A world champion roper, a former Abilene High Eagle and Texas Longhorn who is now a
football analyst for ESPN, and a former Super Bowl champion headline a list of 10 new
inductees into the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame.
The 19th annual Big County Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet is set for Monday, May 4
at the Abilene Convention Center. VIP tables for the Banquet and VIP reception are $800 while
single tickets are $65 each. To order tickets, go online to bigcountryhalloffame.org or call (325)
668-3685. A portion of the VIP table sponsorship will go to the college scholarship endowment.
The Hall of Fame will again award 12 $1,000 college scholarships to graduating senior athletes
from the Big Country. Including this year, the Hall of Fame will have given out $89,000 in
college scholarships.
Lari Dee Guy of Clyde becomes the first rodeo star to be inducted in to the Big Country
Athletic of Fame. She will be honored along with former Abilene High quarterbacks and multisport
standouts Ahmad Brooks and David Bourland, Jerry Don Logan of Graham who won a
Super Bowl in a 10-year NFL career with the Baltimore Colts, and C.H. Underwood, who was
the coach at O’Brien that won the UIL’s first six-man state football championship.
Honored posthumously with the Bill Hart Memorial Legends Award will be Milton Martin of
Avoca and Boone Magness of Breckenridge. The Legacy Award will go to the father-son tennis
coaching duo of Fred Scott Sr. and Fred Scott Jr., who coached at Sweetwater and Abilene
High. Long-time Associated Press writer Mike Cochran from Stamford, who was a two-time
nominee for a Pulitzer Prize, will receive the Lifetime Achievement for Media award and
legendary Ranger College coach and athletic director Ron Butler will be recognized as the
second recipient of the Impact on Big Country Athletics award.
Here is a brief bio on each of this year’s inductees.
Lari Dee Guy played basketball in high school at Clyde, but it was on the rodeo circuit where
she made her mark. She won 11 consecutive American Junior Rodeo Association world roping
titles beginning at age 9. She attended Vernon Junior College where she won a National
Intercollegiate Rodeo Association national championship and then moved on to Texas Tech
where she won another NIRA national title. She was the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association world
champion breakaway roper in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. She now trains roping horses at her
family’s Abilene ranch and puts on roping clinics all over the world. Earlier this year, Guy was
inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Fort Worth.
Ahmad Brooks won eight letters at Abilene High in football, soccer, baseball and track. He
was Mack Brown’s first recruit at the University of Texas. Brooks was a three-year starter at
defensive back for the Longhorns, serving as team captain as a senior, and then played three
years in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans. He is now a broadcaster for the
Longhorn Network and ESPN.
David Bourland also earned eight letters at Abilene High, three in football, two in basketball
and three in baseball, winning three state championships. He was a two-way player for the 1954
and 1955 state championship teams at AHS in football at quarterback and safety. He was the
starting quarterback and captain for the 1955 state champs. He was also captain and second
baseman for the state runner-up team in baseball in 1955 and the state championship team in
1956. He received a dual scholarship in football and baseball at Texas Tech. He was injured
during his football career but continued with his baseball career at Texas Tech.
Jerry Don Logan of Graham played football for West Texas State from 1959-62 and then
played 10 years in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts. A two-way starter, he led the nation in
scoring in 1962 and was the MVP of 1962 Sun Bowl. Logan was the 47th pick in NFL draft by
the Colts. He started 155 straight games for the Colts before retiring in 1972. Logan played in
Super Bowls III and V, winning Super Bowl V against the Dallas Cowboys, intercepting a pass
in the final minutes to seal the victory. He had 34 career interceptions, six returned for
touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowl selection.
C.H. Underwood played six-man football at O’Brien and then returned to coach at O’Brien,
where his team won the 1972 state championship, the first year that the UIL crowned a state
champion in six-man football. He is the author of the book “Six-Man Football” which is
considered the bible for six-man football coaches. Underwood was also the line coach for Knox
City-O’Brien Class A 11-man state championship team in 1983. He coached basketball, too,
receiving a milestone award from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches for reaching 300
wins as a varsity basketball coach. He compiled a 356-157 record and never had a losing season
in 21 years as a basketball coach.
Milton Martin was a member of Avoca’s 1955 Class B state championship basketball team.
He scored 62 points in a game vs. Jim Ned, which is a school record. He was the leading scorer
in the scholarship era at Hardin-Simmons with 1,584 points in four seasons. He made 20 of 20
free throws in a game against Howard Payne in 1960. Martin is a member of the HSU Hall of
Honor. He taught and coached for 40 years in Lubbock, Henrietta, Lueders-Avoca and Stamford.
Boone Magness was a standout quarterback for the Breckenridge team that tied Port Arthur 0-
0 in the 1929 state championship game after upsetting defending champion Waco in the
semifinals. He later played at Washington State. In 1968, he was in the first class of inductees
into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.
Fred Scott Sr. coached football, basketball and tennis for 25 years in Sweetwater and is
credited with talking the UIL into having team tennis as a fall sport. Both father and son are in
the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Fred Jr. won a state doubles title as a
senior at Sweetwater. He played tennis at Eastern Kentucky, Amarillo College and Hardin-
Simmons. He then coached tennis at Mason, New Braunfels, Sweetwater, North Texas State,
Plainview and Abilene High. He was 247-47 at Abilene High, won 10 district team
championships and won the 1999 5A state team tennis championship.
Mike Cochran played golf at Stamford for Gordon Wood, but became one of the most
decorated reporters in Texas during a long career with the Associated Press and Fort Worth Star-
Telegram. Although best known for covering moon shots, the Kennedy assassination, the trials
of Cullen Davis and Billie Sol Estes, and other major news events, he always kept a hand in
covering sports, beginning with high school football during his early days as a sports reporter at
the Abilene Reporter-News. He was a fixture for years in covering TCU football, the Cotton
Bowl and Sun Bowl, and the Colonial and LaJet golf tournaments. Cochran wrote numerous
books and feature stories, including features on Sam Baugh, Texas Tech’s Donny Anderson, and
Odessa High’s 1997 victory over Permian. He is the author of a book on Big Country Hall of
Fame poker player Doyle Brunson. Cochran is a member of the Texas Newspaper Foundation
Hall of Fame and was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Ron Butler was the athletic director at Ranger College for 32 years. He coached men’s
basketball for 16 years, started the women’s basketball program in 1968 and coached that team
for 18 years. He also started the women’s softball program in 1986 and coached the team for 10
years. He won six conference championships in men’s basketball, compiling a 320-160 record.
He had a 360-180 record in women’s basketball and won a Texas junior college state
championship and NIT championship in 1974. He was 302-55 as softball coach, winning
numerous conference championships and was runner-up at the National Junior College
tournament in 1987 and 1994.