Returning Champions

By JOHN HICKS Daily Light Sports Editor
Friday, April 22, 2005 2:48 PM CDT

Forty years later, the memories are as clear as if it all had happened yesterday.

Members of the 1965 Indian baseball team at Waxahachie High School still speak proudly of that season, when they claimed the Class 3A state baseball championship.  While some still live in the area, others are scattered throughout Texas and other states. But nearly all of them are planning to be back out at Richards Park for a special 40-year reunion Saturday.

Festivities are being hosted by the RBI Club and are scheduled to start with an 11 a.m. luncheon followed by introduction of the team members.  Afterward, the WHS varsity baseball team will take the field for a District 15-4A contest against Crowley, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.  Steve Wallace of the RBI Club said of the 17 players, all but two are planning to attend. Their coach, Bill Borgers, is also expected to make the trip.

"When you're a team and you've accomplished something like that, there's a bond between you guys that's there forever," said Wallace, who spent the last month tracking down members and contacting them.  Wallace added the players were eager, not only to respond but also to help contact their teammates.  "They would say 'Hey, did you talk to so and so?' They were willing to give any information they knew," Wallace smiled.

The Team

The 1965 WHS baseball team consisted of Phil Brown, Pat Cluney, James Edwards, Dale Fincher, Terry Fincher, Frank Hernandez, Harvey Huffstetler, Lester Jacobs, Randy Moseley, Larry Neal, Terry Neal, Glenn Perryman, Tommy Rhymes, Jimmy Tamez, Bubba Townson, Gary Vasseur and Mike Wheatley. Tom Nash was the manager

Borgers, in his second year of coaching the Indians, kept the team together through hard work and made sure they were motivated in practice.  "It was a great group of kids," said Borgers, who spent 17 years as a coach. He also spent time at Midlothian, Lamar Consolidated and Houston Cypress-Fairbanks. He later went into school administration and now lives in Bacliff, south of Houston.

On learning about Saturday's reunion, he recalled, "I was overjoyed. I'd been wondering, with everyone scattered, how we would get together."  Just as his players were eager to meet, they were equally happy to share their memories of that magical year -- and their coach.  "He kept us in line," Dale Fincher said of Borgers. "He didn't let us think we were good. He worked the devil out of us. When we got through with practice, we had to maintain our position on the field. We raked, the outfielders mowed the grass. We worked a lot of hours out there.  "He made us think all the time. He did a good job keeping the cohesion there."

Perryman, who lives in Duncanville, said while doing drills in practice had the potential to be boring and tedious, that was not so under Borgers.  "Coach Borgers had a very unique way of doing things," Perryman said. "Everything we worked on, he made a game out of it. That made it a little more interesting, but there was also punishment and reward involved in it.  "If you lost, you had to run more wind sprints. You definitely had motivation to work hard. That's something that made us better."

Early jelling

Even before that season, the Indians were ready for big things.  In 1964, Borgers' first year at the helm, the team went 23-3 and lost to Mount Pleasant in the regional playoffs. That was followed by a summer of American Legion play, which Fincher said played a big role in the team's chemistry. 

"We played a lot of ball. Bobby Howard, Key Turner and Buddy Hosford were our American Legion coaches prior to that (state title) season," Fincher said, adding the team played several contests in Oklahoma. "They were big influences on team we had in 1965. I think we jelled that summer before our senior year.  "We had fun that summer. Everybody knew what everyone was going to do. We just had a good group of kids."

The players were all set to get on the diamond, even though some of them got off to a late start. Five players -- Perryman, Dale Fincher, Cluney, Huffstetler and Moseley -- were on the Waxahachie basketball team that reached the Class 3A state title game in 1965 before finishing as runner-up to San Marcos.  "Baseball had already started," said Fincher, now living in Reagor Springs. "I knew we had a good team, and didn't realize how good we were."

The ol' ballpark
After basketball, it was off to Richards Park, and the players recalled how different things looked back then. 
The dugouts were wood and wire structures, as opposed to the enclosed cinderblock buildings that stand today. Borgers remembered the park's lights being stationed on wooden poles, and added nobody wanted to climb them.  "I had to almost bribe the local fire company to go up there and change the light bulbs," the coach recalled.  Also, the stands were wooden, and a wire canopy stood over the backstop, according to Fincher, "because we lost so many baseballs."

That was something the team worked hard to avoid, since funding was minimal, at best.  "Our budget for baseball that year, I think, was $150. We used to take broken bats, put fiberglass on them and use them as practice bats. We used rubber baseballs in practice," Fincher said.  Fortunately, the ballpark's namesake was able to lend a hand when needed.  "When Paul Richards came down, Coach Borgers would have him bring new baseballs," Fincher said. "But we didn't care. We would have hit railroad rocks if they had thrown them at us."

The season

Things got off to a rough start for the 1965 Indians. In addition to having to endure canceled games due to rain, WHS suffered more early-season losses than anticipated. The team stood at 4-5 after nine games.  Things heated up soon, though, including consecutive high-scoring victories over Dallas Seagoville (15-2), Duncanville (12-2) and Terrell (14-1).  The Indians closed the regular season with a 5-0 win over Athens, allowing them to clinch the District 8-3A title and giving them a 12-5 record.

