Ranking the Top 40 WFHS athletes of all-time (Nos. 21-40)
The history of Texas high school athletics cannot be told without mentioning Wichita Falls High School.
In fact, WFHS would command multiple chapters in that book. And that’s just in discussing the football program.
WFHS opened in 1891, but the first mention of organized athletics didn’t occur until 1903 when the famed football team took the field for the first time.
It’s hard to pinpoint when the athletic teams took on the Coyote nickname.
The first time Coyote is attached to the school according to the Times Record News archive is 1915, when students were raising funds for an annual dubbed “The Coyote.”
The TRN doesn’t reference one of Old High’s athletic teams as the Coyotes until 1923, and it was the baseball team getting that recognition. Even then, the nickname wasn't used consistently in the newspaper until 1925.
A century later, the Wichita Falls High Coyotes remain one of Texas high school football’s proudest traditions, having appeared in 10 state championship games and winning six.
The sadness and frustration felt by so many alumni is understandable. And while WFISD is moving forward, the history of the Coyotes will never be forgotten.
The TRN hopes to aid in these memories by ranking the top 40 WFHS athletes of all time. The Coyotes are being given 40 spots instead of the 25 attributed to the other lists due to how much longer the program has existed.
More: Ranking the top 25 coaches in Wichita Falls ISD history
The Top 40 Coyotes list will be released in two installments, starting with numbers 21 through 40.
The panel of voters includes nine current or former members of the local media, including TRN sports writer Jonathan Hull, former TRN sports writer Zach Duncan, TRN sports freelancer and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football writer Cory Hogue, former TRN sports editor Andy Newberry, former TRN sports assistant editor Jeff Milam, KFDX sports director Tobin McDuff, ROHO Sports Network owner Marty McBride, WFHS radio announcer Chris Koetter and WFISD multimedia specialist Chad Johnson.
21. Edward Beach (Class of 1951)
Beach was a halfback for the Coyotes’ championship teams in 1949 and 1950. In the 1950 title game, a 34-13 victory against Austin High, Beach rushed for a game-high 231 yards, including a 76-yard TD. He also threw for a score and returned an interception 55 yards for a TD.
Beach held the state record for most total yards in a season with 2,525 in 1950, including 1,974 rushing and 551 passing. He also scored 23 TDs that season. Beach was also a member of the 1949 championship team. He had an opportunity to play for the Oklahoma Sooners but entered the military instead.
22. Jim Holder (Class of 1958)
Holder is the only former Coyote in the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Coyotes’ 1956 and 1957 playoff teams. He played wingback for the Coyotes and finished behind David Allred and Johnny Genung with 511 rushing yards, averaging 8.7 yards per carry, as a senior.
He went to Oklahoma Panhandle State where he played football, ran track and played golf. He set school records in the 100-yard dash and long jump. He set NAIA records with 275 carries and 1,775 yards. He was also third in the NAIA in Total Offense that year, touching the ball 310 times for 1,949 yards. Holder earned all-conference honors twice.
A member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, Holder's jersey was the first ever to be retired by Oklahoma Panhandle State. He also became Oklahoma Panhandle State's first College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2012. He played semi-pro football before joining the Army.
23. Billy Mercer (Class of 1986)
Mercer was a two-time Red River 22 selection, including Offensive Player of the Year, while playing quarterback for the Coyotes during his senior season in 1985. Mercer rushed for 1,129 yards and 15 TDs and passed for 774 yards and seven more scores his senior year.
Mercer’s final football game was an MVP performance in the Oil Bowl, leading Texas to a 17-0 victory. Mercer was killed in a car crash in Abilene just 36 days after that game.
24. Will Osborne (Class of 2004)
Osborne won the Class 4A state golf championship in 2003 and is the only state golf champion in WFISD history. Osborne went on to play college golf at Arkansas and professionally on the All Pro Tour. He was the APT Player of the Year in 2012.
25. Jayson Lavender (Class of 1990)
Lavender was a standout on the football field in the single-wing during the late 1980s, but left his biggest imprint on the athletic program by winning three straight state gold medals in the pole vault. His mark of 17-feet, 6 inches, set a state record in 1990 and remains the WFISD record.
Lavender was a Red River 22 selection as a running back for the Coyotes during his senior season, rushing for 1,142 yards and 10 TDs on 195 carries. Lavender was WFHS head football coach from 2009 to 2012.
More: Ranking the top 25 Hirschi athletes of all time
26. Billy Bookout (Class of 1950)
The movie “Rudy” could have been written about Bookout’s career, but it wouldn’t have done him justice. Never the fastest, strongest or most athletic, Bookout was a star for the Coyotes’ 1949 state championship team but didn’t receive college interest.
He hitchhiked to Norman, Okla., attempting to walk-on to the Oklahoma Sooner football team. In his first practice, he hit All-American halfback Billy Vessels in the sternum and caused him to fumble. Coach Bud Wilkinson awarded him a scholarship.
Bookout transferred to Austin College, earning Little All-American honors but went undrafted in the 1955 NFL Draft. He got a tryout with the Green Bay Packers and beat out former All-Pro cornerback Clarence Self for a roster spot. He played with the Packers for two seasons.
He later became a coach and was the first head coach at El Paso Burges and later Euless Trinity.
27. John Grace (Class of 1969)
After a sterling career pitching for the Coyotes, Grace was brilliant on the mound at TCU, throwing the program’s only perfect game in 1972. He pitched seven immaculate innings against second-ranked Texas-Pan American, striking out four batters and letting his defense record the other 17 outs.
