I was sad to hear about the passing of Ken Hall over the weekend at the age of 89. For more than a half-century, Hall, who played at Sugar Land High School in Texas, was America’s all-time best running back.
In 2012, current Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry passed Hall to become the all-time leader rusher in high school football.
During research for my 2018 book High School Football in Texas — Amazing Football Stories from the Greatest Players of Texas, I had the pleasure of speaking with Hall, who was happy to take me back to the early 50’s when he was virtually unstoppable on football fields outside of Houston.
From 1950 to 1952, the man known as the “Sugar Land Express” amassed 11,232 yards rushing and set 17 national records.
Below is an excerpt from the book:
Like so many of the players we’ve talked to for this book, football wasn’t first and foremost on Hall’s mind. He said that he started playing football in the eighth grade.
“I’m not even sure why I went out,” said Hall. “I didn’t care anything about it [football]. I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know the rules. Heck, I didn’t even know that you couldn’t throw a ball to a lineman.
“I was slow,” Hall added. “The concept of football just didn’t appeal to me. I would much rather march in the band and play the trumpet. And, that’s basically what I did starting in the sixth grade through high school.”
Playing in the band is where Hall met his wife Gloria, who he calls “Honey.” The two celebrated their 62nd anniversary in December 2017. He said one of his best memories isn’t from the football field, but during his sophomore season when he was elected captain for one of the games and she was voted the “football sweetheart” that same night. Hall laughed recalling the fact that at halftime of that game, he was able to give her a kiss on the cheek during the ceremony.
Hall recalled that the only reason he even tried out for football was because B. I. Webb, who was a senior, told him they were going to workout together to get ready for the upcoming football season that began in a couple of weeks. Hall said he wasn’t the least bit interested, but Webb insisted.
“First thing we did was run about fifteen laps around the goalposts,” said Hall. “By the end, I couldn’t breathe and told him, ‘No, I don’t want to do this.’ Well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say that I was convinced to play.”
Hall said the one thing that he could do, even though he claims at that time that he couldn’t walk a straight line and chew gum at the same time, was throw and kick the football. He said he didn’t care one bit about running with the ball.
“I saw people getting hurt running the ball and I didn’t want that to happen to me,” said Hall. “So, because I could throw, they put me at quarterback. However, it didn’t work well. Instead, the coach, Dugan Hightower, decided to start a senior at quarterback for the start of the season.”
Hall recalled that the team lost its first five games. He said Coach Hightower put him in for the next game and said, “Do what you can.” By that time, Hall said he had gotten a little faster, but he was still more interested in throwing the ball than running it.
“I remember early in the game, I dropped back to pass,” said Hall. “I looked around and nobody was open, so I decided to run the ball.”
That play resulted in Hall scoring on a 76-yard run—and he never stopped running.
“After scoring, I turned around and looked at the guys that had been chasing me and they were back pretty far,” said Hall. “I remember thinking to myself that that was fun…maybe we should do this again sometime. I scored another touchdown before the game was over and that’s how it all started.”
Fort Bend ISD honored Hall in 2004 when they named their stadium after him in Missouri City.
Below is a photo of Ken Hall Stadium from the website TexasBob.com:
BTW, my book is still available on Amazon. It has a 4.7 rating out of 5 from 50 ratings.
Click here, if you’d like to learn more about it or order a copy.
