Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
The regional champion and state finalist 1963 Mabank Panthers football team, as well as that season’s cheerleaders and mascots, are recognized before the Oct. 20 Mabank-Kaufman football game at Panther Stadium on their 60th anniversary. They include Bill Hughey, Billy Algood, Willard Long, Robert Eubank, Kathryn Norman-Manning, Charles Langford, Coach Joe Miguel, Mary Lynn Beverly-Brown, Truman Woodard, Paula Bonsal-Sexton, Larry Killian, Sandra Dyer-Featherston, Patricia Sapp-Perkins and Michael Wisdom. Not pictured is Mary Brown-Johnson.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Former Mabank Coach Joe Miguel (who assisted Head Coach W.A. “Monk” Algood and who was the head basketball coach) joins 1963 head cheerleader (and football and FFA sweetheart) Sandra Dyer-Featherston Oct. 20 during pregame recognition of the 1963 Panthers team.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Charles Langford (from left) and Robert Eubank, who were senior captains of the 1963 Mabank football team that beat Spring Hill for the regional championship, reminisce on the sidelines of Panther Stadium.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Mabank Head Football Coach Zack Hudson (right) shakes hands with Truman Woodard, who was a defensive and offensive end for the 1963 Mabank regional champion football team, as well as a senior captain. For more pictures and full story see page 12. 

MABANK–It was a night to remember. It was a day to recollect. It was a day-long celebration Oct. 20 of the 1963 Mabank Panthers football team, who were regional champions and state finalists that season.
Mabank High School hosted team members, mascots and cheerleaders at their weekly Varsity Athletic Banquet, where senior captain Robert Eubank was the guest speaker.
“It’s been a great day and we really enjoyed it,” Eubank told The Monitor. “The recognition we received, we felt privileged and honored, from the breakfast, lunch at the fire station, the pep rally and the football game. It’s been super.”
There also was a tailgate dinner that came before pregame recognition prior to the 2023 Mabank team’s contest against Kaufman at Panther Stadium. It was there that the crowd cheered one more time for the champs, who were coached by W.A. “Monk” Algood, who Eubank says was at one time in the top 5 among Texas coaches in winning percentage and who he “wouldn’t be surprised” is the winningest football coach in Mabank history.
Back in 1963, the Panthers played at Coleman Field, which was behind the current Central Elementary School, until moving across town in 1988. Eubank, who played as a freshman and totaled 45 games in his Mabank career, said Mabank also played in the regionals his sophomore year against Crawford, at Corsicana.
The ‘63 Panthers won the District 13-B title and beat Leverett’s Chapel on penetrations (8-2) after tying the game at 16, taking the Bi-district championship. Mabank then defeated Spring Hill, 7-0, for the regional championship at Rose Stadium in Tyler. Back then, smaller schools were crowned as one of four regional champions and were considered state finalists, Eubank says.
Against Leverett’s Chapel, Mabank scored two touchdowns in about 20 seconds and went for two points and the tie, which Eubank converted with a run off right tackle. Earlier that day in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.
“It was a solemn occasion,” Eubank says about Nov. 22, 1963, “but when the ball kicked off, it was football.”
Added teammate Charles Langford, another senior captain, about the game against Spring Hill: “It was cold, wet, sleeting and I got a clipping call in that game. A safety had been harassing me all night, so I laid one on him.”
Eubank says Mabank quarterback Billy Algood had been hurt in a skiing accident during the summer before that season. After Algood was back in the lineup for the first district game against Crandall, the Panthers didn’t lose another game, Eubank said.
Mabank played their biggest rival, the Kemp Yellowjackets, at home that year for homecoming, and Kemp was undefeated, Eubank recollects. “And Coleman Field was packed, 15 people or more along the sidelines and the stands were full,” Eubank says. “And they were favored to beat us.”
Eubank says Mabank scored to go ahead 6-0 in the second quarter, then it was pretty much a defensive struggle the rest of the way – until late in the fourth quarter. That’s when Kemp drove to inside the Mabank 15-yard line and had a fourth-and-three (which they made), however the Yellowjackets clipped on the play which set them back, and the Panthers held them on a second fourth down and ran out the clock.
That was the only game Kemp lost all year. “They were big, they were fast and they played good football,” Eubank says.