The final score was 34-30 and was considered one of the biggest upsets in Division 5A history. Teams from the bigger cities, with the largest school population had won the state championship 84.3 percent of the time. But therein lies the reason to play the game.
But you already know that. Some people feel that Sunday is their day for religious activity. Some even do it on Friday or Saturday but few people understand that.
For those high school football enthusiasts in Texas, Friday night is the time of the week for spiritual activity.
Many parents are so caught up in these activities that they invest a large portion of their child-rearing activity into preparation for these semi-religious affairs.
In some parts of the country, the division of boys' sports and girls' sports is blurred. In those places doctors make a lot of money serving the mental health and physical re-construction needs of confused families. Texas is not one of those places. Boys are not permitted to swim on girls' teams or run in girls track meets. In Texas, boys are boys and girls are girls.
That is the generally acceptable practice because rational (and conservative) communities know that by about fourteen the male physique is bigger and stronger than for girls. While this has been true since humans have been homo sapiens, many so-called liberal places have come to believe that a boy can pretend to be a girl and win lots of competitions. That is largely un-requited ego needs and a strong need of acceptance.
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Before Mark Porter got married, he and Allison discussed the number of children they wanted. Mark wanted six or seven. Allison felt differently that she would be happy with two was a minor point of concession to him. They had a loving, successful marriage. Still, after two girls, Allison felt that would complete their family. Penelope was eight and Daria was ten when Allison got pregnant again, unexpected as that was. Mark was delighted and deeply hoped for a boy. She was already forty-four, had a difficult pregnancy but lost the baby at eight weeks.
Mark was a very active athlete when he was young. Growing up in central Texas, pop warner football was the beginning of his activity. He continued football and excelled as a tight end in high school. He was offered several opportunities to play D2, including but turned them all down in favor of early admission to the University of Texas, which had been a dream of his since he was ten. He also lettered in baseball in high school. For good measure, he was also a black belt in karate.
Even before entering medical school at UCLA, he knew he wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. So, his college focus was one hundred percent on studying.
All of that did not deter him from encouraging his daughters to be active and play sports. He talked a lot about how important karate was to him as well. Both girls were black belts by the time they were eight. Daria was hoping to continue in college and hoped for a scholarship to a school in Texas but would be happy to attend any big school (lots of boys, lots of sports, lots of partying) anywhere.
Penelope was good enough and disciplined enough to ward off any bullying. But she had plenty of it as a child. Even as a first grader she endured heckling and teasing, mostly related to her name. "Do you have to pee, Penelope?" was something she heard often. At one point, Allison put her hair in pig tails. This was also a source of derision and provided fodder for girls as well as boys.
By the time she was in fifth grade, she was a brown belt (3
rd
kyu). Billy Ashton was the school bully and many parents complained that a twelve-year-old did not belong in fifth grade, but he had already been held back twice.
Penelope was small for her age and Billy had already entered puberty. He was almost eight inches taller than Penelope. He teased her incessantly. Penelope complained to her parents each time that the teasing became uncomfortable. Allison had spoken with the principal and the fifth-grade teacher twice. Mark even tried to speak dispassionately to Billy's father. Mark told him that he should keep Billy away from Penelope. Mark and Allison never knew if anyone intervened.
They were not surprised when the principal called at about 1:00 pm. one day. "Mrs. Porter, there has been an incident at school. The police are here, and I suggest you come immediately." She assured Allison that Penelope was just fine, but she hurt another child.
As she drove the twenty-five minutes to the elementary school, she called Mark and reached his office but was told that "Dr. Porter is in surgery and will be for a few more hours. I will have him call you as soon as he can."
Penelope was upset but appeared in good form. She ran into her mother's arms. They both sat in the principal's office, joined by a policewoman. The story Allison heard was that Billy was teasing Penelope and pushing her in the back. The policewoman said that she believed that Penelope was trying to walk away and said that all of the other children corroborated that Penelope begged many times for Billy to stop. "Mrs. Porter, I can only guess that your daughter had had enough and delivered a blow to the stomach of the boy but that apparently only enraged him and he lunged at her but to defend herself she hit him in the nose. Well, he ended up with a broken nose, and was picked up already by his mother. I must write a report and that will be my conclusion. We are required to ask you to take your daughter home."
