1930 SCORPS SET HIGH BAR FOR LOCAL GRID TEAMS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The Brownsville Junior College Scorpions were a lean, mean, fighting machine.
The Herald hailed them as the best grid team of all times—“without doubt the greatest grid unit ever turned out in the history of football along the Lower Rio Grande.”
In 1930, Coach Red Irvine and his assistances Ben Brite and Carl Surtees directed a bunch of hustling boys to an undefeated season. Speaking then Irvine said, “Twenty-two boys showed up for the first meeting of the team and 22 boys finished the season.”
The team was so deep in talent that every member of the team played enough to earn their lettermen’s sweater, all due to the coaching staff who molded every individual to fit into the team concept. The Brownsville eleven demonstrated superiority on both sides of the line—having scored a whopping 223 points to eight for the opposition. They defeated a very strong army team, 23rd Infantry 7-0; ran over San Antonio Jr. College 36-0; embarrassed Edinburg Jr. College 63-0; easily downed Texas A&M freshmen 19-0; tied a favored St. Mary’s team 6-6; took care of Harlingen High 40-2 and ended the season destroying Victoria J.C. 52-0.
Leading the team behind center was Malcolm “Boy” Newman, described by his coach as a fast, shifty and clever ball player that added power to the backfield. Crossing the goal line was common for the Scorps’ backfield that included the great running back, Bill Cabler. He could run over you and through you, elusive and an excellent receiver. Cabler was just as good on defense—a newspaper reporter wrote that he was perhaps the best defensive back that Brownsville ever saw.
Bud Adamson, a former San Benito grid star, was the other bruising running back, an All-Valley performer in ’29. He was big and strong, always good for a cutback over tackle for a score. His 32 yard scramble to pay dirt enabled the Scorpions to tie the Mary’s Rattlers 6-6.
Murice Pipkin and Fritz Ball also contributed numbers to the scoreboard. Pipkin was solid in the backfield, a double threat as a reliable running back and an accurate passer. Fritz did a lot of the pass snatching, although injured most of the season; he still managed to be one of the top scorers of the team. Edward Perez was another player who could step into the line-up at any moment as a running or defensive back.
Infantry 7-0; ran over San Antonio Jr. College 36-0; embarrassed
There is always one ball player who is considered a gifted athletic and the Scorpions had one of those. Sam Lesser, a former El Jardin standout could play every position on the backfield—and regardless where he played, always turned in a good performance.
Playing at the end positions were John “Leche” Sylvester, Harbert Davenport, Sylvester Schideman and Roberto “Goat” Longoria. According to coach Irvine, John was the most dependable player on the squad, leading the way in receiving, blocking and kicking extra points. But it was Davenport that had the steel toe—kicking the oval into space consistently under any conditions.
After leaving BJC, Sylvester played at Rice Institute, where in 1936 was selected to the honorable mention All-American team. He was also among the best college players in the country that played before 60,000 fans in the annual East-West annual classic in San Francisco. Sylvester’s field goal accounted for the only points scored by the West as they lost to the East 19-3.
At the tackle spots, Clarence “Possum” Bennett and Billy Summers were hailed as the best set of tackles the Valley had seen—in ’29, both got votes on the all-state high school selections. A brilliant pair, but when they needed a substitute, Eugene Cuellar would take over where they left off.
Summers made the national news in the summer of 1929. The following item was carried in Associated Press national wire, “Flashes of Life: William Summers, who wanted to be one of the Huskies on the Colgate University football team, picked a fine way to start training. He hitch-hiked the 2,700 miles from his home in Brownsville, Texas to Hamilton N.Y. and lost 10 pounds en route.”
After his beyond the goal line story, Billy returned to his roots and joined the Scorpions for the 1930 season.
Jess Atkins and Bruce Gilbert were solid at the guard positions. Atkins was often called upon to use his leg to do most of the kick-offs’ and to add crooked numbers on the board after touchdowns. Bruce was a former Harlingen Cardinal, who was converted into the right guard position, not considered great, but opposing quarterbacks soon found out that the right guard position was not the Scorpions’ weakness.
Snapping the ball the job of the center, seldom makes the headlines, but in Brownsville that changed. The captain of the team, C.R. Nelson, a Lockhart lad, was a brilliant center and guard. His play on both sides of the line, was according to his coaches, a big factor in the success of the Scorpions.
Nelson went to earn his stripes as a college player at Mississippi. In 1936, the former BJC star was a starter on the Old Miss team that played Catholic University in the “Orange Bowl.”
Coach Irvine, in closing the season said, “Machine play was the key to the club’s success. It was the squad clicking as a whole that made the club a threat every moment it was on the grid. There were no weak sisters on the squad.”