Stevie B. Is 23 Today, Happy Birthday Son!

Stephen Bret Gupton, the middle son of Tracy and Peggy Gupton, celebrates his 23rd birthday today, Saturday, May 9, 2009. We wish him a very happy birthday.

Boy, those 23 years sure flew by quickly. Making his entrance into this cruel world in the wee morning hours of May 9, 1986, Bret tipped the scales at six pounds, two ounces. His delivery was my trial run at witnessing the wonder of childbirth, having opted to stand outside the delivery room door when our first son, Brian, entered the world four years earlier. So, by the time our baby boy, Blake, joined the family in 1988 I was a seasoned veteran of participating in my wife's delivering our children in the hospital.

Bret and Blake were both born in the Brazosport Memorial Hospital in Lake Jackson, Texas, the same hospital that currently serves the residents of the area where we live in Brazoria County. Our first child, Brian, was born in the old Freeport Community Hospital that is no longer in operation. And now, 21 years beyond witnessing the amazing delivery of my youngest child, I reflect on what all has transpired in my life in the two decades since then. I remain extremely grateful that Peggyjo Hall came into my life, chose me to be her soulmate, married me despite the advice of "people with some sense," and today remains my loyal wife. I don't know where I would be today, in an insane asylum or a graveyard most likely, if she hadn't come along and given me stability and three beautiful little boys to make my life complete.

Those three little boys are not so little anymore. At 27, 23 and 21 years of age now, they are all grown men with their childhood and teen years in their rearview mirrors and so much more life yet ahead. My emotions involving my sons and foster sons (who are also all grown up now) oscillate routinely between extreme pride for what each of them has accomplished, endured and survived in their young lives, and a numbness bordering on grief for the time lost--the knowledge that everything involving my kids that is now in the past can never be retrieved, corrected or amended in any manner. What is done is done. Onward and forward now!

In the present day, Bret is nearing the completion of his college degree. He is mere hours away from receiving his bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Texas A&M University at College Station. The 2004 graduate of Columbia High School in our hometown of West Columbia, Texas, embarked on a challenging pursuit when he departed for Texas A&M in the fall of '04.

We have fond memories of Bret's childhood, from Miss Missy's Day Care days and time spent with Angela Williams (his babysitter for much of his younger years) with his little brother Blake and Angela and Bobby Williams' kids, to attending grade school and playing soccer, basketball and baseball as a small child. He was an exceptional distance runner and member of the Roughnecks crosscountry team. His football and baseball careers at Columbia High were a source of pride for his Mom and me, topped only by Bret walking in front of his graduating class on Griggs Field in May 2004 to receive his high school diploma.

The year Bret spent as a "fish" freshman at Texas A&M in the first of his four years as a member of the Aggies' Corps of Cadets will continue to be a source of strong memories for our son. His service to the Corps and dedication to his academic pursuits at Texas A&M will hopefully someday soon culminate in Bret getting to take his second walk in pursuit of that elusive college degree that has for so long now been his goal. We can't wait! The Corps of Cadets photo of Bret at the top of this page was taken in his senior year on the College Station campus.

I could write reams of pages when it comes to the depths of my love and adoration for all of my children. So, for brevity's sake, I will close by simply saying, "Bret, I love you son. Happy 23rd birthday!"

Now take out the trash, clean up your room, trim the bushes, mow the yard, wash my truck, scratch my feet . . . and get a good paying job so I can retire early and live off of your wealth!

Coach's Hall Induction Recalls State Run

The Greater Houston Football Coaches Association will induct former Columbia Roughnecks head coach Jack Hays into its Hall of Honor tonight, May 6, 2009. It is a deserving honor for the only coach in Columbia High School history to lead the Roughnecks to a state championship berth in football. Jack was added to the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 1981, and during this past 2008 season he was inducted into our local high school's athletics hall of honor.

Jack Hays has been my insurance man for several years, and has been a good friend much longer than that. He was the athletics director at Columbia High when my brother and sister and I all attended school there in the 1970s. And he and his family have been sitting one row below us at Roughnecks football games for over 20 years. My family and his have season tickets at Griggs Field in close proximity, and I always look forward to Friday nights during football season to watch the hometown boys wearing the maroon and white try to make their fans proud of them on the field and absorb as much football wisdom as possible during the games from the two Jacks seated in front of me.

