

So far work progresses on my football history report for Aldine.

A few more tidbits... if for nothing else than to bump this thread to the top:

Most yards by an individual in a game: 303 by Doug Womack vs Deer Park in the 1989 Area playoff.

Fewest first downs by an opponent: 2 vs Smiley in 1980

Nice! Saw the Deer Park game (had no idea Doug's yardage was the most by an individual) That was also payback to DP for the previous year. I am very interested in history stats (most whatever). I believe the most combined points for an individual game was Aldine vs Forest Brook in '87. Aldine won 65-53. Aldine had over 700 yards rushing and Forest Brook had over 500 passing. That was listed in the Texas state records for awhile. I don't remember how many combined first downs they had. A few records I know.

I remember Don Burrisk (?) had over 1700 yards in 10 games in the 60's (? I think). There are tons of stuff I would like to know. I saw a lot of games but a bunch of that stuff is getting fuzzy. And then there is so much stuff I never knew anything about. Great work!

Oh, well... Hope they didn't throw out my permanent record!

"If you don't behave, this will go in your permanent record and you'll be branded for life!"

On second thought...

I didn't know until I read it above that Aldine was at one time Marrs High School.

Yall may have done all of this, but I was trying to see what I could find out about Marrs High School, and ran across this. Note the time table on the right. Hope there wasn't any connection to the uprising and the burning of the school in '54. Since they were trying to reduce taxes you would think there wouldn't be, unless the other side...hum...j/k. My wife was attending when they closed down the school in '59.

See page 7

http://www.aldine.k12.tx.us/pdfs/handbooks...ng_handbook.pdf

Why couldn't they have included some football history in here?

I'm still waiting for a call from AHS. I didn't find out until yesterday about the old scores and yearbooks. Don't know yet what year they start. She said in the 30's.

I just got my call. This stuff was in the vault at AHS and the oldest yearbook they have is '47. She said she was almost positive there had been some from the 30's, but they aren't there now. She also had started doing some football history, but hadn't worked on it for a long time. She said that was also gone, but she can't be certain that she didn't throw it away. Bummer! She is going to call someone she knows (I gave her the info you need), but it didn't sound too encouraging. Sorry if I got your hopes up.

Yes, I am familiar with WOS87. I'm not quite sure where he got his info... I'm thinking it's texpreps.com because his numbers and theirs have the same discrepancies. That has to do with those missing games I posted about earlier and some curious potential errors I've found in news sources that I think I've corrected but they haven't.

Don't want to bore you with the details (I explain them in my report) but one them has to do with that game I mentioned earlier where one paper said Aldine beat La Porte and the other one said La Porte beat Aldine in 1945. Apparently they went with the later and I found info that shows the former was actually true, so our numbers for that season differ. He showsa Aldine with 422 wins and I can only come up with 419. I do point out the discrepancies in my report and show exactly where I think they are along with my evidence to support why I have the numbers I have. Not discounting I could be wrong, of course.

As for Conroe, the Tigers were number 2 in the AP state poll and number one in the Chronicle local poll. Indeed, the Chronicle headline for that game was, "ALDINE CLIPS NO. 1 CONROE" -- meaning their number one team. I'd love to include that story, along with other big games such as the 1948 El Campo upset, in my report, but apparently the Chronicle forbids such things as they so state in their copyright line. Bummer. Those stories are what bring the report to life.

Yeah, I skipped the Odessa Permian game too. At first me and a friend were going to drive to Dallas, but with the weather so poor, we changed our mind. (According to official National Weather Service Records, it was 7 degree at IAH, the coldest ever record there and second coldest day ever in Houston). We thought about taking the bus caravan the school organized, but, unfortunately, we also had tickets for that night's Oiler fiasco against Cleveland. That was the year the team was 9-5 going into the final two games and only had to win one of two to clinch the division... and both games were at home. Naturally, being the Oilers, they not only lost one, but went ahead and lost them both and the playoff game after that too in Jerry Glanville's swan song.

Man, if I had a choice of which loss to take... one in the warm, toasty Dome or one in freezing Texas Stadium, I'd have taken Texas Stadium. At least Aldine tried and lost against a superior opponent in very adverse conditions. The Oilers simply laid yet another rotten egg.

WOS87 may have gotten his info from texpreps.

I'm still waiting for a call from AHS. I didn't find out until yesterday about the old scores and yearbooks. Don't know yet what year they start. She said in the 30's.

I agree with you about the unreliability of old yearbooks. Sometimes I think they just used their memory to post scores at the end of the year. I have seen some real messes.

I always got a kick out of comparing stats when the Post was still around. There were almost always some discrepancies. And the temp at Texas Stadium that fateful day depends not only on which paper you read but also the day you read it.

Don't EVEN get me started on the Oilers.

What was Conroe's ranking when Aldine beat them in '85, I was thinking they were no. 1, but I could be wrong.

Yup, I'm wrong. I just checked the old Collier-Sharp records and Conroe was no. 2.

Yup, done all of that. The texashsfootball one is actually missing Aldine's 1996 record.

But thanks for the info.

Here's another tidbit for you: The Mustangs are 1-1-1 all-time against the state's top-ranked team in the AP poll.

