Jack Rabbit Coach Good News Source

by Tom Miller

Unknown Newspaper
1951

Coach Weldon Strain, whose Forney Jackrabbits have run over 11 opponents in their quest of a Class B regional championship, is the newspaperman’s type of coach.

A native of Richardson, Strain has a football team that boasts the state’s leading scorer along with a number of other stars.

And he also has a flair for pointing up some interesting facts about his team as few coaches can in writing. Prior to his team’s 40-13 conquest of Judson Grove last Thursday night in a bi-district encounter. Strain sent daily releases to The Times Herald sports department that would have done credit to a sports writer.

He picked out some salient facts in his club’s success each day to round out a good publicity story.

Strain was an all-district end at Richardson High School in 1943, and won a freshman letter at Southern Methodist University the following autumn. He transferred to Paris Junior College, where he played football two seasons, then obtained a degree in physical education at East Texas State Teachers College, Commerce, in 1950.

The 1950 season was Strain’s first in the coaching game. He was assistant to Keith Boone at Forney and the Jackrabbits, powered chiefly by this year’s stars, won seven and lost three. But Strain hasn’t tasted defeat as a head coach, since the Forney eleven is all-victorious this year.

The 1951 Class B powerhouse includes among its victims three Class A teams, Seagoville, Rockwall and Ferris. It’s true that neither Seagoville nor Rockwall cut much of a figure in District 13-A over the full season and Ferris wasn’t too strong in District 11-A, but the Jackrabbits ran up impressive scores against them – enough to make some of the other Class A coaches glad they didn’t have Forney on their schedules.

Strain’s assistant is Arch Ferguson, a graduate of Southern Methodist. This year’s is the first district championship team for both coaches and the first for Forney since 1945.

Strain married his junior college sweetheart, Miss Mitzi Hatcher of Paris, and they have a 3-months-old daughter, Jan.

Forney’s J.C. Mitchell has scored 192 points in 11 contests to lay claim to the state’s high-scoring title. He hopes to put his total above the 200 mark Friday night when the Jackrabbits joust Garrison at Longview for the Class B regional championship.