My first job out of school was at the Abilene Reporter-News. Started in May of 1979. Covered a lot of high school and SWC football and a little ACU football. (There are two other schools in town: McMurry and Hardin-Simmons, but neither played football at the time.) ACU (then Abilene Christian College) played NAIA ball back then. Its most famous football alum is Wilbert Montgomery, who starred with the Philadelphia Eagles. And you old-timers might remember a kicker named Ove Johansson. In a 1976 game against East Texas State, Ove booted a 69-yard field goal. It still stands as the longest field goal ever made in a football game. The wind was blowing pretty hard, as it is wont to do in West Texas, but Ove had a really strong leg — strong enough to get a cup of coffee in the NFL.
The kicker (pun intended): A colleague at the Reporter-News, Billy "Fred" Hart (may he RIP), loved to tell the story of the photographer who was standing behind the goalpost as Ove's kick sailed between the uprights. He had his arms raised, celebrating, camera dangling from his neck.
The kicker (pun intended): A colleague at the Reporter-News, Billy "Fred" Hart (may he RIP), loved to tell the story of the photographer who was standing behind the goalpost as Ove's kick sailed between the uprights. He had his arms raised, celebrating, camera dangling from his neck.
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