9 former Miller athletes, 1 former coach and 1 special inductee
join members of Buccaneers Athletics Hall of Fame
Nine former Buccaneers, a former coach and one special inductee were formally inducted into the Buccaneers Athletics Hall of Fame in ceremonies, Thursday, Nov. 4, at the Holiday Inn Airport (5549 Leopard St.) and Friday, Nov. 5, and during halftime of the Miller-West
Oso Hall of Fame Football Game in Buccaneer Stadium.
More than 200
Buc fans, former Hall of
Famers, friends and family were present for the gala event that honored the new
members.
The Buccaneers Athletics Hall of Fame is the oldest prep hall of fame in South Texas and has inducted more than 100 athletics greats from Corpus Christi High and Miller High since its start in 1991. Golden, brass plaques of the inductees are displayed on the walls of the hallway between Pete
Ragus Gymnasium and the Old
Buc Gym on the campus of Miller High School at No. 1
Battlin’
Buc Blvd.
Former
Buc athletes inducted into the Buccaneers Athletics Hall of Fame were Johnny Hill (Class of 1955), Homer
Mascorro (Class of 1959), Phillip Gonzalez (Class of 1961), Ramon Gonzales (
Classs of 1961), Roger
Muniz (Class of 1964), Danny Alexander (Class of 1964), the tennis duo of Dick
Fikes and Ronnie Flores (Class of 1968) and Eric Jackson (Class of 1991).
Among the inductees was Fred Jonas, a former assistant coach at Miller High School and head coach at King High School, who went on to a stellar collegiate coaching career, including a two-year stint as head football coach of the Texas A&I University
Javelinas. Also inducted was former Ray High School standout and former King High School head football coach Joey Allen, who was instrumental in jump-starting the formation of the Buccaneers Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991 by providing insight to the great players from the Corpus Christi High
Bucs of the 1930s and 1940s. Corpus Christi High became Miller High in 1950, the same year Ray High School opened.
Biographies of 2010 Inductees
Johnny Hill – Class of 1955. Hill was a standout basketball player and track star for the
Bucs all four years in high school. He was a three-year year
letterman in basketball where he earned All-District honors his junior and senior years and led the district in scoring. He was also a standout in track where he was one of the best high jumpers in the state and nation. He had a career best of 6-foot-5 as he advanced to the regional meet and state meet. In basketball, he had a personal high of 33 points in one game. In track, he set records at both the Border Olympics and Texas Relays en route to a stellar college career at Texas Christian University where he played basketball and track. At the 1960 Southwest Conference Track Meet, he high jumped 6-6 and had a long jump of 21-10 at the University of Arkansas, both good for second place. After leaving
TCU he returned to Corpus Christi and has been active in several religious and community activities.
Homer Mascorro – Class of 1959.
Mascorro was a two-year
letterman in
Buc football and a member of the 1958 state semi-finalist
Buc team. Nicknamed the “Mighty Mite” by Caller-Times, he earned All-District linebacker honors in 1958. He went on to earn Junior College All-America honors while playing for Santa Rosa Junior College in California, where he was also an running back and was named MVP of the Prune Bowl in 1962. He transferred to California State University in Sacramento to continue his football career and education. At Cal State Sacramento (D2) he was a two-year starter at running back and was named All-Conference in 1964. He played in Camellia Bowl in 1964 for Cal State Sacramento. He earned a bachelor’s and master’s from that university and would spend 35 years in education in California, 23 of those coaching football in California high school and three in Junior College.
Phillip Gonzalez – Class of 1961. Gonzalez was honorable mention All-State selection for 1960 State Championship
Buc team. He was one of state’s top running backs and played on same backfield with Johnny Roland, who earned first-team All-State honors and went on to All-America honors at Missouri and to a professional football career as a player and coach. Gonzalez had 10 touchdowns his senior season for Miller, including a three-touchdown performance against Waco. Gonzalez went on to a stellar university football career at North Texas State University where he earned three letters in football and one in track. He led the Mean Green, then the Eagles, in punt returns in 1963.
Ramon Gonzales – Class of 1961. Ramon Gonzales was the quarterback for the 1960 State Championship team. Known as a great leader and excellent signal caller, he was responsible for the stability the team needed en route to the state title. He passed for more 750 yards and ran for another 456 yards on a team that was known more for its running attack than passing and had one of the most outstanding backfields in the history of Buccaneer football. He was also on the Miller track team that finished in fourth in the state meet. Gonzales competed in
three track events at the state meet: the 440 yard dash, anchored the mile relay, and the 440 yard relay that finished in third place in the state final, and recorded the eighth best time in the nation. After 32 years in the Space Program, he retired from Boeing in 2006. He started with Rockwell in the initial design of the Space Shuttle and then was involved in the fabrication in California of all the Shuttles in the fleet. In 1993 he started supporting the Shuttle missions at
JSC in Houston and later received an award from NASA for solving a flight problem during one of the Shuttle missions and was also given the honor of hanging that mission plaque in the Mission Control Room. He finished his career working in the Space Station program as the Russian Vehicle Manager for Boeing, working with the Russians in Houston, Moscow, and Kazakhstan.