"I didn't want to hit him in the face. I know that is not allowed, but but but, I...." and ended the sentence in tears. "I am sorry."
Penelope told her parents for years that she hated her name. She was convinced that it was the source of much of the bullying she endured. Mark consulted a couple child psychologists he knew. He was grateful that Penelope never suggested that she felt she was a boy. Mark and Allison dodged that bullet. "What name does she want to go by? I suggest you ask her what name she prefers."
Mark and Allison already knew the answer. Ever since she was a toddler, she asked Mark and Allion (and Daria) to call her Tommy.
Penelope was Alison's great grandmother's name and has a great deal of significance for the family. Penelope Fitzgerald was a British novelist and winner of many prizes in fiction in the UK. It upset Allison that the name may not be valued by her daughter. Nonetheless, if she would be happier having a nickname that she liked and it made her happy, so be it. The family had been using Tommy somewhat irregularly since the girl was about four anyway and many of the cousins had nicknames.
Tommy's favorite activity was football, pop warner. Football was very important to Texas culture and there were always a couple of girls who played pop warner. This year, she turned ten and would move up to the 10-12 age group. She loved the game, loved putting on the pads and mixing it up with the boys. On the 7-9 team, she played in the defensive backfield and as a running back when on offense. Of course, the coach gave her chances to play each position, but she enjoyed playing linebacker best of all.
She entered puberty the summer after her sixth-grade year, at age 12 and picked up a full inch as she entered seventh grade. She was a very pretty girl when not in pads. Even on the karate mat the older boys stopped and stared. She finally put her foot down and told her mother that she would no longer wear her hair in pig tails and wanted it cut short. Allison took her to a stylist, and she ended up with a wonderful wave, hair parted on the left side and with bangs.
This story got interesting when Tommy entered ninth grade. Mark had many conversations with his youngest daughter about playing football in high school. Dallas South never had a girl who played football. Alan inquired directly with the school board and the principal and was assured that she would be welcome to play. Practice started in June with conditioning. The Texas heat was oppressive, but it helped with the conditioning. Most of the players lost five or more pounds in June and July. On the first day with pads, the trainer asked each player what position he (she) wanted to play to provide the correct shoulder pads. Linebacker was always going to be her preference.
While in pop warner, she never got hurt. Her coaches thought that was likely because she was always a hard hitter. She was the one to dish out pain. She continued to work on her karate skills and by the time she entered the ninth grade, she was a first-degree black belt. As a result, she was highly coordinated and knew how to fall when hit. She also had a high tolerance for pain. Still, there would have to be some accommodation. The girl's locker room would have to be attended by an adult after practices and games, which the school board agreed to. Her parents signed all the usual waivers and consulted with a sports physiologist who suggested extra padding in the chest area.
While on the freshman team, she excelled, so much so that she was elevated to junior varsity after the third game, and she was moved to middle linebacker immediately. She made four interceptions and caused as many fumbles. That was the most caused fumbles on the team. Before her sophomore year, the head varsity coach sat her down and made some critical and helpful suggestions on cover technique and how to anticipate better. But he told her she would remain on the JV team for the whole year, as there were already three excellent backers on the varsity. He told her he anticipated moving her to varsity for her junior year and thought she could be the starting middle linebacker with some improvement in the coming year.
She did make it to the varsity for the opening game and never relinquished that spot. She did grow a bit and was now 5'5". That is a bit small but what she lacked in height and weight, she made up in enthusiasm. She worked hard in the weight room and could bench 190 and squat 240. She practiced hard every day and gave a number of her offensive teammates headaches. She was among the most competitive on the team, always encouraging others.
What made her special though was her ability to focus, which she honed from years studying karate. By the beginning of her junior year, she was a second-degree black belt.
She had grown into her body and looked fabulous with her short light brown hair. Her sky-blue eyes were among her best attributes. In her junior year, she dated some, was active at all of the team parties. The other boys liked and took care of her in a brotherly way.
