Athletes from the Big Country have done well in the long jump at the state high school track meet in Austin with 33 coming home as winners.

The most decorated was Roy Stevens, who twice won as a Merkel Badger (1922 and 1923) and once at Abilene High (1924). His jump of 22-9 the first time was his best, but he jumped more than 22 feet in his other victories.

However, ranked up there with him was John Lampert of Wylie, who won twice. He has the area best at Austin, going 24-9 ½ in 2001. During the season, John leapt 25-3, which was the best in the nation by a schoolboy. The next year, he won with a 24-2 effort, and that put eggs on my face after writing that he did not do well at state his senior year.

E. Parker of Roby was the first gold medal winner in 1913 with a 20-8 jump. The most recent to win was Tyler Speed of Jayton last spring, narrowly missing 23 feet by a half inch.

According to Dr. William Wilbanks' history of the Texas state track meets, the only other boy to win back-to-back championships was Otis Cooper of Stamford, who jumped 23-6 ½ in 1973 and 23-4 the next year. Others have won at least two titles at state, but not in the same event.

Robert Bolden of Hamlin was the first to jump 24 feet when he went 24-1 ¼ in 1972, and Bobby Evers of Bangs has the second best area winning jump, 24-8 ¼ in 2003. Lyle Leong of Abilene High also jumped 24-8 ¼ in 2006, but he finished second.

When you get right down to it, the two best long jumpers, Bill Miller of Winters (23-7 ¾ in 1959) and Freddy Fox of Colorado City 23-5 ½ in 1964) only jumped in the event once. Miller later jumped more than 27 feet while at McMurry University and twice was an alternate to the Olympics. One year he had the best jump in the nation for a collegian.

Fox leapt more than 26 feet also at McMurry on several occasions and that was on runways that did not compare to the ones athletes have today. Lampert did not compete in track at Purdue.

n Former Cooper basketball and baseball player Tom Stanton recently was inducted into the Baylor University Hall of Fame. He lettered in both sports at the Waco school and later was the school's athletic director.

n Worth quoting: "I didn't get over 1,300 walks without knowing the strike zone," -- former major leaguer Wade Boggs.

n Former Cooper High football coach Randy Allen has the relatives of two Southern Methodist greats on his Highland Park High School football team: running back Brooks McIlhaney, whose father Lance played with the "Pony Express" (Eric Dickerson and Craig James) and cornerback John Meredith, who is the nephew of former quarterback "Dandy" Don Meredith.

n Wondering whatever happened to found former Hamlin High mighty mite football player Jared May serving as receivers coach at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches.

May, who stood 5-3 and weighed 118 pounds soaking wet, according to one of his high school coaches, made all-state for the Pied Pipers, then played for Hardin-Simmons University for three years and won numerous honors, both athletically and academically. He was listed at 5-7, 150 his senior year.

He coached at Hamlin one semester, taking the girls softball team into the playoffs, then returned to HSU as a graduate assistant coach. His next stop was to Canyon, where he was a graduate assistant coach when West Texas A&M won the Lone Star Conference title. That earned him his third championship ring to go with the two he earned with HSU when it won the American Southwest Conference championship twice.

n What a deal! If you are in the Waco area on Sundays when the Dallas Cowboys are playing a game and if you are wearing a Cowboys jersey, you can get free admission to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and have a chance to win an autographed copy of Throckmorton legend Bob Lilly's new biography, "A Cowboy's Life."

The game will be shown in high definition on a 12 foot by 8 foot big screen in the Tom Landry Theater, which seats 60 people. The Hall of Fame normally closes at 5 p.m., but will stay open until the game is over.

Go early and tour the Sports Hall of Fame. It is one of the finest in the country and you will see many athletes and coaches that you know. It is family entertainment and is a smoke-free and alcohol-free building.

n Two Abilenians came home with gold medals from the Senior Games track meet held in Temple last week. Floyd Meredith defended his state title and won his age division in the race walk, while Bryan Shilcutt won his age division in the 50 meters, was fourth in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters.

Also competing was former Abilene Christian University football player Jan Brown from Brownwood, who ran the 50 and 100 meters.

n End of quote: "Sandy's fastball was so fast, some batters would start to swing as he was on his way to the mound." -- the late sports writer Jim Murray on Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax.

Bill Hart is a retired senior sports writer of the Reporter-News. Contact him by e-mail at hartbf@msn.com, by fax at (325) 854-2812 or by mail at 640 Arch St., Baird, TX 79504.