A couple of weeks ago I told you about El Pasoan Charles Hill writing a book about high school state 
champions from the El Paso area. I just finished reading the manuscript and I can’t emphasize enough what an important piece of work it is.
Can you imagine how much work and research it took to compile a list of team and individual state high schools champions from our city and surrounding area in every sport?
And it’s not dry reading. Hill gives his own views and analysis on many of the subjects.
As one who has lived and written about most of the history of high school sports here I found it totally fascinating and a great contribution to our sports history.
The book is not in print – yet – but it’s available via the Internet. KVIA-TV has it on its website. As for me, I’m hoping to help Hill get his manuscript published. Everyone whoever won a state championship should have it in book form.
PERSONALLY, there are gems in the book that made my eyes pop out. For instance, I didn’t know that the legendary Ball brothers, George and Russell, had won a state tennis doubles championship. Nor that Bobby Goldfarb, who was on the 1941 state basketball championship team from El Paso High at the tender age of 13, had also won a state tennis doubles title with Ed Chew.
But I digress. Let me let Charles Hill tell you about his book in his own words.
“I STARTED writing my book in November of 2013 … I started with football. … I knew that no area UIL team had won a state championship so I decided to write about the teams that made it to the third round of the playoffs (Austin in 1937) because that was the deepest level any El Paso area team had gone before Canutillo’s historic run in 2014. …. I tried to highlight the best teams that have ever played in El Paso. My choice would be 1975 Coronado. Some people think the ’79 Coronado team was better.
“BASKETBALL came next. I knew El Paso High’s history as I am a fellow Tiger alum. I saw their last Final 4 appearance in 1965. EPHS had a great team with Kenny John, George Hodge and a pair of 6-7 centers.
“I also knew about Eastwood’s championship and Riverside’s run. I was surprised to learn about Cathedral’s nine TCIL titles. “BASEBALL WAS next. I knew Bowie had won in 1949 and Socorro in 2009. I wanted to tell the Bowie story again because of the hardships that team went through and also to emphasize that some of those racial attitudes haven’t changed much in parts of Texas, as Socorro found out in 2009.
“The chapter on soccer came next. I knew of Del Valle’s success and that soccer was the rising sport in El Paso. I didn’t know about the ’95 Coronado title team until I researched it on the UIL website. “The hardest sports to cover were wrestling, swimming and track. My wrestling chapter ran long because I decided to list any athlete that had medaled at a UIL state tournament. I didn’t realize there had been so many.
“SWIMMING ran long because of Cathedral’s great history in the sport (29 championships and 25 straight).
“The El Paso area has been very successful in cross country track and to a lesser extent in Track and Field (many individual champions but no team titles). “MY GREATEST surprise or disappointment: Golf. You would think that a city with world class weather would produce more champions in golf but such is not the case.
“Biggest pleasant surprises were Bowie’s history in track, El Paso’s great history in cross country, soccer, basketball and Track and Field (many individual champions). Of course Canutillo 2014 football season and Andress in basketball were great stories. And soccer. San Elizario and Cathedral won championships this year and Horizon made the Final 4.”
Stayed tune here for future details.