EDITOR’S NOTE: Enjoy this look back at two of this year’s Odessa Athletics Hall of Fame honorees. This year’s banquet is scheduled Nov. 3 at the Odessa Marriott. Other honorees include track star Kerry Evans, gridiron greats Glen Halsell and Lloyd Hill and also the 1946 Odessa High Bronchos state championship football team.
They were coming off a roller coaster season that ended with a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals.
The bitter aftertaste of falling short of a state championship stayed with the players during that offseason in 1989 at Permian.
They were mad.
But head coach Gary Gaines and his Permian football players used that as motivation and took their frustrations out on every opponent.
By the end of the year, the Panthers ended the decade the same way it had started, by winning a state championship and posting a perfect 16-0 record complete with also being named national champs.
“We knew ourselves that we had a good group,” Kevin Mannix said of that 1989 year. Mannix, now a successful Odessa physical therapist, was a senior and played tailback and cornerback.
Going into the season, the Panthers lost numerous standout seniors from the year before including Mike Winchell at quarterback, Brian Chavez at tight end, and James ‘Boobie’ Miles at running back.
However, the ’89 team had its own list of special players. In addition to Mannix, there was quarterback Stoney Case and wide receiver Lloyd Hill.
For Case, there was no pressure taking over the starting quarterback position.
“Being the quarterback at Permian is what you expect,” Case said during a recent phone interview. “You’re expected to perform, and it doesn’t matter who came before you. There are lots of people who came before him, and it’s not something I gave a second thought about.”
Hill would go on to set numerous school records and be one of the top receivers Permian has ever known.
Case would go on to a successful pro football career but in 1989 he would direct the Panthers’ high-scoring offense as Permian scored more than 30 points in 10 games during that fall.
For Case and every other player on that team, winning the state championship was a childhood dream.
“Well it was something that growing up in Odessa and watching Permian ever since you were a kid, it was everything,” Case said. “It’s what I dreamed of doing. At that time, I didn’t have any other goals beyond winning state championships. That’s what I was singularly focused on. … it was definitely a fulfillment of what my early childhood was.”
But the team had also felt disrespected by the preseason expectations.
“No doubt, it was unfinished business going into the 1989 season,” Mannix said. “The thing was, we had full confidence in ourselves, but we weren’t ranked in the top-10 going into the season. We weren’t supposed to be the team to go undefeated. It was supposed to be the ’88 team.”
Permian’s season began with a 55-0 thrashing over El Paso Austin on the road where the Panthers scored touchdowns on their first eight possessions. Permian’s defense would be responsible for five turnovers.
The second week of the season gave the Panthers their first taste of revenge from the previous year as they hosted 10th-ranked Marshall, a team that had beaten Permian 13-12 in 1988. This time, Permian had the last laugh as the Panthers scored two second half touchdowns for a 21-7 victory.
It wouldn’t be the last time Permian faced Marshall in the 1989 season.
The season continued with a 28-0 victory over Amarillo High and a 49-27 victory over crosstown rivals Odessa High to begin district play.
Permian’s offense would keep the scoreboards busy and the defense posted consecutive shutouts as the Panthers outscored their opponents 201-0, which included a 51-0 win over Midland High, a 48-0 win over Abilene High, a 46-0 victory over nondistrict foe Dallas Jesuit and a 56-0 romp over Abilene Cooper.
Despite the lopsided scores, Gaines and the rest of the coaching staff made sure the players didn’t get too cocky.
“We were very effective on offense,” Alan Wyles said. Wyles was primarily a flanker on offense that year. “We were very efficient. We were very successful on running our base plays. During that four-game stretch, it would’ve been easy to get overconfident. Our coaches in our meetings and the practice field did a great job of keeping us level-headed.”
Then came another stop on the Panthers’ revenge tour as they prepared to face their rivals from Midland Lee that would determine the district crown, just as it had for almost every other season in that era.
Not only had Permian come up short against the Rebels in 1988 which spoiled their District 4-5A hopes but by Nov. 3, 1989, it had been four years since the Panthers had defeated Midland Lee and won a district title.
The game would take place at Memorial Stadium in Midland where the Panthers faced their stiffest test of the season in a game that was actually televised by ESPN as Permian faced the three-time defending district champs.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Panthers took a 10-6 lead courtesy of a touchdown pass from Case to Hill and a 31-yard field goal by kicker Clint Stewart.
A scoreless third quarter was followed by an eventful fourth where the Rebels took a 13-10 lead off a run by Farris Strambler.
Permian responded with an eight play, 80-yard drive and re-claimed the lead 17-13 after Wyles hauled in a quick hit on a 3-yard slant for the final score.
The Panthers’ defense then held off the Rebels on a goal-line stand as the clock ran out and the Permian players erupted in celebration.
