Texas Football reviews "Republic of Football" by Chad S. Conine

The staff of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football is often asked which part of Texas plays the best high school football, and which corner of the state holds the most passion for the game and their home teams. These questions are, of course, impossible to answer with any quantifiable certainty – because, as Chad Conine illustrates in The Republic of Football – each region of Texas has more than enough legendary players, teams and stories to go around. Conine will take you back in time to marvel at the ingenuity that Hayden Fry showed as a senior in leading his Odessa Bronchos to a state title in 1946, the hype surrounding “The Game” at Alamo Stadium in 1963 and the made-for-Hollywood run of Lubbock Estacado in 1968. He’ll also give you an inside look at the historically dominant defense of Daingerfield’s 1983 squad, the insanity of Tyler John Tyler’s playoff win over Plano East in 1994 and the birth of the modern Katy dynasty in 1997. To put a human touch on the seemingly invincible, Conine will take you back to the beginning of several now-legendary figures with a peek at the teenage years of LaDainian Tomlinson at Waco University, Drew Bress at Austin Westlake, Kliff Kingsbury at New Braunfels and Robert Griffin III at Copperas Cove. Interviews with the people that made these unbelievable stories part of the sport’s history will make you feel like you were there when they happened, and give you a better understanding of where Texas High School Football has been and where it’s going. With more than 40 chapters dedicated to telling the story of a different program around the state, The Republic of Football makes the perfect holiday gift for the gridiron-obsessed member of your family. It can be ordered from the University of Texas Press by clicking HERE