Roger Muniz- Class of 1964. Muniz was the starting
cornerback for the 1963 team that advanced to the Class 4A finals and finished with a 13-2 record. He was a two-year
letterman and was All-District defense his senior year. He went on to play college football at Lamar University.
Danny Alexander – Class of 1969. Alexander was a three-year
letterman for the
Bucs between 1965 and 1968. He was a
tri-captain his senior year and earned all-district honors as quarterback as a junior and as a linebacker as a senior. He also lettered two years for the
Buc baseball team. He went on to play football at
Cisco Junior College where he was a quarterback.
Fred Jonas (coach) – One of the
Bucs’ most inspirational coaches who continues to show up for
Buc events. He was the disciplinarian during the great 1960 years and truly embody the
Buc spirit to this day. He coached at
Lamesa High School in 1958-60 and at Corpus Christi Miller High School for five years before becoming head coach at Corpus Christi King High School in 1966. Jonas went on to coach at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-
Kingsville) where he was an assistant from 1967 til 1976. He was head coach for the
Javelinas in 1977 and 1978 posting an 8-1-1 record in 1977 and an overall mark of 14 wins, six losses and one tie. He was inducted into the
Javelina Hall of Fame in 2005. During that 12-year period, the
Javelinas posted a 108-26-1 record, won five national championships and captured eight Lone Star Conference titles. His defensive units consistently ranked at the top, or near the top, in all statistical categories in the
NAIA and
LSC. The
Javelinas produced some of its greatest defensive names with Jonas on the staff. First-team All-Americans included lineman Johnny
Barefield, back Darrell Green, linebacker Larry Grunewald, lineman and Miller
Buc product Margarito Guerrero, linebacker Don
Hardeman, linebacker Andy Hawkins, lineman Mike Hawkins, lineman Ray
Hickl, linebacker Jerry
Janik, back Levi Johnson, back Al Matthews, lineman and Miller
Buc product Ernest Price, back
Jafus White and lineman Robert Young.
Javelina Hall of Fame inductees who played on the defensive unit for Jonas are
Barefield, lineman Juan Castillo, Green, Grunewald, Guerrero,
Hardeman, A. Hawkins, M. Hawkins,
Hickl, back Jim Hill, linebacker Allen Kaiser, Matthews, back Larry
Pullin, back
Durwood Roquemore, lineman Carlos
Saldana, back Ed Scott and Young. Numerous defensive players between 1967-78 went on to professional football careers. Draftees in the period were Green,
Hardeman, Hill and Price in the first round;
Barefield and Matthews in the second round; back Doug Greene and Johnson in the third round; back Don Washington in the fourth round; lineman Larry Edwards in the fifth round;
Roquemore in the sixth round; M. Hawkins in the seventh round and A. Hawkins and White in the 10
th round. Jonas, from Winters, played collegiate football at Hardin-Simmons. After leaving the
Javelinas, he coached one year at Sam Houston State, went into private business for two years, was at Houston
Bellaire for three years and was on the staff at Angelo State for 18 years before his retirement five years ago. He also currently was on the coaching staff of the San Angelo
Stampeders of the National Indoor Football League.
Dick Fikes and Ronnie Flores - Class of 1968. Dickie
Fikes and Ronnie Flores are among the
Bucs’ most storied tennis players. As seniors, the two advanced dominated the state’s tennis scene and eventually advanced to the state tournament in 1968 they captured the Class 4A State Doubles Championship. Both went on to play collegiate tennis, but no info on that now.
Eric Jackson – Class of 1990. Already a member of the University of Texas’ Hall of Fame, Jackson was one of the most exciting running backs, quarterbacks ever in
Buc history. He popularized the “wildcat” formation before it became a popular formation in the 21st century. He was a two-time All-District pick and was also first-team All-Metro and first-team All-South Texas both his junior and senior years. In 1990 he led the district in rushing with 1,678 yards and scored 19 touchdowns and 126 points. He lettered three years for the
Bucs in football and was a standout in track, winning district and regional titles in several sprint events and advancing to state. He went on to a solid university football career with the University of Texas Longhorns where he lettered three years (1992-1994) and was primarily a wide receiver. Jackson was elected to the Hall of Honor for the Texas Longhorns and was named his team's MVP his senior year. In 1994 he caught 47 passes for 759 yards and 7
TDs for the Longhorns. He also played in the 1994 Sun Bowl that still holds the attendance record to this day. Jackson is now in the school system in
CCISD and has returned to teach at his
alma mater.
Joey Allen, Special Inductee, Friend of the Bucs - He helped organize the Buccaneers Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, providing much insight into the
Bucs' tradition and lore, especially those surrounding Corpus Christi High. He has continued to support the
Buc Hall of Fame. Besides being a tremendous high school athlete for the Ray Texans, he has remained a true friend to Miller High School and all
Bucs. Allen made his mark at the local and state level as an administrator and coach. He served as a director for the Texas High School Coaches Association during 1981-83 and also president of the Corpus Christi Coaches Association. He was a four-year
letterman at Ray High School and attended Baylor University on a football scholarship. Allen was an assistant coach at Ray for nine years and head coach at King High School for 11 years. He also served as assistant athletic director for the Corpus Christi
ISD before retiring from the district. Allen also did a stint with the U.S. Marine Corps prior to embarking on his coaching career. He is now in private business in the Corpus Christi area.
