Did the DISD Get it WRONG?

Simple question, and maybe even a more simpler answer!

YES!

Lets face it, the first class of the DISD Athletic Hall of Fame has some pretty heavy members going in.

Ernie Banks (Booker T. Washington High School) Larry Johnson (Skyline) Dave Stallworth (Madison) Davey O’ Brien (Woodrow Wilson) Tim Brown (Woodrow Wilson) Jerry Rhome (Sunset) Chryste Gaines Courtney ( South Oak Cliff )

These are just a few of the names, and as you can tell, like I said, they are heavy weights! HOWEVER! They are missing one! ONE!

There are 10 going in all together in this first class, but the one name that is missing,most likely the greatest track star of all time, and he didn’t even make the first cut!

He ran for Skyline, then he ran for Baylor, then he ran for the USA in the Olympics! In 1992 in Barcelona, he couldn’t compete in his individual races due to food poisoning a couple of weeks prior to the races, but he did come back and ran the 4x400 relay in which he set a world record in his leg of the race and help the team win a Gold Medal.

Then came 1996 the Centennial Olympics that were held in Atlanta, Georgia where Michael Johnson, ran both the 400 and 200 races and won both in World Record Time, and to beat that.. before the 96 Olympics he has secured world championships along the way! HE was THE premier runner during the decade of the 90s!

So aside from being from Skyline High School, and though Larry Johnson was already going in, it made no sense that two football players were going in from the same high school as well. Woodrow Wilson, which by the way, is the ONLY public High School in the Country to produce TWO Heisman Trophy Winners. (there goes my trivia question and answer). But none the less, if The Wildcats can have two go in, why can’t Skyline?

I mean of the track and field division there would be three going into the hall, because Michael Carter from Thomas Jefferson High is going in as a Football Player, but he also was track and field (Shot Put) then of course Chryste Gaines Courtney is going in from SOC as track, so what would have been so terrible if Michael Johnson also went in?

IF, and I do mean IF! Michael Johnson is not in the immediate next class of inductees to the DISD Hall of Fame, there is going to be a very loud THUD at the Administration building!

This is a great honor and all, however, you have to understand why some of us are a bit upset, forget the fact that Michael Johnson was from Skyline, hell even if he went to Pinkston, or Lincoln, or W.T. White, I still would be upset over the slight that this Hall showed him. I am a sports person, I have broadcast sports in the DFW area for almost 20 years, and have done high school sports from East Texas to North Texas and have seen some great athletes come through the area, not just from the DISD, but from Richardson, Plano, Highland Park, Allen, Frisco, and plenty from the Ft Worth ISD as well!

There are deserving players all across the DISD, and I am hoping that the Superintendent and his committee will eventually decide that not only Michael Johnson belongs in this Hall, but maybe some other greats-- E. King Gill from Adamson High School-- also known as the 12th Man of Aggie Land!

What about Doug English from Bryan Adams High School, who played for the University of Texas then later for the Detroit Lions and was an All Pro, how about Abner Hayes who played at Lincoln High School who played for the Dallas, Texans (AFL) and then the Kansas City Chiefs (AFL), Dwight White who went to Madison and was part of the Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steelers (Super Bowl Champion), what about a couple of stand outs with Golf, like Betty Jameson from Sunset, who created the LPGA, or from W.T. White’s Scott Verplank who is on the PGA tour, and 2007 winner of the Byron Nelson Golf Championship.

These are just a handful of notables from DISD that are deserving, but none more so than Michael Johnson, who holds world records, and Olympic records when he ran.

So the next time you put together a list of people deserving to be in a hall of fame, you would think that they (the committee) will put into nomination some of the names listed above!

Its just a thought!