Grace was also a standout on the football field and was offered both a football and baseball scholarship at TCU. A knee injury led him to focus more on baseball. He was inducted into the TCU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.
28. Greg Henderson (Class of 2001)
Henderson was the quarterback during the Coyotes’ run to the state semifinals in 2000. He was a two-time Red River 22 honoree, being named MVP as a senior. He rushed for 1,572 yards and 23 TDs and passed for 779 yards and 10 TDs that season.
29. Ken "Tuffy" Whitlow (Class of 1936)
“Tuffy” was an all-state center and linebacker in 1935, when he led the Coyotes to the state semifinals. In a 6-0 win over Sherman, Whitlow scored the only touchdown on a 70-yard mid-air fumble return. That year, he also scored three touchdowns on interceptions, one on an intercepted lateral and one on a blocked punt.
He was a three-year letterman for Rice coach Jess Neely, starting a tradition of great centers for the Owls, and was named the SWC’s Outstanding Defensive Player by the Houston Post.
He was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1941 NFL Draft by the Brooklyn Dodgers but opted not to play for them. He played one season for the Miami Seahawks in the All-America Football Conference in 1946. An assistant coach with Bear Bryant at Maryland and Kentucky, Whitlow died in 1969 of leukemia.
30. William Powers (Class of 1923)
Powers was known as Mr. Tennis in Wichita Falls and was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983.
Powers won the first-ever state high school singles championship in 1923. He also finished second in doubles with teammate Clifton “Pee-Wee” Haynes. He went on to have a standout career at Baylor.
Powers was integral to the growth of tennis in Wichita Falls and served on the WFISD school board.
31. Isaiah Anderson (Class of 2008)
Anderson was one of the fastest Coyotes to ever play at Memorial Stadium, and his speed made him a lethal deep threat at receiver. Anderson totaled 104 receptions for 1,647 yards as a junior and senior.
He also qualified for the state track meet in the 100 meters and still holds the WFHS record for the triple jump (44 feet, 11 ½ inches). Anderson went on the play at Oklahoma State, totaling 63 receptions for 961 yards and eight TDs in his career.
More: Ranking the Top 25 Rider athletes of all time
32. Mike Kelly (WFHS football Class of 1962)
While Larry Shields received most of the attention, Kelly was just as vital to the Coyote offense as the team’s quarterback. In the 1961 state championship game, Kelly threw a touchdown pass and had two long scoring runs for all three of Old High’s touchdowns in the 21-14 victory against Galena Park.
Kelly was also on the state runner-up teams in 1959 and 1960. Kelly signed with Oklahoma out of high school, but a knee injury cut his college career short.
33. Maurice Doke (Class of 1956)
Doke was a 1959 first-team All-American for the Texas Longhorns, playing guard. In 1960, he was a second-round pick by the AFL’s Denver Broncos. He chose to pursue another career, serving two terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
34. Janette Merriex (Class of 2009)
Merriex was WFISD’s all-time leading girls basketball scorer until 2022, scoring 1,812 points for the Lady Coyotes. She averaged 20.8 points per game as a senior.
She was the Lady Coyotes’ first all-state player in 2009. Janette played college at Arkansas-Little Rock, averaging six points and 2.7 rebounds in her career.
35. Robert Woodruff (Class of 1988)
Woodruff is the football program’s all-time leader in receiving yards (2,027), yards per catch (29.4) and receiving TDs (19). He’s third on the list with 69 receptions. Woodruff was the first three-time Red River 22 selection.
36. Max Bumgardner (Class of 1941)
Bumgardner was a standout end for the Coyotes and was recruited to play at Texas. He was a three-year letterman as an end for the Longhorns, though his service with the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII delayed the final years of his college career.
He was a team captain and the team’s leading receiver as a senior in 1947, and that year he won All-America recognition from the AP (honorable mention) and FWAA (third team).
He was the 10th overall pick in the 1948 NFL Draft, but played only one year of pro football before beginning a coaching career.
He was the longtime athletic director and head football coach at San Angelo College (now Angelo State University), and he presided over its athletic department during its 1960s transition from a two-year to four-year college. He’s a member of Angelo State’s Hall of Honor.
37. O.J. Clark (Class of 2015)
Clark was a great all-around football player, impacting games in all three phases. As a senior, he was named Red River 22 MVP after catching 53 passes for 975 yards and 14 TDs, averaging 18.4 yards per catch. He was also a lockdown cornerback and had 10 tackles for loss at a position not known for strong tacklers.
Clark also excelled on special teams, particularly when it came to blocking extra points, field goals or punts. He went on to play at New Mexico State in college, finishing third on the Aggie’s career receptions list with 201 and eighth on the career receiving yards list with 1,804.
38. Billy Harris (Class of 1951)
Harris was the Coyotes' starting center and linebacker during the 1949 and 1950 seasons. He was a team captain in 1950, calling the defensive signals for the Coyotes. Harris was named to the all-state team and voted the best player in Texas by a newspaper in Orlando which hosted an annual high school football all-star game.
He went on to play at the University of Texas.
39. Jay Lavender (Class of 1962)
Lavender earned a reputation for being a hard-nosed linebacker for the Coyotes’ 1961 championship team, despite being undersized. His toughness personified the team’s defensive identity. Lavender later became an assistant coach at Rider.
40. Demetrius Barry (Class of 1994)
Barry was a two-time Red River 22 honoree while starting at quarterback for the Coyotes in 1992 and 1993. As a senior, he threw for 2,235 yards and 16 TDS and rushed for 711 yards and nine more scores.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Top 40 Wichita Falls Coyotes of all time