Jack and his son Jackie, who is also a retired high school football coach like his Dad, never fail to entertain my wife, my brother and sister and I during the Roughnecks football games. Their humor and friendly nature are much appreciated by the Guptons. Coach Hays and his son are both great story tellers. My brother Cody graduated from Columbia High in 1972 with Jack and Ellen Hays' daughter Jenna. Jenna's big brother Jackie and my big brother Cody were teammates on the Roughnecks' junior varsity team in 1969, the year the team advanced all the way to the state championship game, so listening in as Jackie and Cody and Jackie's Dad relive those glory days from 40 years ago while watching the current collection of Roughnecks battle on the gridiron is priceless.

I truly enjoyed sitting near Jack's family at the game this past fall when he was among those being inducted at halftime into the Roughnecks' Hall of Honor. His daughter Jenna and her husband, former Texas Longhorns' quarterback Randy McEachern, were there along with his sons Jackie and Jeff. I had to wipe a tear away as I watched them watching their Daddy in the spotlight down on the field, the same field where he patrolled the sidelines as Columbia High's head coach from 1969 through 1981. It was touching to watch and Jack was very deserving of the honor.

He remains the local high school's winningest football coach with a career record of 81-37-5 at West Columbia. His coaching career also included stops at Grapevine, South Oak Cliff and El Campo before he finally dropped anchor in West Columbia. He completed his 18-year coaching career with a record of 130-60-8. After stepping away from coaching high school football, Jack Hays opened his own insurance business in West Columbia and still remains active in the family business today, although he has turned over the management of the business to his son Jackie.

"Any time you are awarded or honored by members of your peers, it is always a great honor," Jack told a newspaper reporter earlier this week in commenting about his Wednesday night hall induction. "They chose me to be among some other great people already in it."

Jack Hays coached El Campo to the Class 3A state championship game in 1967 when his Ricebirds were defeated, 36-12, by Brownwood. The Roughnecks were district champions in 1968 under head coach Carmen Bonner. Alvin eliminated the '68 Roughnecks in a bi-district battle at Hopper Field in Freeport on the banks of the Brazos River. Coach Bonner accepted the head coaching job at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin in 1969, which opened the door for the Columbia-Brazoria school board and Superintendent Kenneth Welsch to hire Jack Hays as the Roughnecks new athletics director and head football coach.

The Roughnecks sailed through Hays' inaugural season undefeated to win the first of what would be five district championships under his leadership. Led by junior quarterback Mike Ellisor and all-state running backs Charley Davis and Charlie Johnson, as well as first team all-state lineman Randy Stanford and second team all-state lineman Randy Powell, the '69 Roughnecks had to get by two extremely tough opponents in Brenham and Belton to reach the state championship game. No other Columbia High football team has ever advanced deeper in the playoffs than Jack Hays' 1969 squad. Following a 43-12 bi-district victory over LaPorte, the Roughnecks battled Brenham to a 6-6 tie, with Columbia advancing on the strength of more penetrations within the opponent's 20-yard line during the exciting playoff game. A 10-6 win over Belton the following week put West Columbia into the Class 3A state championship game.

Unfortunately legendary Texas high school coach Gordon Wood's Brownwood team was waiting for the Roughnecks and, once again, Coach Hays' team would come up short in their quest for an elusive state crown. Brownwood defeated the Roughnecks 34-16 in the '69 state championship game. A pair of captains on that very successful Columbia High School football team passed away within the past year, Abe McBeth and Page Reynolds. Davis and Johnson, also captains in 1969 along with Vladimir Listak and Bill Burke, were inducted into Columbia High's first group of Hall of Honor members in 2007 with long-time assistant football coach Charles Brand. Coach Hays was among those inducted in 2008.

Charlie Johnson, pictured above carrying the pigskin in a hard-fought 8-6 win over district rival Sweeny in 1969, eventually became an All-NFL selection for the Philadelphia Eagles as a nose tackle. The Hinkle's Ferry product, who was the MVP of the Roughnecks' 1969 state finalist team and a second team all-state pick that season, finished his pro career with the Minnesota Vikings.

Charley Davis of West Columbia, a first team all-state selection in '69, was a top draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals following an outstanding college career as a running back at the University of Colorado. It was extremely exciting, as a kid living in West Columbia in the 1970s, to be able to watch not one, but two members of the '69 Roughnecks playing college and pro football on television. And words cannot describe how great it was to watch the Super Bowl on TV on January 25, 1981, when former Roughnecks great Charlie Johnson started in the defensive line for the Eagles against the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately, Johnson's Eagles lost that Super Bowl game, 27-10, in New Orleans.

