by Ray Sanchez 06.15.14
Jack Wilkinson was one heck of a football player. I know. I was lucky to see him play for the UTEP Miners way back when UTEP was still known as Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy. Before joining the Miners, he was a member of some of the greatest teams in the history of Texas high school football at Odessa High School. He graduated from there in 1943 and entered the Navy during World War II.
After the war, he was recruited by Miners coach Jack Curtice in 1947.
A tall, strapping, good looking young man, Wilkinson helped the Miners to records of 5-3-1 in 1947, 8-2-1 in 1948, 8-2-1 in 1949 and 7-3 in 1950 during his four years with the Miners.
He also helped the Miners to two Sun Bowl appearances.
Those were the days when players played both offense and defense and Wilkinson was a standout as an end on offense and a lineman on defense. The Miners lost to West Virginia 23-12 in the 1949 Sun Bowl but Wilkinson caught a crucial touchdown pass late in the game to upset Georgetown 33-20 in 1950. The latter was the first Sun Bowl I ever attended as a sports writer and I can’t express what a thrill it was.
IT’S HARD to imagine such success as the Miners had in that span of four years in the light of recent football performances by the Miners.
But it happened.
Wilkinson left El Paso after graduating from UTEP but returned as head football coach at Bowie High School. Later, he moved to Coronado High School where, as an assistant coach, he helped turn out some of the best high school football teams in the history of the city. He also coached golf at Coronado and was successful in that endeavor, too.
In short, he became one of El Paso’s greatest athletic assets.
And a friend. As a sports writer I ran into him often. He was always accessible, easy to talk to and so friendly one couldn’t help liking him. In later years, he started to write his memoirs and I got to read some of them. How I wish I could have helped him turn out a book.
Jack Wilkinson passed away quietly on June 2 at the age of 89. What wonderful memories he leaves behind.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Dick Savitt, who attended El Paso High School in the 1940s, won the Wimbledon singles championship in 1951. He won another “major” title that year. Can you name it? Answer at end.
I WONDER what board members of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame are thinking now. They have turned down El Paso’s Nolan Richardson for induction time and again and now Richardson is going to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in August.
His rejection by the Texas Hall is so weird that it’s almost comical. Richardson is the only Texas born coach to win a NCAA basketball championship and is the only coach to win a national junior college title and the NIT in addition to the NCAA. Yet, he keeps getting passed over by the Texas Hall in favor of folks with much less impressive credentials.
Why won’t the Texas Sports Hall of Fame induct him? Is it lack of sports knowledge? Is it the fact El Paso is so far removed from the rest of Texas they don’t know we exist? It can’t be racial. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame has inducted other African-Americans.
Excuse me while I scratch my head.
ANSWER to trivia question: Dick Savitt also won the Australian Open in 1951.