Contributors Hall of Fame

2020

Dickie Scott "Spanky" Sloan

Dickie Scott “Spanky” Sloan graduated from Rochester High School in 1985 and was coached by hall of fame member Doug Gore. He played in the All - Star Game on the West football team. After sustaining an injury to his knee at the young age of 16, Scott knew what he wanted to become. As an athletic trainer guided him through the recovery process, he became completely convinced that this would be his career choice.

Scott went to Angelo State where he worked under the guidance of Randy Matthews in the student training program. He has been an Athletic Trainer at several Texas High Schools for many years and played a huge part in keeping athletes on the field or court with his expertise. Scott has also mentored many student trainers throughout the years and sparked a fire in them to pursue a career as an athletic trainer.

He began spending time each summer working the Six Man All-Star camp in 1987 in Stephenville, Texas. He worked his way up from Student Athletic Trainer to Head Athletic Trainer over the last 32 years. The All-Star week has become a yearly reunion for Scott and many others that have coached or played in the All Star games over the years.

The Texas Six-man All Star games have allowed him to make lifelong friends that have become family over the years. Scott said, “Thank you to the Texas Sixman Coaches Association for being a great organization and allowing me to be a part of Sixman All Star week throughout my career.”

2018

Granger Huntress

Developed THE HUNTRESS REPORT, which was a six-man football newsletter that began in 1994 in which the New York Times referred to as "The Bible of Six-Man Football in Texas". This lead to the development of the sixmanfootball.com website. If Granger selected your teams High School game to attend it meant that it was the place to be, kind of the Six-Man version of college game day. It was one of the hottest games of the week in the state of Texas and in Six-Man football. Granger Huntress has become the media face of Six-Man Football, representing our community as color commentator during the State Championship Games for Fox Sports with Craig Way.

Back in 1987, he started to apply the ELO rating system for chess to Major League Baseball. As a test study in 1993, Granger selected Six-Man Football to apply his rating system because the league was a manageable sample size. Granger had always been a fan of Texas High School sports and saw the then 84 team league and 40 game a week schedule to be the perfect model for his rating system. Since there was only an AP top 10 of Six-Man Football, he could see that a following could develop. He attended his first Six-Man game in 1993, when Strawn played Lometa. Also in 1993 he attended his first Six-Man State Championship game between Panther Creek and Dell City, where on the sideline reporting, he also shared his rankings with a few people at this game.

Then in 1994 he began to share his rankings with people at multiple games, traveling to a new game each week of the season. He also shared his rankings with various newspapers in 1994. In those days, Granger traveled with all his notes. He had a list of every game played that year and the current district standings for the entire state. There wasn't a sole in the state who had the information he had sitting in his lap. The thought wouldn't escape him and two days later he began laying out the very first edition of The Huntress Report. "It was a hodge-podge of scores, schedules and previews, but most importantly, it showcased his rankings". That week he decided to attend the May vs Mullin game. Upon arrival, he asked the folks at the gate if he could sell his newsletter and gave them a few to look at. He also left a few in the press box.Fate would be on his side, as people drove onto the grounds, Phil Watts was doing a radio broadcast and was telling the fans to buy "The Huntress Report" when they got to the gate. From then on, every week he would travel to games and sell his newsletter. He would also send free copies to teams in the far west to sell as a fundraiser. In 1995 he advertised in Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine and the following year he was asked to write parts of the six-man section. Granger became the de-facto marketing director of six-man football, relaying stories to Sports Illustrated, Good Morning America, as well as others. 1999 was the last year for The Huntress Report, as it transitioned completely to an online website where it still exists today. (sixmanfootball.com)

Granger Huntress has been a major contributor to Six-Man Football in Texas and around the United States, helping to spread the word of just how great a game Six-Man Football truly is. In my opinion he has drastically improved the enjoyability of our game and his impact will never be forgotten. Thank you Granger for everything you have done and continue to do to promote our game.

2012

Dr. Stephen E. Epler

In 1934, While serving as a science teacher and coach at Chester High School in Chester Nebraska, Stephen Epler invented the game of six-man football. Stephen Epler is known as the father of six-man football. "Six-Man football is primarily a player's game and only incidentally a spectator's game. Players become enthusiastic about six-man because they are allowed to carry the ball, catch passes, and handle laterals. Every member of the team must be an all-around player skilled in ball handling, pass receiving, and passing, as well as in blocking and tackling."

Dr. Stephen E. Epler also authored the first book on Six-Man Football, The Streamlined Game: Principals of Six-Man Football for Players, Coaches, and Spectators, 1938.
-Dr. Stephen E. Epler