Jack Raymond Hays was born in Prosper, Texas, and quarterbacked Dallas Sunset High School to the 1950 state championship. Sunset edged Houston Reagan, 14-6, in that game. Hays would later quarterback North Texas State before graduating with a college degree and entering the coaching and teaching profession. After coaching stints at Grapevine and South Oak Cliff, Jack Hays relocated his family to southeast Texas and became El Campo High School's athletics director. In seven years as head coach of the Ricebirds, Hays compiled a 49-23-3 record. His El Campo teams won a pair of district championships, and Hays coached in 15 playoff games during his combined tenures with El Campo and West Columbia.

Jack and his staff, including Charles Brand, Charles Forehand and Ed Derrich, coached the South All Stars in the 1974 THSCA all-star game in the Houston Astrodome. That was my senior year in high school and the period when my association with these four great coaches began. Coach Derrich, who would replace Coach Hays as Columbia High's head football coach when Jack decided to open his insurance business, was my World History teacher and junior varsity football coach when I was a sophomore at Columbia High. Jim Batson was the other JV football coach and taught my science class my sophomore year. Coach Brand was one of my math teachers in high school and remains, along with Jack Hays and Ed Derrich, a good friend to this day.

I applaud Jack Hays for all he has accomplished throughout his life, especially for the honor bestowed upon him tonight at the Athletic Alumni Center at the University of Houston campus. It is especially rewarding to know that, in the aftermath of each and every deserved honor that comes his way, Jack Hays remains such a down-to-earth, easy to talk to gentleman who I will forever think the world of. Congratulations Jack!

Unforgettable, That's What You Remain

She was born February 8, 1926, outside the borders of the nation where she would spend her 70 years of living. And man, how she DID live!

Today, May 5, 2009, marks the thirteenth anniversary of her death. She was a tough old broad, taking on most adversaries with an inner strength I only inherited a small fraction of. But she could not whip the pancreatic cancer that closed the curtain on her life far too soon for those of us who loved her dearly. She was "Mama" to me, my brother Cody and sister Kelli. She was a doting, loyal spouse to our father Rex Gupton from 1949 until 1996. She was born in Pincher Creek in Alberta, Canada, to Leo and Pauline Giesler. As the saying goes, she may not have been born in Texas but she got to the Lone Star State as quickly as she could, having grown up for most of her young life in East Columbia. Her sister Yvonne and brother Hob called her Donnie. So did her nephews, the four sons of Jack and Yvonne Broadway. Her "adopted" granddaughters Brandi and Mandi Gloor pinned the nickname "Berndi" on her when they were little girls living in my parents' home with their parents, John "Stormy" and Sherry Gloor, back in the 1970s.

The "Berndi" tag stuck like glue, and all of her grandchildren carried on the tradition of calling their beloved grandmother "Berndi." Today, as I reflect on the water that has passed under the bridge since that excruciating, painful Cinco de Mayo in 1996 when I had to kiss the mother I loved with all of my heart goodbye for the final time, I can't help but regret the multitude of family milestones that have occurred over the past 13 years during my mother's absence from our lives. She truly adored all of her grandkids. For those younger members of our family who today find their grandmother merely a faint memory, I must stress to each of you that if she were here today Berndi would surely be your biggest supporter and greatest fan.

So much has happened, from high school graduations of Dustin, Brian, Bret, Blake and Rex, the recent marriage of Amanda (who is expecting Berndi and Rex's first great-grandchild in the near future), and sitting in the stands at local sporting events to watch Natalie follow in her mother Kelli's footsteps as a Roughnecks cheerleader, Dustin ride those nasty bulls and buckin' broncs like his father David and Uncle Cody did before him, and witness the countless sporting events her grandsons participated in over the years. Tommy, her youngest grandson, is currently the starting catcher for the Roughnecks varsity baseball team and plays the sport year around on select baseball teams. Bret and Blake were varsity baseball players at Columbia High before Tommy. Brian excelled at the varsity level in basketball and football and track, setting the bar at the highest rungs for his younger brothers to attempt to equal. Bret, Blake and Rex all were varsity football players for the Roughnecks under head coach Brian Lane. My mother missed out seeing my son Bret participate in choir concerts that my wife's mother drew great pleasure from witnessing. And my family was bursting at the seams with pride when our "baby boy" Blake qualified for the regional track meet his senior year in the high jump competition.

Yes, Mama did not get to live long enough to experience so much in the lives of my siblings and myself and our respective spouses. But she has always been there with me in my heart in everything I have achieved, experienced, witnessed and yes, even had to suffer through, such as the overwhelming sadness that accompanies the passing of my relatives and close friends. Even thirteen years later, rarely a day passes without my mother dropping by for a visit in my thoughts. My sister and I embraced next to our father's bed at a local nursing home in late January of 2001 when he passed from this life, ending his heartbreaking battle with Alzheimer's disease that had actually taken him from us long before he actually died. My Daddy also remains with me and it amazes me how many times each and every day that the old coot returns in my thoughts and dreams. The loss of our Mom in 1996 and our Dad in 2001 was the hardest experiences this old boy was forced to get through. I think I can safely say that my brother and sister would agree with this statement. But their deaths, five years apart, have not been in vain. Our mutual sense of extreme loss has acted as the glue that has kept this branch of the Gupton/Giesler family strong as we all await what tomorrow brings us.

