Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Rotan, TX, Home of First Texas Six-man Football. Jews Die in Nazi Camps.

 

For “Travel Tuesday”, Let’s visit Rotan, TX, in the Texas Panhandle Plains Region.

#Region.R_Description# “The Texas Panhandle Plains region offers visitors a wide variety of experiences from the breathtakingly beautiful canyon lands, to the Old West heritage that is still evident today. You can visit the birthplace of Buddy Holly and many other famous artists, explore a wide variety of museums & exhibits, or simply enjoy the wide open skies that have attracted visitors for generations. Discover the adventure of the Texas Panhandle Plains.”

ROTAN, TEXAS.

“Rotan is at the intersection of State highways 70 and 92, near the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos in northwest Fisher County. A community called White Flat, named for the powdery white gypsum sand that lies near the surface of the land, had been established at the site before county organization in 1886. By 1900 White Flat had a school that also served as a Methodist church. The settlement struggled to survive until 1906, when lots were staked for rapid development after the Texas Central Railroad decided to locate its western terminus there.

Lance Theater in Rotan, Texas.

A post office application that year necessitated a name change, as there was already another White Flat post office in Texas, and the community was renamed for Ed Rotan of Waco, a major investor in the railroad. By the time the community incorporated in 1909, it had two banks, three hotels, three churches, telephone, water, and light service, an ice house, and a bottling works.

Rotan is in Fisher County, TX:

Fisher County (H-11) is on U.S. Highway 180 west of Abilene in the Rolling Plains region of central West Texas. Roby is the county seat; Rotan, the county's largest town, is 225 miles west of Dallas, 65 miles northwest of Abilene and 125 miles southeast of Lubbock.

Fisher County comprises a region that has been the site of human habitation for several thousand years. Archeological artifacts recovered in the area suggest that the earliest human inhabitants arrived around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, and evidence of Paleo, Archaic, and Historic cultures have been found in the county. Following these earliest inhabitants were the Lipan Apaches, who had settled in the region by the sixteenth century; later, around 1700, Comanches and Kiowas drifted in from the north, and Pawnees, Wichita, and Wacos occasionally hunted along the upper Brazos valley.

The Old Indian Trial, which crossed the county, was used by various Indians to travel between the Plains region and Central Texas. Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado traversed the general region in 1541, and José Mares crossed it in 1788 while searching for a more direct route from Santa Fe to San Antonio. In the spring of 1847 Robert B. Marcy traveled along the Old Indian Trial through Fisher County on his way to El Paso; he camped for two days near the site of present-day Rotan.”

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Texas six-man football

“The first six-man game played in Texas was on September 29, 1936 between Sylvester High School and Dowell High School at the high school football field in Rotan, Texas

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6 Man Football

“Six-man football is a variant of American football that is played with six players per team, instead of 11.  A much faster paced game than 11 man.”

texascountryreporter texascountryreporter says:

“In small-town Texas they play a special variety of football with 6 men on the field, or they don't play at all. Blackwell High School's only reserve player is out for the season, meaning the 6 remaining boys play every play, every quarter, every game.”

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Game play

A six-man playing field.

 

 

A six-man football team preparing for play.

“Six-man is a fast-moving game played on an 80-yard (73-m) long by 40-yard wide (37-m) field (instead of the normal 100-yd (91-m) by 5313-yd (48.8-m) field used in 11-man football). Furthermore, the game specifies a 15-yard distance (14-m) from the line of scrimmage to gain a first down, instead of the normal 10 yards (9 m).

All six players are eligible to be receivers. On offense, three linemen are required on the line of scrimmage at the start of the play. The person to whom the ball is snapped cannot run the ball past the line of scrimmage; however, if the ball is tossed to another player, that player can run or throw the ball and the person to whom the ball was snapped is still an eligible receiver. All forward passes to the player who snapped the ball (center) must travel at least 1 yard (1 m) in flight.

Scoring

Scoring is the same as in 11-man football, with the exceptions being on the point after touchdown attempt and the field goal. A point-after kick is worth two points, while a conversion made by running or passing the ball is worth one point; this is the opposite of 11-man football. In addition, a field goal is worth 4 points instead of 3. These rule changes were made because of the difficulty of successfully getting a kick off with so few blockers on the line compared to the number of defenders.

In both University Interscholastic League and Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools competition, a 45-point "mercy rule" exists to prevent lopsided scoring deficits (no such rule exists in the 11-man game). The game is ended under this rule if a team is losing by 45 or more points at halftime or at any point after. The mercy rule is alluded to in the title of the David Morse film about six-man football, The Slaughter Rule.

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Six-man football in the movies

The Slaughter Rule, released in 2002, used six-man football as played in Montana as the backdrop for an examination of the relationship between a fatherless renegade football player and his loner coach. The film contains a brief but adequate explanation of how the game of six-man football is played as well as footage of actual game sequences. The title refers to a rule in which a game is called in the second half if one team gains a 45-point advantage over the other. In Texas and other states, it is referred to as the mercy rule. When invoked, one team is said to have "45ed" the other.

Six Man, Texas, released in 2008, is a documentary film that explores six-man football as identity in the public high schools of the 160 small towns in Texas that play it.

