Schools & Sports

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Luke’s long time friend Kenneth Tallent with Double Lung Outdoors TV Show getting ready for bow season.

Keeping busy, making outdoor plans

There’s lots to do in the outdoors, even during what many of us refer to as the ‘Dog Days’ of summer. The striped bass bite is going strong up on Lake Texoma says my buddy Bill Carey with Striper Express and catfish guides on Tawakoni have been butting their clients on limits of tasty catfish. Crappie fishing at Fork has been red hot one day and ‘iffy’ the next, common for this time of year.

TWO for the price of ONE
TWO for the price of ONE
TWO for the price of ONE
TWO for the price of ONE
TWO for the price of ONE
TWO for the price of ONE

TWO for the price of ONE

I am sitting here today, moving back and forth between the computer and the television—working on stories for The Forney Messenger and watching the Texas Rangers playing the Los Angeles Angels in front of “fake fans” and listening to “fake crowd noise.” The “Babe” and “Mick” and “Yogi” and “Whitey” are probably “rolling over in their graves” and asking Casey for the next game off!

Bryant Named Falcons New Men’s Basketball Coach

Bryant Named Falcons New Men’s Basketball Coach

Forney ISD Athletics welcomes Kadrian Bryant as the new North Forney High School Head Men’s Basketball Coach. Bryant comes to us from Crockett High School where he served the last 5 years as Head Men’s Basketball Coach. Under his leadership, the Bulldogs were Regional Finalists and backto-back District Champs. In addition to a successful tenure at Crockett, he also led Nacogdoches Central Heights to a district title and was selected as district Coach of the Year.

High School Football Season Delayed

High School Football Season Delayed

High school football in the state of Texas is religion. And, like many people of faith who have or are waiting for their places of worship to reopen, football coaches, players and fans alike have been waiting to see what would happen with the 2020 season. Earlier in the month, state sanctioning bodies around the country began declaring their intentions: some states would delay a few weeks; some were moving the season to spring. One state, Alabama, announced they would begin “on-time.”

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Have you heard of JASON JENNINGS?

I can remember several years ago, hearing my boys and their friends talking about a baseball player named “Jason Jennings.” Periodically, I would hear more about him, read about him in the Dallas paper, see him on television, or hear his name mentioned when discussions about “local” players came up among us “Forney baseball fathers” and other local experts!

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Fish to Target When Fishing With Kids

Part of a successful fishing trip with kids is knowing which fish to target. That’s especially true when taking kids on their first fishing trips. Exactly what to target depends on certain factors, including where you live. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources notes that using the right bait also can help kids catch a fish. The following are a handful of types of fish to target when taking youngsters fishing.

WES UNSELD: 1969 NBA “Rookie of the Year” WES UNSELD: MVP of NBA in 1969!

Unseld guards against the sky hook!

WES UNSELD: 1969 NBA “Rookie of the Year” WES UNSELD: MVP of NBA in 1969!

Unseld, the Coach

WES UNSELD: 1969 NBA “Rookie of the Year” WES UNSELD: MVP of NBA in 1969!

Unseld in College

WES UNSELD: 1969 NBA “Rookie of the Year” WES UNSELD: MVP of NBA in 1969!

Wes Unseld doing what he did best

WES UNSELD: 1969 NBA “Rookie of the Year” WES UNSELD: MVP of NBA in 1969!

Only two players in the entire history of the National Basketball Association have ever won both above honors during the same season—Wesley Sissel Unseld (1946—2020) and Wilton Norman Chamberlain (1936—1999)! And now both of them are gone, and we will probably never see this “double deal” accomplished again!

My buddy, THE FISHIN’ MORTICIAN
My buddy, THE FISHIN’ MORTICIAN

My buddy, THE FISHIN’ MORTICIAN

During the past several years, I’ve had the opportunity to fish with my friend Trey Schmidt many times. Trey has a coveted ‘fin fish’ licenses on the Texas coast. He spends 3 nights each week ‘gigging’ for flounder, the majority he sells to Nates West End Bar and Grill, a popular ‘off the beaten path’ restaurant near just west of Jamaica Beach on the road heading from Galveston to Freeport. Trey can also harvest sheepshead (a great eating but often overlooked saltwater fish) stingray, crabs and a few other species.

Do You Remember #33 DUANE THOMAS?

Duane Thomas, Dallas Cowboy

Do You Remember #33 DUANE THOMAS?

Duane Thomas at West Texas A&M

Do You Remember #33 DUANE THOMAS?

Duane Thomas 1972

Do You Remember #33 DUANE THOMAS?

Duane Thomas more recently

Do You Remember #33 DUANE THOMAS?

My all-time favorite Dallas Cowboys players, in no certain order, are the following: Don Meredith, Don Perkins, Bob Hayes, Craig Morton, Danny White, Herschel Walker, Harvey Martin, “Crazy Ray.” And not one of these uttered my all-time favorite football quote. That was done by a man, who played a very short Dallas Cowboys career—DUANE THOMAS!

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Texas Outdoor Annual to go All-Digital for 2020-2021 Hunting, Fishing Season

In the latest change driven by the current public health situation, the Texas Outdoor Annual Hunting, Fishing and Boating Regulations will be going all-digital for the upcoming hunting and fishing license season, starting when licenses go on sale on Aug. 15. Due to the economic impacts of the virus, the Outdoor Annual booklets will not be printed, but the 2020-2021 season regulations will be available online through OutdoorAnnual. com and the free Outdoor Annual mobile app.

One-room schoolhouse boy never tried to be a “Big Shot!”
One-room schoolhouse boy never tried to be a “Big Shot!”
One-room schoolhouse boy never tried to be a “Big Shot!”
One-room schoolhouse boy never tried to be a “Big Shot!”

One-room schoolhouse boy never tried to be a “Big Shot!”

When I think of this player and coach, I also think of his players, John Stockton, who still wore the standard basketball shorts instead of the “pedal-pusher” style of later years, and Karl Malone, whom I always envisioned as a “Maverick,” when the two of them were running the “Pick-and-Roll” for two points time-after-time, even when their foes knew what was coming! Yes, these three men personified some of the best days of the NBA at the end of the 20th Century, when I was still young enough to play basketball with our Church Team in Dallas and with my sons on various courts in Forney, including sometimes the Themer driveway.

The Perfect Social Distancing
The Perfect Social Distancing
The Perfect Social Distancing

The Perfect Social Distancing Activity—FISHING!

There were few things better when I was a boy than going to Oklahoma for our summer vacation, because I had two Grandpas, who both really “loved” fishing, and I just knew I would get to go fishing every day that we were there—except Sunday, “The Lord’s Day,” usually spent at one set of Grandparents’ house with the rest of the extended family there for a large, luscious dinner and then relaxing until the early evening, when it would probably be time to play a card game, called PITCH.

North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”
North Baseball Honors “The Five”

North Baseball Honors “The Five”

After the events of the two months prior, the storms that rolled through the DFW area on Friday night seemed an appropriate preface to the ceremony scheduled for the following day. The drizzle that continued to fall at the Senior Baseball Celebration, held at Lake Pointe Church on Saturday, May 16, was not lost on Head Baseball Coach Tommy Sparks.

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Forney Messenger

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 936, Forney, TX 75126
Physical Address: 201 W. Broad St., Forney, TX 75126
Phone: 972-564-3121
Fax: 972-552-3599