For me, the highlight of my 2018 book High School Football in Texas: Amazing Football Stories From the Greatest Players of Texas was the interviews. Every chat with a player, a coach, a parent, a reporter or a fan was special.
Of the nearly 100 conversations for the book, I’ll always remember the beginning of my chat with, then University of Illinois head coach, Lovie Smith.
After exchanging greetings, Coach Smith told me that his staff knew that whenever someone wanted to talk about his hometown of Big Sandy, Texas, he was “all in.” He told me that talking about his high school days and his hometown community always brought him great joy.
As we meandered through the 35-minute chat, that joy was front-and-center as he walked down memory lane with me about his time with the Big Sandy Wildcats.
Our conversation rushed back to me when I saw that Coach was promoted to be the new head coach of the Houston Texans, his third head coaching job in the National Football League. I have no doubt that, at some point, Coach Smith thought about the fact that Big Sandy was only about 225 miles north of NRG Stadium.
In honor of Coach Smith’s hiring, I thought it would be fun to post the entire chapter on Smith’s time in Big Sandy.
I hope you enjoy.
Lovie Smith — Big Sandy High School
Big Sandy is a small east Texas town that did big things in the early ’70s. The Big Sandy Wildcats were the center of attention in a town of about 1,000 residents, winning three straight Texas high school football championships. The team that won the third title in 1975 may go down as one of the best ever—not only in Texas but the entire country.
The 1975 squad featured former NFL head coach Lovie Smith and a future NFL first-round draft pick in David Overstreet. That year, Big Sandy High School set a national record by scoring 824 points, a record that stood until 1994. However, more amazing than the offense was the defense, which only allowed 15 points all season including eleven shutouts.
“The thing about the 15 points is that on the two touchdowns we gave up, the defensive back fell down,” chuckled Smith, who led the Chicago Bears, as the team’s head coach, to Super Bowl XLI against the Indianapolis Colts in 2007. “To this day, when I see my former teammates, you will always hear one of them say, ‘Hey, you remember when?’ I’m like, ‘Shoot, do I remember when? Yeah, the memories are still very vivid.’”
Lovie Lee Smith was born on May 8, 1958, in Gladewater, Texas, but was raised in Big Sandy. Big Sandy didn’t have any industry in town; it was a dairy and farming town with the farm crops being sweet potatoes and watermelons.
Smith said like in any small town during that time, he played whatever sport was in season. He said that all the kids in town were close since, they grew up playing sports against each other. Big Sandy didn’t have a Pop Warner program, so it wasn’t until the seventh grade when the neighborhood got to play competitively against someone else outside of town.
“In grade school, we were all playing whatever sport we could play. There was only one team in town and all the kids played on that team, no matter what the sport,” said Smith. “And, then there were the [Dallas] Cowboys. Church and then the Cowboys on Sunday.
“I was a huge Roger Staubach fan…he was my hero,” recalled Smith. “Fortunately, in my life, I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of people, but I’d never met Roger. After going to the Super Bowl, I was the Grand Marshall of a NASCAR race outside of Chicago. My family was there and two of my sons spotted Roger and said ‘Dad, Roger Staubach is here.’ So I went to a tent where he was and I introduced myself to him. He said ‘I know who you are.’ Wow, talk about standing up a little taller and putting your chest out a little bigger. You know, we all want the people we idolize to be a certain way, and Roger lived up to that. Man, it made my day!”
How small was Big Sandy in the ’70s? The senior graduating class totaled thirty-four students.
“We were all very close,” reminisced Smith. “We had each other’s back. The thing that most people who haven’t played on a team don’t know is how close you become. Teammates become just like brothers. It’s a bond that you have forever. I feel that way about my teammates’ kids, their grandkids. It becomes a big, extended family.”
And, that family extended to the residents of the community that would turn out in force to watch their Wildcats roll to victory after victory. From 1971 through 1975, Big Sandy was 61–1–1.
“That Friday Night Lights thing that we now all know about was definitely Big Sandy,” said Smith, who played on both sides of the ball, but was the heart of the defense from his linebacker position. “When you’re in a small town like Big Sandy, everyone went to the game. Just like everything revolved around church on Sundays, everything revolved around football on Fridays.
“Everyone knew something special was happening at that time,” Smith added. “The beautiful thing about those years is that it didn’t matter if you were black or white. Remember, it was the ’70s and half of my friends were white and half were black. It didn’t matter. Sports in general has done so much to advance the quality of life and getting along and respecting your fellow guy based on what he had done.”