The Seventh Man, released in 2003, documents two years in the lives of the Panther Creek Panthers, one of the storied programs in Texas six-man football. It features the narration of Val Kilmer.” 

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-man_football 

and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Sixman_Football_League 

and: http://espn.go.com/high-school/football/story/_/id/3670709/six-man-thrives-rural-towns/

and: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2009-10-27-six-man-texas-football_N.htm

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Six-Man All Star Games This Summer  By: Shanon Hunt

“There will be a record number of all star games held this summer for the sport of six-man football. Five games will be played from the end of June to late July.
On June 29 the first annual Brazos Bowl will be held at Knox City. The annual Can-Am Bowl will be held the following weekend in Outlook, SK. Zephyr will host the Don Hardin Texas Bowl on July 13th.

The event, known as the Texas Bowl in years past, was renamed to honor the Six-Man Football Ambassador Don Hardin who passed away this spring.
The 2013 all star games will wrap up in Wolfforth, TX during the Texas Six-Man Coaches Association's yearly clinic. The Division II game will be held on July 19 while the Division I game will be held the following night.”  More at: http://lonestarfootball.net/article.asp?B=323

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6 man football Waco Live Oak Vs Azle Christian

“A tied game at 61-61. This is the last 59 seconds. Live Oak wins with QB Tyler Williams intercepting the ball at 10 seconds and a pass at 4 seconds to Michael Fullbright. Both teams are ranked #1 in their division and both teams were undefeated.”

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7th Annual Hico

Super Saturday

When August
Where Tiger Stadium
City Hico, Texas

About Super Saturday

“There's nothing like it in Texas. For the past seven years, the best six-man high school football teams from across the state have traveled to Hico, Texas to compete in the invitation-only event. Ten teams, five games, one field, thousands of spectators all add up to one heckuva good time! Texas Monthly magazine has called it "the biggest day for the smallest schools in Texas!"  More at: http://www.hicosupersix.com/

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From me:  I used to follow Charlton football team in England, but that is soccer.  When I came to the US, I found American football very boring, as it seemed to stop and start constantly, not keep flowing like soccer.  This six-man seems a lot more lively.

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On This Day:

Thousands of Jews die in Nazi gas chambers; IG Farber sets up factory, May 21, 1942:

“On this day in 1942, 4,300 Jews are deported from the Polish town of Chelm to the Nazi extermination camp at Sobibor, where all are gassed to death. On the same day, the German firm IG Farben sets up a factory just outside Auschwitz, in order to take advantage of Jewish slave laborers from the Auschwitz concentration camps.

Sobibor had five gas chambers, where about 250,000 Jews were killed between 1942 and 1943. A camp revolt occurred in October 1943; 300 Jewish slave laborers rose up and killed several members of the SS as well as Ukrainian guards. The rebels were killed as they battled their captors or tried to escape. The remaining prisoners were executed the very next day.

IG Farben, as well as exploiting Jewish slave labor for its oil and rubber production, also performed drug experiments on inmates. Tens of thousands of prisoners would ultimately die because of brutal work conditions and the savagery of the guards. Several of the firm's officials would be convicted of "plunder," "spoliation of property," "imposing slave labor," and "inhumane treatment" of civilians and POWs after the war. The company itself came under Allied control. The original goal was to dismantle its industries, which also included the manufacture of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, so as to prevent it from ever posing a threat "to Germany's neighbors or to world peace." But as time passed, the resolve weakened, and the Western powers broke the company up into three separate divisions: Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF.”

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Yesterday:

Misty and I went to get Jay, as we were going to the next town, as I really needed to see a doctor.  Jay had to pick up some parts for a double gate that he is building for someone.

We went straight to the clinic, but the receptionist said that there would be an over 2 hour wait, and to come back at 12.30pm for the 1.00pm appointments.

We went to Home Depot, Lowes, Conroe Fence Supply, and back to Home Depot again.  Instead of ordering the translucent roofing the same as the panel I bought the day before, I settled for a grey clear, like the dark tint on car windows.  It will let in more light, and it will blend well with the dark blue shingles on my roof. They have quite a bit of it, so we can go back for more, instead of having to special order anything. 

We bought some lunch to eat in the clinic parking lot. At 12.15pm there was already a line at the reception area. Once I had been registered, I went back to the van to eat my lunch.  At 1.00pm, I didn’t have to wait long to see a doctor, and she said that my shortness of breath could be bronchitis, or an allergy. She said that my lungs sounded clear.  She also said that the smoke coming from the agricultural burns in Mexico has been affecting a lot of people the last few days.

“Smoke Reducing Visibilities Texas to Louisiana

News - May 19, 2013; 9:54 PM ET   “Smoke from fires in the Yucatan Peninsula will continue to affect parts of Texas and Louisiana for the first part of the week. More at: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/smoke-to-affect-texas-louisian/12700119 "

The doctor said that the nebulizer breathing machine that I had borrowed for the cat, was a good thing to use, and approved  the brands of liquids that I have to use in it.  She called in a Prednisone prescription to our local Kroger pharmacy, but when we got there, it wasn’t going to be ready for at least an hour and a half, and we couldn’t wait.   So I will have to pick it up today.

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