Mr. Gatti’s Showdown: Spotlighting FWISD Legends Raymond Clayborn and Ronny White

GattisShowdown2As part of the Texas Football Showdown game series, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Mr. Gatti’s spotlight a legendary player from each school in the rivalry game.Raymond ClaybornTrimble Tech High School, 1969-1973University of Texas, 1973-1977New England Patriots, 1977-1989Cleveland Browns, 1990-1991 Raymond Clayborn is well known for his time with the New England Patriots, after having been selected No. 16 overall in the 1977 draft and playing for the team for 13 seasons. But despite sitting at the top of the Patriots record books with 36 career interceptions, the three-time Pro Bowler said that it was his time at Trimble Tech and the University of Texas that he enjoyed the most. “It was great,” Clayborn said of his playing days in Texas. “I always try to explain to kids that I had the most fun playing in high school and in college. The pros was more of a job – it was more business like.” In his days at Trimble Tech from 1969 to 1973, Clayborn recalled the struggles of the football team. But his most memorable season with the Bulldogs came during his junior year in 1971. “In high school, my greatest memory was when we started 6-0,” Clayborn said. “We hadn’t won many ball games before that at Trimble Tech and were headed for the district championship. But, we had an ineligible player and had to forfeit all the games.” Clayborn went on to play both football and track at the University of Texas before moving on to the NFL. With the Longhorns, Clayborn played a key role in the 1973 and 1975 Southwestern Conference Championships, and was an All-American in 1976. He played in a number of different spots for the Longhorns, including safety, cornerback, kickoff return and even running back, and credited his time at Trimble Tech for laying a solid foundation for his athletic career. “I had good coaches over there at Trimble Tech,” Clayborn said. “I’ve been blessed most of my life, especially as far as my career in football.” Clayborn will be unable to attend Friday night’s Texas Football Showdown, as he supports his son Raymond Clayborn Jr. (RJ) on senior night at St. Pius X High School in Houston. RJ is committed to play football at Texas Southern University next season. Ronny WhiteArlington Heights High School, 1950-1954 University of Texas, 1954-1958Fort Worth ISD, 1958-1995 Ronny White began his long tenure in Fort Worth ISD as a student-athlete at Arlington Heights High School from 1950-1954, where he found success on both the track and the football field. White was a wing-back in the classic wing-T offense for the Yellowjackets, and was a state champion broad jumper on the track team during his senior season in the spring of ’54. After graduating from Heights, White went on to compete in the broad jump and on relay teams at the University of Texas. White recalled the relationships that he built as a student-athlete at Arlington Heights as his most fond memory of his time competing athletically. “Each team knew all the players from the other schools,” White said. “I still have friends from other schools in Fort Worth, along with my friends from Arlington Heights. That’s what I look back on. That was the great thing about it – I got to know everybody all over the city.” After competing in track for the Longhorns, White returned to Fort Worth ISD as a junior high coach before working his way up to athletic director. He spent a total of 37 years with the district as a coach, vice principal and athletic director before retiring in 1995. During his time as athletic director, White worked to even the playing field for the head coaches of girls’ sports in the district. While volleyball and basketball had just been added for the girls’ programs, the head coach of a girls’ sport was considered an assistant to the head coach of the corresponding boys’ sport. “They didn’t make the head coaches salary, so we changed that,” White said. “To me, that’s probably the most outstanding thing I did. I felt good about that, because I didn’t think that was fair.” After so many years of service to both Arlington Heights and the district as a whole, the staff at Heights selected White as the team’s legendary player for this week. White said he was honored, astounded and amazed at being chosen as this week’s recipient, and went on to put in a prediction for the game. “If Heights wins, that’ll be great to me,” White said. “Based on records, it appears Heights has a good chance to beat Trimble Tech. But, you just never know how games are going to end up when you have a bunch of 16, 17 and 18-year-olds out there running around."