Note :
The first time I ever heard of Henderson County Junior College it was from a relative talking about the Cards playing in the Junior Rose Bowl game and their great player Margene Adkins .
The fist time I attended a major college football game was the Purdue-TCU game in Fort Worth during the 69 season . The Frogs had a speedy runner , punt returner named Linzy Cole . Cole had also been part of the HCJC team .
In 1965 , the Southwest Conference was just about to open up to black athletes , with Jerry Levias to become a star at SMU in 1966 .
Henderson County Junior College already had black players in the lineup on the teams in 1965 and 1966 that went to Pasadena , California and competed in the Junior Rose Bowl . Two standouts from that era were Margene Adkins and Linzy Cole who were among the conference ’ s leading scorers in the 1966 campaign . They ’ re members of the of the Trinity Valley Community College Hall of Fame along with their quarterback Eddie Valdez and Coach Bob Baccarini .
The Cards were unbeaten in the 65 regular season and earned an envied trip to the Junior Rose Bowl to meet Fullerton . Fullerton came from behind twice in that game to escape the Texans , 20-15 . Adkins , a JUCO All-American was named Co-Player of the Game that afternoon .
When the 66 season began , Henderson County tripped near the start of the season , losing to Cisco , 44-30 leaving them a one-game hole to dig out of in the conference standings . From there , the Cards began to catch fire , until they met No . 1 ranked Kilgore .
The Cards were underdogs against the unbeaten Rangers , but pulled out a victory in a defensive struggle . When Henderson County reached the last week of the season , with a loss on their could only hope to beat Navarro and wait to see if they ’ d get a return invitation to the Junior Rose Bowl .
“ We ’ re just waiting and hoping and it certainly is a strain on the nerves ,” Coach Bob Baccarini said .
The Cards took care of the Bulldogs 28-8 and got the message they were waiting for . The folks on the coast wanted them back .
Athens Review Sports Editor Bill Speake described the scene of that
December afternoon in 1966 when more than 40,000 came to the Rose Bowl to see Pasadena City College meet the once-beaten Cards . HCJC quarterback Eddie Va ; dez who threw for 334 yards that afternoon was named the back of the game . He hit five touchdown passes , including three to Adkins propelling the Cards to a 40-13 win . Valdez threw an amazing 33 touchdown passes that year after picking 13 passes as a defensive back the previous season .
Adkins as an end , was named Lineman of the Game , just as he had been the previous year .
“ I told Lindy Cole that they already had my name on that trophy ,” joked Adkins .
Cole confirmed that Adkins had made that prognostication .
After his playing days came to a close , Adkins , now 75 , went into coaching His long career began as a graduate assistant at SMU . Afterwards , he coached various sports at schools throughout the state .
Cole became the first black player at TCU in 1968 . Cole came from Madison
High School in Dallas and according to sportwriter Will C . Holden took the junior college route because four-year schools in the state were not taking black athletes .
When he finally got the chance to play for the Horn Frogs , Cole was a first-team All Southwest Conference choice . In the 1970 draft , he was chosen by the Chicago Bears . He also played for the Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills before his career ended in 1972 . He saw action in 31 games , mostly returning punts and kickoffs . His career return average was 25.8 per kickoff .
Cole was later named to the TCU Hall of Fame in 2016 . He died later that year , at age 68 .
Cole once said of his football abilities . “ I guess I was pretty good . As far as I can remember , I ran pretty fast .”
Eddy Matthews who played with him at HCJC called Cole “ a great ball player , a good man and a fun guy .”
Adkins was a multi-sport star at Kirkpatrick High School in Forth Worth before coming to Athens . After HCJC , he joined the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1967 and played there through 1969 . His final season netted him a spot on the Canadian Football League All-Star team .
That season he set a record for highest average yard per reception that lasted 28 years .
Adkins was drafted by the Dallas
Cowboys in 1970 and didn ’ t see much playing time . He was picked up by the New Orleans Saints where he led the NFL in kickoff return yardage with 1,020 and average return , 23.7 .
After his playing career , Adkins went to work for Lockheed Martin .
Greater Athens Magazine | February 2023 | 21