And it is tomorrow, that cloudy uncertainty of what awaits each of the descendants of Rex and Verna Gupton, that keeps me lunging for that unreachable star, hovering above the current makeup of my blood family and extended family with a sense of wonderment and sheer amazement of how life can still surprise me in oh, so many ways. Later this month my Mom's youngest granddaughter, Natalie Renee Kuban, will graduate near the top of her class academically from Columbia High School. College beckons my niece with an impressive scholarship to Texas A&M University. Her younger brother Tommy Kuban will return to Columbia High for two more years, where he has also been a constant resident on the local high school's honor roll.

Along with the arrival of Amanda's baby in the near future, my son Brian will marry his longtime girlfriend Tiffanie Hatley in the fall in West Columbia. Mama was around during Brian's heyday when he was leading the local Little League in home runs and shining on the soccer fields and basketball courts as a preteen. But, oh has she missed so very much by not getting to see Brian, Bret and Blake doing all the big things as well as so many little things along the way that has given so much pleasure to their Mom and Dad. The same goes for Cody's and Kelli's kids.

I know that my wife Peggy and I will be struggling to keep the tears of love and pride from flowing on October 17th when our "little boy" Briano says his I do's and kisses his lovely bride. When he lifts the veil and plants a big juicy one on Tiffanie, Brian will be lifting our hopes for a brighter tomorrow in our own lives as well. The future holds so much in store for the Guptons of West Columbia, Texas. And I can't wait to experience each and every milestone in our lives as they unfold before us. Mama and Daddy, I wish you were both here to experience it all with us!

Broadway Lights Up Cousin's TV Viewing

Saturday night (May 2, 2009) I was guilty of my usual routine of dozing off in front of the TV. Nothing unusual about that. When I fell asleep I was watching the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox players seeking shelter from the rain in Arlington during the middle innings of a game that was heavily favoring the home team Rangers. WGN's cable TV channel had to opt for alternate programming until the major league baseball game could resume.

I had learned about a week earlier that my cousin, Lance Broadway, had been recalled from AAA Charlotte by the ChiSox and he had made his 2009 major league debut against the Seattle Mariners by getting roughed up to the tune of two earned runs allowed in two and one-third innings of relief work on the mound. In that April 28th game, the Mariners got five hits off of Lance when he was summoned from the bullpen by manager Ozzie Guillen for mopup duty in a game the Mariners had in the bag.

I awoke late Saturday night and blearily gazed at the TV to see cousin Lance and his familiar number 41 emblazoned on the back of his black Sox jersey, throwing pitches from the Rangers' pitching mound. Thirty-seven-year-old Jose Contreras had started the game for the White Sox and was replaced by southpaw Clayton Richard after giving up seven runs. The Rangers scored two more off of Richard and were leading 9-1 when the umpires made the decision to cease play until the increasing rainfall slacked up a bit. It was the third rain delay the May 2nd game would endure. Lance Broadway was summoned to pitch for the Sox when play finally resumed around 11 p.m. (CST).

I knocked on my son Bret's bedroom door and informed him that his cousin was on WGN-TV and urged him to switch his bedroom TV from whatever porno channel or whatever he was watching. Then I attempted to notify my brother via cellphone that our first cousin Lynn's son was pitching on TV, but I was only able to leave a message. Cody didn't return the call until the following day. I told him that the White Sox and Rangers were going to be on ESPN Sunday night as well, but it wasn't very likely that Ozzie Guillen would call on Lance to pitch two nights in a row, and he didn't.

Lance did not allow any runs to score against the Rangers Saturday night in his two innings of work on the mound. He allowed only two hits while striking out one and walking one. So, after two outings this past week, his ERA is at 4.15, with his hopes obviously focusing on wanting Ozzie and pitching coach Don Cooper to call on him not only when the team is so far behind, but when his performance is more pivotal to the game's eventual outcome. When he gave up the two earned runs against Seattle April 28th, they proved to not be a deciding factor in the game, which the White Sox lost by a large margin. When Lance left the game Saturday night in Arlington, the Sox catcher hit a grand slam off of a Rangers' reliever named Mendoza, so it was a much tighter game than when Lance first came in. The final score ended up being 9-6 in the Rangers' favor.

