June 26, 2002
This is another "B" Line column, a periodic collection of news items of particular interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu), Kyle Penney,(Kyle_Penney@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714
HERE'S THE DEAL - Karen Aulenbacher-Heintz, who chairs the Baylor "B" Association membership committee, is hard at work on a campaign to recruit letterwinners who presently are not affiliated with the organization. So, expect a phone call or letter from someone living in your area. "The focus of the membership drive is to reunite letterwinners with each other, Baylor University and Baylor athletics," said Aulenbacher-Heintz, who participated in basketball and softball during her Baylor days. "After the initial phone contact attempt, a membership pamphlet will be sent to the letter winner's home address." For more information - or, if you want to help - get in touch with Karen by phone (936-273-8582) or e-mail (coachkh24@aol.com) . . . The Waco Tribune-Herald recently had a story about author Al Dewlen, who played football for the Bears in 1941. It seems as though Dewlen's 1958 novel, "The Bone Pickers," was such a best-seller in Amarillo that the Texas Tech University Press is ready to re-issue it. The book stirred up interest after its initial publication because some Amarillo residents were sure characters in the book were based on them and their friends and neighbors. Dewlen, 80, who has lived in Waco for the past 14 years, denies it all. He also is the father of Mike Dewlen, a Baylor football player in the 1960s who lost his life in the Vietnam War. Last fall Mike was the first individual to have his name on the "B" Room's Wall of Honor . . .
MAULED BY A BEAR - After hearing about the smash-mouth episode that involved Baylor's Gale Galloway and Mississippi State's Jerry Clower (the late comedian) in a 1950 game in Shreveport (June 26 "B" Line) former Texas A&M receiver Ken (Dude) McLean says he also was the recipient of a BU elbow in the 1965 game that Baylor won 31-0. McLean, now a successful Houston lawyer, recalls that he was fielding a punt in the game at College Station and suddenly the world turned black. "I was already missing my two front teeth and the blow to my mouth took out two more, " he said. McLean is probably best remembered for being on the receiving end of the Aggies' "Texas Special" scoring pass against the Longhorns in another 1965 game. Old SWC fans will recall that the Aggies were on their own 9-yard line at Kyle Field when A&M quarterback Harry Ledbetter bounced a lateral pass to halfback Jim Kauffman and then both players faked disgust, hoping Texas defenders would think it was an incomplete pass. All the time McLean was dashing downfield and was wide open when Kauffman retrieved the ball and connected with him for a 91-yard touchdown. "Coach (Gene) Stallings had us practice the play all week and when it actually happened I was terrified," he said. "There was the ball coming toward me and all I could think about was dropping it in front of 40,000 fans." The score put the Aggies ahead 17-0, but the Longhorns went on to a 21-17 win . . .
THE SMITH AWARD - When Clemson shortstop Khalil Greene won the Rotary Smith Award in Houston on Monday night his school became the first to have two winners in the annual competition for best college-player honors. The 1996 recipient was Clemson pitcher Kris Benson . . . Since the Smith competition began in 1988, Baylor's Jason Jennings - the 1999 winner - is the only player from the Big 12 or the old Southwest Conference to be honored. And if two awards had been in order in 1999, Jennings would have won for both his pitching and hitting . . . Through games of June 25, Jennings has an 8-3 record for the Colorado Rockies. A CR publicist put math to the matter and determined that the 6-2, 246-pound right-hander can win 17 games this season if he maintains his current pace. Still swinging a good bat, as he did for Baylor, Jennings is hitting .259 through 16 games. Hey! They use wooden bats and he is a pitcher! . . .
JACK LOFTIS
CO-CHAIRMAN
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