Next was a series of practice games, including a narrow 2-1 loss to Alford's, a semi-pro team based in Dallas, and victories over Cleburne's American Legion team.

But the first-round playoff series against Kilgore went right down to the wire. The best-of-three battle saw the Indians edged 2-0, but they rebounded for a 9-4 win to force a do-or-die contest.  It also set up what Perryman called an example of how everyone on the team contributed.  "We played Kilgore in third and deciding game. Every out in that game was big. At one point during that game, they had two or three runners on base and there were two outs," Perryman remembered.  Borgers, apparently anticipating a hit into right field, called a timeout and made a substitution. He took out Jacobs and brought in the faster Wheatley to play in right.  Sure enough, Perryman continued, "The batter hits a line drive, and (Wheatley) made the catch down the line for the third out. That was a stroke of luck."

The Indians won that game 2-1, setting up the regional playoffs. Waxahachie swept Arlington Sam Houston with wins of 7-5 and 6-0, setting up the trip to the state tournament. 

On to Austin

Things did not appear to get any easier for the Indians, who went up against perennial power South San Antonio in the semifinal game. That team was coached by Cliff Gustafson, who later became a national championship winning coach at the University of Texas.  "We had to play South San, and they had won six of last seven state championships," Borgers said.  And that team boasted a pitcher named Johnny Guzman, who went on to post a 46-3 high school record on the mound. He was 19-0 on the season prior to the state tournament.

But, Borgers made sure the Indians were focused. As Perryman put it, "He didn't want us to be in awe of South San Antonio. He said, 'They have a 37-2 record but they didn't play anybody.'"  Borgers had another trick up his sleeve. South San Antonio had been expecting to face the left-handed Moseley, but instead the coach gave the starting nod to Rhymes, a righty.

The game was a scoreless contest until the bottom of the sixth inning. Tamez hit a leadoff single, then a sacrifice by Moseley moved the runner up to second.  Then, the scoring started. As Ken Flagler wrote in the June 16, 1965, edition of the Daily Light, "Cluney, a good clutch hitter for the Braves, singled to send Tamez home to make it 1-0. Brown, who was the third right-hander used by Coach Borgers, blasted out a double to score Cluney, and Brown was out at third base in a close play. But the scoreboard showed 2-0, WHS."

There was still one more game to be played, but the players were ready.  "When we beat South San Antonio, I felt like we had won state," Perryman said proudly. "We felt nobody could beat us.  "And after we beat them, they came back and won state the next two years."

The championship

 Next was the Class 3A state finale against Alvin, led by a future Hall of Famer.  Said Borgers, "When we beat (South San Antonio), we then had to face a guy named Nolan Ryan."  Ryan pitched Alvin to a 3-0 victory over Snyder in the other state semifinal game.  "Nobody knew who Nolan Ryan was," Fincher said. "But we didn't care. We just went there to play baseball."

And again, the Indians were not in awe of their opposition.  "(Borgers) said, 'This guy can only throw one pitch, a fastball,'" Perryman said. "Of course, he didn't tell us it comes in at 98 miles per hour."  Actually, Ryan was not a factor in that contest. Having worn out his arm in the semifinals the previous day, the pitcher was gone before the first inning ended with WHS leading 3-0.

WHS ended up having to hold off a late rally in that game, overcoming six errors for the 6-3 victory.  Moseley got the start and got plenty of run support. The score was 6-1 before Alvin began to mount a comeback, scoring two runs with two runners on base and one out.   As Flagler wrote in the June 17, 1965, issue of the Daily Light, "Moseley struck out the next batter, the final batter of the game grounded out, Edwards to Cluney, and the Indians staged their victory war dance on the diamond. Then they boosted Coach Borgers onto their shoulders for a brief, but enjoyable ride."

While the celebration was on in Austin, the fact that summer break had already started meant many students were enjoying the vacation elsewhere.  "When we won, school was already out. So only the really faithful ones showed up," Fincher remembered. "A lot of people didn't even know we won until it came out in the paper." 

The aftermath

 In 1966, Waxahachie went to state again under Borgers, finishing third in what would be his final game as the Indians' coach.  Fincher went on to play baseball for Sam Houston State, and recalled facing Trinity University when Cluney, his former WHS teammate, played for them.

Perryman remembered how Borgers taught him and his teammates the importance of never giving up. It all came back to him two years ago.  While on a business trip in El Salvador, Perryman suffered a heart attack early in the morning. He remembered struggling to get up and get back home before seeing a doctor 12 hours later.  "It brought back all those workouts, where you didn't think you could go one step more, you did. I just kept thinking about that," Perryman said. "According to the doctors, they had never seen anybody survive that kind of heart attack for six hours. And I made it for 12 hours."

Perryman and Fincher, like the rest of their teammates, are looking forward to setting foot back at Richards Park with the rest of their teammates.  All but two are planning to make the trip. Cluney is not expected to arrive due to scheduling matters. Rhymes died of a heart attack two years ago.  Borgers is happy to be returning, and was pleased to share memories of that 1965 squad.

"That was a real Cinderella team."