Mannix helped make the game-saving play for the Panthers’ defense as Midland Lee quarterback Vince Henderson tried to pitch the ball to Strambler.
Henderson was met by a Mannix tackle that forced the ball to bounce off Strambler’s shoulder pad, and Hill, playing at safety, recovered the loose ball at the 4.
“It was unbelievable,” Mannix said.
Case described the feeling of finally defeating Midland Lee.
“It was just a lot of satisfaction,” Case said. “Of course, they are and always were our biggest rival. Just the fact that we had lost to them in the years prior made it even more satisfying when we finally beat them. You grew up wanting to beat Lee just like they grew up wanting to beat us. It was definitely a feather in our cap.”
Not only did the victory clinch a district title for the Panthers and end their losing skid against the Rebels, but it was also Gaines’ first victory over Permian’s rivals.
“When we beat Lee in ’89, I was so happy for Coach Gaines because of the pressure that comes with being a head coach at Odessa and trying to end that losing streak against Lee, that was the biggest one,” Wyles said.
The Panthers weren’t done.
With the district title locked up, Permian made sure there was no sharing it as they shut out San Angelo Central 37-0 to end the regular season with a perfect record.
Going into the playoffs, the Panthers had all the momentum as they began with a 42-0 win over Amarillo High in a rematch from earlier in the year.
The Panthers’ rolled off easy victories in their next two rounds, defeating El Paso Jefferson 49-6 and Trimble Tech 49-6.
“The first goal was to win district,” Wyles said. “After that, that’s when we got on a roll. It was a very tough game against Midland Lee. We hit our stride after that. We had a good run after that. We played some great teams in the last three games. But our mindset was to do what we couldn’t do the year before. We fell short in district and the semifinals (in 1988), and we wanted to come back and show everyone who we were.”
A 20-10 victory over Arlington Lamar soon followed and Permian was back in the semifinals for the third consecutive year.
In 1987 and 1988, the Panthers lost to teams that went on to win state with Plano in 1987 and Dallas Carter in 1988 (before Carter was forced to forfeit its crown by the UIL).
Both semifinal losses were on the minds of Permian’s players heading into the 1989 season.
“It was almost like our (semifinal) games were the state championship matchups because both Plano and Dallas Carter blew out the teams the next week,” Case said of Permian’s semifinal losses in ‘87 and ‘88. “It was one of those things where we needed to get over that hump.”
The ’89 semifinal matchup took place at Texas Stadium in Irving against a familiar team, Marshall.
The Panthers wasted no time in scoring on its first drive and overpowered the Mavericks 31-14 to move to the state championship game.
“When we beat them twice in one season, it showed who the better team was, no doubt,” Mannix said.
A halftime score of 17-14 was followed by two Panther touchdowns in the second half and the defense didn’t allow another score from Marshall.
“We had a lot of confidence,” Case said. “We didn’t think anyone would beat us. That’s the way we approached the season, and the way we approached each game.”
It was the fourth state championship appearance in the decade for the Panthers.
Prior to the game, Permian’s record in state championship games from the 1980s was one win, one loss and one tie. The Panthers won the 1980 state title against Port Arthur Jefferson, and then tied in the 1984 final against Beaumont French before losing to Houston Yates 37-0 in 1985.
The day before Christmas Eve the Panthers returned to Irving to face Houston Aldine in a battle of West Texas versus East Texas for the state crown.
Unlike the Panthers’ previous trip to the state finals in 1985, this one would end with tears of joy as Christmas came early for Permian.
The Panthers jumped out to a 21-0 lead and then held on for the school’s fifth state championship with a 28-14 win over Aldine.
The Panthers’ defense recovered four fumbles as Permian held off a comeback attempt by the Mustangs.
Aldine cut the Panthers’ lead to 21-14 on a 60-yard touchdown run by Derrick Johnson in the third quarter and an 8-yard touchdown from Herman Hopson in the fourth quarter.
However, Permian responded by using up more than five minutes in driving 67 yards in 11 plays. Tight end Mike Faulkner’s juggling touchdown catch from Case iced the game.
Despite not scoring, Hill would lead Permian in receiving yards as he had in every game in 1989 with six catches for 43 yards.
Gaines was carried off the field by his players.
“I remember seeing on YouTube at the time of him being carried off the field to shake hands with the Aldine coach,” Wyles said. “It must have felt great for Gaines. He did it all. We beat Lee, we won district and won the state championship. I couldn’t be happier for Coach Gaines because I knew all the work that he and the coaches put in.”
Not only were the Panthers state champions, but they were also named national champions by ESPN.
Following the season, Gaines joined Texas Tech’s football staff as an assistant to Spike Dykes. After four seasons in Lubbock, he returned to coaching high school football.
Gaines would eventually return to coach Permian in 2009 before retiring in 2013.
Gaines died Aug. 22 in Lubbock after a battle with Alzheimer’s. There’s no denying the impact he’s left on the players from the 1989 season.
