The Oil Bowl will celebrate its 75th birthday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday June 9 at Memorial Stadium.

The Maskat Shrine Temple’s game is the longest running high school all-star game in the country. Not only that, it also has the most interesting format — Texas vs. Oklahoma. The two rival states have met in 65 of the previous 74 games with Texas owning a 46-18-1 series advantage.

Tickets: General admission is $10 and reserved seats are $15. They may be purchased at Bobby Evans Sporting Goods (2404 Kemp) or Jerry’s Sporting Goods (4031 Sports Street). You can also order tickets by calling 940-766-4511.

A special promotion for this Diamond Anniversary game will be to give free admission to all 75-year-olds. Just show your ID with a birth date at the ticket window or go by the Maskat Shrine to receive a free general admission ticket.

Beneficiary: All profits from this year’s game will go to the Shriners children hospitals. These 22 hospitals have a mission to provide the highest quality care with no family financial burdens to children with neuromusculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries and other special health care needs with a compassionate, family-centered and collaborative care environment.

They also provide for the education of physicians and other health care professionals. They conduct research to discover new knowledge that improves the quality of care and quality of life of children and families. This mission is carried out without regard to race, color, creed, sex or sect, disability, national origin or ability of a patient or family to pay.

Banquet: The annual banquet will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 8 at the Maskat Shrine Temple. This year’s speaker is former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter. Tickets are $15.

The late Joe Golding, who coached Wichita Falls High School to four state championships, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the banquet. All players and coaches from the Golding era are urged to attend.

Tailgate Party: Fans will have the opportunity to meet the players and coaches and get autographs at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 9 in the west parking lot of Memorial Stadium.

Oil Bowl Band: Any band members of all ages are asked to volunteer to play in the Oil Bowl band and make this the biggest one ever. For more information, call 940-766-4511.

Trivia:Mickey Maroney of Wichita Falls High School caught a 23-yard pass from Terry Southall of Brownwood to set up one second-quarter touchdown and then snared a 4-yard TD pass from Victor Castillo of San Antonio Brackenridge later in the period to lead Texas to a 21-13 win. Maroney became a Secret Service agent and was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. He was inducted into the Oil Bowl Hall of Fame in 1996.

Player Spotlight: Billy Chappell is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver/defensive back from Springtown. He was first-team all-district at three positions the last two years, at cornerback and wide receiver as a senior and at safety as a junior. He has not signed with any college.

By Nick Gholson
Wichita Falls Times Record News
May 6, 2012

I fell in love with football when I was 9 years old.

After watching the Coyotes whip up on some overmatched opponent at the Canyon on Friday night, the boys in my neighborhood would gather on the lawn of Kemp Public Library on Saturday morning to imitate our heroes.

But it didn’t take little Nicky long to learn I was whole lot better at watching football than I was at playing it.

Reagan-Zundy on Thursday afternoon; the Coyotes on Friday and Midwestern on Saturday — that was how I spent my time from September through November.

Then in the summer of 1956, I learned about another football game in town.

The newspaper said an all-star game called the Oil Bowl would be played in August.

I had to go.

But there was a problem. A ticket to the Oil Bowl cost three bucks.

I usually paid a quarter to get in games. Three bucks to a kid back then was like 300 bucks today.

Daddy told me if I wanted to go to the game, I would have to do some extra jobs around the neighborhood and save up until I had the three bucks.

I did just that, and when I showed him I had saved the money, he told me to keep it in my piggy bank and bought me a ticket.

The Oil Bowl, to a 9-year-old, football-loving boy back then, was like the Super Bowl.

The one name that I will never forget in that 1956 game was Wahoo McDaniel from Midland. He went to play football at OU but became famous as a professional wrestler.

Now turn the clock forward 56 years.

Here we are just five weeks away from the 75th annual Oil Bowl.

To me, it should be a time of real celebration for Wichita Falls.

When I Googled to find what was the longest running high school all-star football game, the Ohio North-South Game staked claim to that title. But it is only 67.