Smith was lucky enough to play on all three of Big Sandy’s championship teams. In 1973, Big Sandy won the Class B championship by beating Rule, 25–0. The 1974 team was actually declared co-champs after battling Celina, led by legendary head coach G. A. Moore, to a 0–0 tie in the championship game. While every championship was sweet, Smith said nothing beat that 1975 season.
With most of the starters playing less than half of the game, the Wildcats rolled to lopsided victories during the regular season, including a 91–0 shellacking of Carlisle. Other scores from that season were 73–0 (Harmony), 71–0 (Mount Enterprise), 66–0 (Union Grove), 63–0 (Como-Pickton), 62–0 (Leverett’s Chapel), 60–0 (Union Hill), 54–0 (Sabine), and 43–0 (Winona). The only regular season points the Wildcats allowed were in a 55–7 win over Hawkins.
“What people should know is that Coach [Jim] Norman kept the score down,” said Smith. “I remember one game, David [Overstreet] touched the ball six times and scored six touchdowns and then didn’t play in the second half. Quite honestly, that national scoring record could have been so far out of reach if coach hadn’t held back. If he didn’t hold back, you’d be talking about Big Sandy total points to this day.”
Aledo High School in Texas currently holds the national scoring record with 1,023 points scored during the 2013 season. Big Sandy is still ninth on the all-time list.
Big Sandy’s head coach Jim Norman, who also served as the town’s mayor, is someone that Smith, no pun intended, loved. Lovie said that his head coach believed in everyone learning a second position and keeping things simple. “When Coach Norman came, things just changed. It wasn’t like we were inventing football, but some of the things that he taught us are still with me today as a coach. He convinced us that we were going to play harder than everybody. He wanted us to give maximum effort throughout. He always wanted us to be competing. In order to play football in the fall, we had to run track in the spring.”
While everyone in 1975 was watching Big Sandy’s scoreboard like it was a pinball machine, the defense just kept putting up goose eggs, with nine shutouts in ten regular season games.
“During that time, that’s what was expected of us…do your best and trust your teammates,” recalled Smith. “It was a simple philosophy that paid off.”
Big Sandy faced Groom in the Class B state championship game in ’75 with eleven shutouts in thirteen games. With David Overstreet and the Wildcat defense capturing most of the headlines, a couple of other Big Sandy players had outstanding seasons. Quarterback Gary Chalk entered the championship game with 850 yards rushing while averaging over 14 yards per carry. Tony Newman, who played alongside Overstreet, had 1,375 yards with 27 touchdowns. Newman averaged 12.5 yards per carry while Overstreet brought a 23.4 yards per carry average into the title game.
As far as the numbers were concerned, Coach Norman was quoted in most newspapers as saying it was no big deal.
The Wildcat defense was its stout self in a 28–2 victory in the state championship game. Big Sandy fell on three fumbles and picked off two passes in the victory.
The most surprising thing about the victory was that Big Sandy actually trailed 2–0 after one quarter. Groom’s Art Brown tackled Overstreet in the end zone midway through the quarter. Smith recovered a fumble late in the first quarter that led to Big Sandy’s first score early in the second quarter and the Fighting Wildcats never looked back.
The 1975 Big Sandy team was so dominant that five players were named to the Texas Sports Writers Association’s All-State first team. Smith joined Newman on the defensive unit, with Overstreet and Chalk being joined on the first team offense by guard Frank Davis. Eleven players from that team made the Coaches All-District 9-B team, with Smith being named the district’s Outstanding Defensive Player. Joining Smith on the first team defense were defensive linemen Larry Cuba and Mike Gibson, along with Newman at defensive back. Overstreet, who was the district’s Outstanding Offensive Player, was also a first-team linebacker.
“That 1975 championship feeling was special,” said Smith. “Whenever anybody calls to talk about Big Sandy, I’ll always take time out of my schedule to talk about the town, the team, the coaches, and the players.”
After High School
Smith attended the University of Tulsa, where he was a two-time All-American. He began his coaching career immediately after graduating from Tulsa, returning to Big Sandy High School to serve as the team’s defensive coordinator. One year later, he took a job at Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa. He stayed there two years before heading to the college ranks at his alma mater. He began his professional coaching career in 1996 as an assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He became the head coach of the Chicago Bears in 2004 and remained in that position until 2012. Smith is currently the head coach at the University of Illinois.