In 1981 they tied Port Arthur Jefferson 21-21 in bidistrict, advancing on penetrations. Was at that game and I've never heard the Dome so loud.

In 1988 the 8th ranked Ponies lost 21-7 to Willowridge in a Week 2 showdown.

And, in 1989, they shocked Converse Judson 48-14 on a freezing day in San Antonio in the 5A state semifinals. I was at that game and whew... that was one coooooooooold day. Spent five hours on the road for a game that lasted 90 minutes. There was no halftime... at least no bands. No one threw the ball which thankfully kept the clock running.

All-time against state-ranked teams, Aldine is 16-24-2. First win over a state-ranked opponent was a 30-6 spanking of then 8th ranked Forest Brook.

I was at all those games. Against PA Jeff, the 20 yard line was the goal line on the last drive. They were tied in penetrations and PA Jeff was ahead in first downs. Aldine just made it across the 20. I was mentally exausted.

The Judson game is one of my all time favorites. I almost froze, but was all warm and fuzzy inside. That was one of the best all around games I have ever seen Aldine play against a quality opponent.

I skipped the Permian game the next week and watched on TV. It was so cold they had scheduled brown outs around town to conserve electricity. I was afraid they were going to cut my power while I was watching, but they didn't.

What was Conroe's ranking when Aldine beat them in '85, I was thinking they were no. 1, but I could be wrong.

When I said I was at all those games I was talking about the 3 you made reference to against no. 1 teams. I probably saw most of those others against state-ranked opponents, but can't say for sure. Offhand I don't remember all of the games that were against state-ranked opponents and was unaware of Aldine's record against them. Good info.

No, there is a forum on texashsfootball that has all the individual scores posted by a poster from West Orange Stark (WOS87) and Aldine's '96 scores are there. I believe you are talking about a time line ditty that was posted and Aldine's '96 record wasn't included. Old WOS87 has done extensive work.

Go to the message board, select Texas HS Football, select Complete Team Histories.

I can't find the third game nor do I know who it was against or the date it was played. I'm only guessing at its existence because a web site called texpreps.com says that Aldine was 0-3 in their first year. I've found about five errors on their site, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Texpreps/Joe Lee Smith's records, I almost subscribed for a month one time just to see what he had. They had some samples and I believe you could get a free 7 or 10 day trial, but I didn't do it. Figured it would be a hassle to unsubscribe.

As I am sure you know they are a ton of high school websites. One that has a lot of high school records (I believe all 5A and 4A + some others) from at least '86 thru present is texashsfootball. There is a possibility of a charge to access them later on, but for now, they are free.

Actually, the Collier-Sharp records still exist on another site, but it hasn't been updated since, I believe, 2002. You may know that. If not, and you want the address let me know.

I have the playoff scores, but didn't know any of the history prior to the time I started watching them. I got the playoff scores off a Collier-Sharp website that had a wealth of high school history, but doesn't exist anymore. That is very interesting about the defensive strength of the team in '40 & '41. I have talked to a guy who played in the game against Falfurrias in '48. He said the game ended with Aldine ahead 13-7 and they went to their dressing room thinking they had won, but the officials claimed time hadn't expired and they went back and played a few more downs until Falfurrias scored and then the game ended. He said the game had been on the radio and there were Aldine fans who met them at the train station who still thought they had won. If he wasn't pulling my leg, that was interesting.

Actually, I looked through my yearbooks for the scores from 1980 through 1983... and once I saw numerous mistakes (including names, dates, district numbers and scores), decided that probably wasn't a good alternative. Not that I haven't spotted glaring errors in Chronicle or Post stories... but...

I may well do that as a last resort, however. Problem is, I now live on the west side of town and it's not convenient to go by the school.

And, that's assuming they even have yearbooks from those years. I kinda doubt they do. Seems that was one of the first ideas I had, but then noticed that my copy of my 1980 yearbook was something like Volume 34 or 36, which means Volume 1 would have been in the mid 1940s and not the late 1930s. Plus, since the school burned down in 1954, it's likely any yearbooks would have been destroyed too.

But I'll still probably give it a shot at the very end. Can't hurt.

Great stuff. I had compiled all of their playoff scores, but didn't know the dates (such as the close to Pear Harbor date). I became acquainted with Aldine in 1958 (Visited Houston, met an Aldine girl and later married her). Our children graduated from Aldine as well. Saw a lot of Aldine games, but starting in 1975 I missed very, very few. I have some contacts at Aldine High and just talked to one of them who is a football nut and even goes to see some of the games of players who leave Aldine and go to college. She has scores and year books dating back into the 30's. She works at the school, but isn't working today. She is going to call me tomorrow and I will see if she has any of your missing scores.

I found the stuff you posted above very interesting and informative. I would be very much interested in getting a copy of the pdf.

Great thread. I moved to Houston in 1963 and lived on Hill Road until June 1966. I bought a house in Northline Terrace and lived on Glenbury Drive from June 1966 until September 2005. Lots of interesting stuff here about the area. I lived there all that time, but have got an education right here. I was a big Aldine football fan and the comment about doing a history on them caught my eye. This is something I have wanted someone to do for a long time. Do you plan to publish this or is this just for personal use? I certainally would be interested in it.