By Nick Gholson
Wichita Falls Times Record News
May 5, 2012

Eleven players from the Wichita Falls area have been chosen to play in the 75th annual Oil Bowl football game on June 9 at Memorial Stadium.

Anthony Wagner and Eddie Speight of Rider will team up one last time with Jim Garfield, who will be the head coach of the Texas squad.

Wagner had 1,655 yards of total offense and scored 26 touchdowns for the 10-4 Raiders last year. Bound for Cisco Junior College, the Rider running back ran for 1,071 yards (an 8.6 average) and 23 TDs and caught 38 passes for 584 yards and three TDs.

Speight, an inside linebacker who signed with Bacone College, had 96 tackles for Rider.

Wichita Falls High School will be represented by wide receiver Chance Garey, a signee with Wayland Baptist.

Garey caught 74 passes for 1,146 yards and 13 touchdowns to lead the Coyotes last season.

The speedy Brandon Sheppard of Hirschi, also a Wayland signee, was a two-way first team all-district football player and is a member of the two Husky relay teams that qualified for state meet next week.

Other area players selected to play in the Oil Bowl are: Blaine Curren of Burkburnett; Kaleb Littleton of Iowa Park; McCall Maddox of Jacksboro; Ryan Todd of Holliday; Kolten Booher of Henrietta; Tyler Coats of Electra and Madison Firmin of Bowie.

Curren is one of four Midwestern State recruits on the Texas roster.

The others are Arlington Sam Houston quarterback Kendall Jackson, Lubbock Estacado’s Ti Russell and Rowlett’s Rashid Turner.

There is another Rider tie to the game in that Burleson coach Jason Tucker, the defensive coordinator for Texas, is a former Raider. Tucker was a defensive standout at Rider in the early 1990s and graduated from there in 1993.

Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson, the offensive coordinator for Texas, played in the 1984 Oil Bowl after quarterbacking Knox City to a Class A state championship the previous fall.

Texas and Oklahoma have met in 65 of the previous 74 games with Texas owning a 46-18-1 series advantage.

The Maskat Shrine Temple sponsors the game with all profits going to Shrine hospitals.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and $15 for reserved and are now on sale at Bobby Evans Sporting Goods and Jerry’s Sporting Goods. You can order tickets by calling 940-766-4511.

The annual banquet will be at 7 p.m. onJune 8 at the Maskat Shrine Temple. This year’s speaker is former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter.

The late Joe Golding, who coached Wichita Falls High School to four state championships, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the banquet. All players and coaches from the Golding era are urged to attend.

Banquet tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the Maskat Shrine Temple

By Nick Gholson
Sunday, January 22, 2012

After taking Rider High School four rounds deep into the playoffs in his two seasons as head coach, Jim Garfield was chosen to lead Texas against Oklahoma in the 75th Oil Bowl.

The Rider coach will be the head coach for the Texas all-star football team in the diamond anniversary game June 9 at Memorial Stadium.  “I am excited that I get to represent Wichita Falls and Texas high school football in a game that has been played 75 years.  It’s both an honor and a privilege.” he said Saturday at a gathering of coaches for the annual Maskat Shrine Temple game.

Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson, who played in the 1984 Oil Bowl, will be Garfield’s defensive coordinator.  Hutchinson quaterbacked Knox City to a Class A state title his senior season.  “I was a defensive back and punter in the game, and the play I remember most is when we lined up to punt, and the ball was snapped over my head.  I ran for my life, picked it up, planted and threw across the field to Milton Williams of Post, who ran for a touchdown,” Hutchinson said.

Texas won that game 27-7.  After winning the Oil Bowl’s first overtime game 17-14 last year, the Texans now lead the series 46-18-1.

Jason Tucker of Burleson will be the offensive coordinator for Texas this year.

The three Oklahoma coaches will be Harlon House of Seminole, Rob Fry of Ponca City and J. R. Winton of Pryor.  House will be the head coach and defensive coordinator.  Fry will coach receivers, quarterbacks and running backs.  Winton will be offensive coordinator and coach the offensive line.

Oil Bowl Chairman Gary Hill said former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter will be the speaker at the game’s banquet on June 8 at Maskat Shrine Temple.