Lance graduated from Waxahachie High School in 2002 after having spent his junior year at Grand Prairie High School (Cleveland Indians' closer Kerry Wood is a Grand Prairie graduate). He transferred to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth from NAIA school Dallas Baptist between his sophomore and junior seasons in college. His junior year at TCU, Lance was a first team All American and the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. He went pro following his outstanding junior year with the Horned Frogs, becoming the 14th player taken in the first round of the 2005 college draft by the Chicago White Sox. Prior to being drafted by Chicago, Lance was one of three finalists for the prestigious Roger Clemens Award given to the nation's best college pitcher each year. Luke Hochevar of Tennessee won the award on July 14, 2005, edging out Lance and Cesar Carrillo of the University of Miami. Lance was also a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the best player in college baseball. Alex Gordon of Nebraska, who was the second player taken in the 2005 draft and is now the starting thirdbaseman for the Kansas City Royals, won both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Brooks Wallace Award (both of which Lance Broadway was a finalist for in 2005).

After being drafted by the White Sox and leaving TCU, Lance worked his way up quickly to Double-A Birmingham where he was named the "Pitcher of the Week" twice in 2006. He was quickly promoted to Triple-A Charlotte by the White Sox brass and made his major league debut in 2007 when the White Sox roster could be expanded on Sept. 1st. He appeared in four games with the big league club in September, 2007, going 1-1 with an impressive, microscopic 0.87 ERA with 14 strikeouts. Lance got to pitch in seven games this past September with the White Sox following his callup from the Charlotte Knights. He was 1-0 in 2008 with Chicago, winning his only start in September with the White Sox.

Goose bumps accented the excitement that I felt last September when I watched my cousin pitch on WGN-TV against the Yankees in the White Sox final visit to old Yankee Stadium, where so much history of the game had occurred over the decades, from "The House That Ruth Built" to the more recent dynasty years put together by Joe Torre's Yankees teams. Following the 2008 season's conclusion, that Yankee Stadium was torn down to make room for the christening of the NEW Yankee Stadium at the beginning of the 2009 season last month.

This September, 2008, game in New York City marked the first time that I had seen my cousin perform on television. My wife and sons and I all huddled around our TV to see Lynn Broadway's son pitch (in relief) to the heart of the Yankees' batting order. He got to face Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu . . . before striking out AROID; uh, I mean A-Rod when Alex Rodriguez was caught looking at strike three to end the inning. As WGN went to commercial in between innings, we all just looked at each other in amazement in my living room. Can you believe it! Lance Broadway, the grandson of my mother's sister, had just struck out on national television the player considered by a majority of fans to be the best player in baseball. It was exhilarating! A major moment of pride for me, as a member of the Giesler family of East Columbia, Texas.

And then this past Saturday night the feeling reoccurred for yours truly, watching my cousin Lynn's son do his thing on national TV. And this time it was highly likely that Lance's mother Toni and his father Lynn and many of his other family members were able to be in attendance at the Texas Rangers' stadium in Arlington, which is not too far from where Lance grew up and played high school ball in Grand Prairie and Waxahachie. I wish I could have been there too. Lynn's brothers Randy and Gary still live and work near West Columbia, as does Lynn's uncle Howard Giesler, and I'm sure they would have all liked to be at the game too. With the several rain delays that occurred Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, it is possible that some of Lance's family members may have left the stadium. With him being used strictly in relief by the White Sox at this time, one can never pinpoint exactly when Lance will pitch.

Hopefully his future will result in Lance being inserted into the White Sox starting rotation. That is where he excelled in college and in the minor leagues. The ages of two members of the current starting rotation leave Lance something to look forward to. Contreras, as mentioned before, is 37 and will be 38 in December. Bartolo Colon will be 35 on May 24th. Southpaw Mark Buehrle, the ace of the White Sox staff, just turned 30, and fellow left-hander John Danks, a native of Round Rock who now resides in Austin in the offseason, is only 24. Lance was born in 1983, as were Gavin Floyd and Clayton Richard, who are both penciled in ahead of Lance by Ozzie Guillen at the present time when it comes to viewing the team's starting rotation for the not too distant future. But if Contreras and/or Colon continue to struggle, who knows, Lance Broadway just might get the chance to impress Guillen, Cooper and the many White Sox fans who only want the team to return to the World Series. And if a repeat world title, like Chicago claimed against our Houston Astros in 2005, is in the cards for the near future, I am only hoping that my cousin Lance will contribute in one way or the other; as a starter or reliever.