“The biggest impact he had on me is an easy one, because I carried it over to my eight years of coaching baseball and football at the high school level, but I never heard the man use one cuss word,” Wyles, who played college baseball at Texas Christian University, said. “Never once. I played college baseball. I’ve been to a lot of dugouts, and I’ve heard a lot of words. I carried that (lesson) to my players and coaches to never use foul language because I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. Coach Gaines was a man of faith and I never heard him use one foul word, and that was a big impact on me.”
Mannix also talked about the impact Gaines left in Odessa.
“A lot of people don’t realize that Gaines was only at Permian (in the ‘80s) for four years,” Mannix said. “What he did in four years was amazing. He came in and had replaced coach (John) Wilkins who had been there for a long time. Gaines came in, and he knew what he wanted to do. He missed the playoffs in his first year, which was a big deal to him and the community. From there, he never looked back. Every team he had until he left Permian in 1989 was a state-contending team.”
Wyles coached from 1996 to 2003. He now lives in Houston where he sells medical equipment to hospitals.
The feeling of being on the state championship team in 1989 is one that will always remain with him.
“It’s just incredible and it sticks with you forever,” Wyles said. “It really does. I come across people, whether it’s at work or in the neighborhood, you start talking about where you’re from and mention Odessa and that you used to play for Permian and it sparks so many conversations. People are intrigued. They’ve heard about the MOJO Mystique, especially people my age that went to high school somewhere in Texas. They’ve heard of Permian. They may not know have known where Odessa was at the time but with a conversation like that, a five-minute conversation turns into a 45-minute conversation.”
Mannix described the ’89 title as “super surreal.”
“There were so many emotions that come in all at once,” Mannix said. “We wanted to win it for Coach Gaines. We wanted to win it for each other. We wanted to do it for the community, and we were elated to reach a pinnacle and do what we had set out to do 11 months earlier. It was a year’s worth of solid work and preparation.”
Hill would go on to play college football at Texas Tech where he set numerous records and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.
Case played college football at New Mexico University and was drafted in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft to play for the Arizona Cardinals. He would play in the NFL for six seasons, playing for Arizona, Baltimore and Detroit.
He now lives in Argyle where he is the owner of The Company Outfitter and Hunting Republic. He also trains quarterbacks as part of his own business called QB Texas.
“It was just a fun time to play for Permian,” Case said of the 1989 season. “We had a lot of confidence and every time we stepped on the football field, we knew we were going to win. It was a confident time for sure.”
Get your tickets
Don’t miss the Odessa Athletics Hall of Fame banquet scheduled Nov. 3 at the Odessa Marriott.
- Call 432-333-7612 or visit tinyurl.com/ycx2wr7y
Permian High School 1989 state and national champs
Coaches
Head coach: Gary Gaines
Kade King
Mike Belew
Wamond Griggs
Willi Spears
Mike Stephens
Bob Highley
Myron Schneider
Randy Mayes
Larry Currie
Tam Hollingshead
Nate Hearne
Team doctor: Dr. Weldon Butler
Team trainer: Trapper O’Connell
Players
Lloyd Hill 18
Stoney Case 25
Robbie Manalli 31
Pat Johnson 23
Chad Burrows 69
Trent Hendrick 10
Jeff Kendrick 86
Malcolm Hamilton 37
Derek Hickey 15
Dax Wimer 63
Clint Stewart 22
Larry Serrano 11
Joey Bellow 64
Zane Watson 38
Shane Young 21
Joey Rood
Mike Faulkner 80
Tommy Thompson
David Conner 55
Brian Tucker 32
Devoran Carroll 44
Jarod Jenson 73
Alan Wyles 41
Johnny Celey 19
Kevin Mannix 28
Anthony Jiminez 70
Joby Teegarden 42
Steve Womack 67
Adrian Villa 40
Blake Tucker 20
Brian Rodgers 36
Chris McMillian 60
Chad Williams 75
John Lambert 14
Jonathan Golden 72
Ben Arnold 12
Matt Pomroy 62
Todd Allen 68
Jeff Hamijlton 78
Blair Kemp 77
Manuel Carrasco 26
Jeff Garrett 85
Monte Masters 65
Chris Comer
Josh Sumner 30
Scott Dinger 76
Robbie Bentley 58
Todd Crump 61
Jamie Jarman 13
Arvey Villa 35
Brandon Gawlik 50
Bradley Gaines 71
Greg Kwiatkowski 82
Darren McDaniel 81
Eddie Bishop 66
Mark Blake 29
Trainers/managers
Anthony Minjarez
Nathan Storey
Steve Ward
Brian Heathman
Kyle Toomire
Barrett Hinesly
Ryan Hankins
Jeff Gasaway
Stefan Hanson
Barrett Hinesly
