Abner Haynes Elected To Tshof

Coach · September 25, 2007

Al Pickett just announced on ESPN Radio here in Abilene that Abner Haynes has been elected into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. It's long overdue, but now at least Haynes will receive the recognition he deserves for not only his outstanding playing career, but the trail he blazed for black football players in Texas.

Congrats to Haynes!

Edited September 25, 2007 by Coach

SUMG · September 25, 2007

That's great......it's way overdue.

Congrats to Abner!

Mean Green 93-98 · September 25, 2007

Great news! From everything I have heard, an outstanding man.

PlummMeanGreen · September 25, 2007

As I once heard the late, Mean Green great Ron Shanklin call Abner Haynes while we were eating Mexican food on West Seventh Street in FW; that is, he called Abner "Father Time" and to the great "Father Time" I say:

Congrats, Abner "Father Time" Haynes! You Were Long Over-Due But You Made It, Friend To Many of Us!

This is just simply great news for the entire Mean Green Nation and...........the Nation of Texas, too!

Edited September 25, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

risinggreen · September 25, 2007

Fantastic! Amazing that it took this long. A true pioneer.

Cerebus · September 25, 2007

Pinned.

This is great news and long overdue.

PlummMeanGreen · September 26, 2007

All you newbies & Young Gun Alums (who many not be aware) but still need to know that UNT integrated Texas inter-collegiate football 10 full years before the Southwest Conference did with Baylor's John Westbrook & SMU's Jerry Levias.

The setting of a story Abner told a few of us at a Dallas get-together back in the early 1980's was in the mid-1950's when integration was not the thing that universities in the Deep South/Southwest had at the top of their agendas. Then UNT President Dr. J.C. Matthews was ahead of the curve back in the 1950's and said "this is something we need to do and must do at North Texas."

So UNT integrated its football program in the mid-1950's with Abner Haynes and Leon King. Abner had played his high school football at Dallas Lincoln HS and I think (Dr.) Leon King also went to Lincoln, too, (although I stand to be corrected on that).

OK, the short story Abner told us:

North Texas had a game scheduled against the University of Houston during the mid-1950's and as was the custom of that day, the team (and many of our students) took the train down to Houston for our game against the UH Cougars. Abner went on to say that blacks were barred from staying in the hotel with the rest of our football team, so he & Leon King would have to stay on the train over-night and just do the best they could to get rest before Game Day the next day. Haynes went onto to tell our small group that the "no blacks welcome" rule so hacked off all UNT white players so instead of their all going to a very nice, comfortable hotel room near the UH campus for a night of rest, they each & everyone elected to stay with Abner and Leon in the train for their over-night accomodations.

Abner also said many times the white North Texas players would have to surround him and Leon King to keep others from getting at them with intentions of physically harming them. Keep in mind that this was the mid-1950's when most of our Texas HS black football stars (from all black HS's) were going to many Big 10 schools or black universities where they would be welcome.

Heard Abner on a KRLD sports show a few years ago and he said he had been writing a book about all this experiences, I just hope he is close to finishing the book because I know a whole bunch of North Texans who would love to get an auto-graphed copy of such a book from the great Abner Haynes.

Abner Haynes Notes and A Few Urban Tales (?) Concerning Haynes:

I believe I read it or heard from one of you older nestors that the late Lamar Hunt signed Abner Haynes to his new Dallas Texans/American Football League (AFL) football team following Hayne's last game at Fouts Field. Seems I also read that he signed his contract with Lamar Hunt in one of the end zones at our venerable Fouts Field. Can anyone verify that who may have been there that day?

** Abner Hayne's famous coin toss call in over-time for the AFL Championship in 1962 between the Houston Oilers & Dallas Texans at Jeppheson Stadium (now UH's Robertson Stadium: Most have heard the story of how after the Dallas Texans won the coin toss for the over-time game how team captain Abner Haynes chose to defend one of the end zones which created a disastrous scenario as to where the Texans ended up kicking off to the Oilers in overtime. :blink: I asked Abner about that many years ago and he told me that Lamar Hunt was running up and down the sidelines screaming for him to do one thing while Hank Stram was yelling at him to do different; thus the confusion and embarrassment that followed with that famous coin toss. Luck for the Texans, Tommy Brookshier kicked the game winning field goal in the 2'nd over-time (as I recall listening to that game on the Houston Oilers Radio Network).

** Abner Haynes is in the Kansas City Chief Hall of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium. Of course, that is the KC Chief's version of what the Dallas Cowboys have at Texas Stadium with their Ring of Honor.

** I believe I read years ago where Abner Haynes actually played his last season as a New York Jet. In fact, a story I heard years long ago from one of our NT Exes was how Broadway Joe Namath had handed off the ball to Abner and when he had no place to run and then got boxed in by the opponent's defense, Abner simply pitched the football back to Joe Namath (bad knees and all) who was said to have had one helluva' expession on his face when he got the football back that he had just handed off to Abner Haynes. :rolleyes: :lol:

** Abner Haynes has been called by many media-types as the American Football League's first true super-star.

....................................................................

Once again, congrats to our own Abner Haynes or as the late, great Ronnie Shanklin called him many years ago at a Dallas get-together--Father Time.

Edited September 26, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen