Bowie High School had a happy celebration of R. Gaines Baty’s book about his father, Buryl Baty, last Thursday. The elder
Baty was so successful as head football coach in his four and half years at Bowie that he brought unparalleled joy to the Southside community.
- Gaines Baty’s book, “Champion of the Barrio,” details his father’s time at Bowie and his previous life. Buryl Baty and his assistant, Jerry Simmang, were killed in a car accident in the middle of the 1954 football season while another assistant, Fred Rosas, suffered serious injuries but survived.
All of El Paso, not just the people living in the Southside, mourned the passing of such young, successful coaches.
I was covering high school sports for the El Paso Herald-Post and lived through those painful days. I wrote a column on Oct. 12, 1954, late at night in my office about the tragedy, which R. Gaines Baty included in his book. The column follows, in part and with only few modifications:
“EL PASO BADE farewell to head Bowie High football coach Buryl Baty and assistant coach Jerry Simmang yesterday in Asbury Methodist Church and in so doing bade farewell to a wonderful but cruelly short football era here.
“That is, El Paso bade farewell to their physical bodies. In spirit they’ll remain in the hearts of each and every one of us who met them. …
“Even now, as this typewriter clicks away in the El Paso Herald-Post office, they seem to stand by me – young, strong and handsome and those silly grins on their faces. We’re all alone in the night (I knew I couldn’t sleep until I wrote this column). The rest of the office force is gone, their working days over.
“But we three are still here and I can hear Buryl’s voice with that familiar chuckle saying, ‘Awe, Ray, come on,’ just like he did whenever I tried to tell him what a good team he had put out. And Jerry saying, like he did when I told him how great his football lines were: ‘Gosh, Ray…’
“Yes, they’re embarrassed about those words I’m putting down as their spirits stand here and read them over my shoulder. Like most men of great ability they’re overly modest…
“THESE TWO YOUNG men became a twosome in 1950, the year after Jerry came to Bowie High. Buryl joined him in ’50.
“With them they brought new unthought-of glory to the school … Before they came Bowie was considered just another football team…
“Their very first season the Bears finished first in the district. The next two years were those of rebuilding but never were the Southsiders’ foes able to relax… They finished first again in 1953 …
“What made these two men so fine that they were admired not only by their friends but by their opponents just as much? Henry Wheeler, former Ysleta coach, flew all the way from Galveston for yesterday’s service….
“It’s difficult to put into words. They had that unknown quality that makes everyone feel welcome … They were perfect for Bowie … Buryl and Jerry made the boys feel secure and welcome. The team was like a big, happy family, playing together, joking together and fighting together…
“Yes, there were incidents … The coaches didn’t blame the boys, like so many might. It would be easy to do because the Southsiders, if one must be frank about it, are often discriminated against.
“The two coaches just went quietly about their business (and solving problems).”
“IT WOULD HAVE been wonderful to have been able to follow their careers. Both men were sure to rise in their profession. They were in the prime of life and their ‘glory road’ was just beginning … but … we, the living, must now go on…
“Well, I’m finished writing. Come on, Buryl and Jerry, let’s go to the house for a cup of coffee.”
End of column.