Phil Hicks

Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle and Smith County Chief Deputy Bobby Garmon are normally on the same side.

On Saturday, it will be a different story.

Swindle's son, Patrick, will be in the green and gold of Baylor, while Garmon's son, Terrance, will be in the blue and silver of Rice.

The two old SWC rivals will meet on the Brazos as Baylor and Rice look for their first win of the season. Kickoff is 6 p.m. at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco.

It is the first meeting between the two schools since the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1995. The Bears won that matchup 34-6 and Baylor leads the all-time series, 44-30-2.

Garmon, a John Tyler High School graduate, starts at linebacker for the Owls. Last week in a 16-14 loss to Nicholls State in Houston, Garmon had seven tackles. Garmon had a nice finish before the New Orleans Bowl last year. In his last four games, he totaled 32 tackles.

The Rice sophomore was an All-East Texas safety for the Lions and a member of the National Honor Society. He ranked sixth in his class of 412.

As a senior at JT, Garmon had two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles.

In his first year at Rice, Garmon was quite impressive, garnering All-Conference USA freshman honors. He had interceptions against East Carolina and SMU.

As far as Swindle, he is a T.K. Gorman graduate.

He is a redshirt freshman wide receiver at Baylor. At TKG, Swindle rushed for 1,191 yards and eight touchdowns on 134 carries, an average of 8.97 per rush. He also had 25 receptions for 260 yards and three TDs.

Before going to Baylor, Swindle was MVP of Tom Hillory D/FW All-Star Classic. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and a member of the National Honor Roll.

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Horned Frogs Ready

Following TCU's 27-0 win over Baylor in Fort Worth, Horned Frog fans chanted "We Want Texas."

They get that this week as the two old SWC members meet in Austin Saturday. Kickoff is 6 p.m. on Fox Sports Net.

And East Texans will play a prominent role for the Horned Frogs.

Against Baylor, Lindale's Marcus Brock, a wide receiver, had four first-half receptions to surpass his total of three catches from last season. He finished the game with 47 yards on five receptions.

Kilgore's Nick Sanders had an interception in the fourth quarter, his fourth career pick. Sanders also combined with Irving's Daryl Washington for the Horned Frogs' first sack of the season.

Also, Tatum's Stephen Hodge had the Rock Hard Hit of the Game from his safety position during a punt return, while Longview's Robert Henson, a linebacker, had six tackles, an interception and a sack.

The Horned Frogs are hoping to go to 6-0 against Big 12 opponents since the start of the 2005 season, including two wins over Baylor, one each against Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

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Kickoff Change

The Sept. 15 game, matching Texas Tech and Rice in Houston, has been changed to a 2 p.m. kickoff to accommodate television. The contest, which will be played at Rice Stadium, was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net will broadcast the contest.

The Owls' game with Texas in Austin on Sept. 22 will be broadcast by FSN. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

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Passing Of Friends

On a personal note, it was a tough summer as we lost two members of our newspaper family and two members of my extended family.

At the newspaper, Marvin Ellis and Nelson Clyde III passed away. I met both of them while in high school and both were instrumental in my decision to choose journalism as a profession.

Marvin worked in sports as well as all areas of the newsroom. He covered the Cowboys' first Super Bowl victory against the Miami Dolphins and even included a sidebar on the Apache Belles' performance at old Tulane Stadium. Even though Marvin didn't have to, he would come up on Friday nights to help with football. The newsroom is quite crazy on Fridays trying to track down scores and games across East Texas, write the games up, and have it all done before deadline. But Marvin enjoyed it all so much. Also, Marvin enjoyed going to Rangers games as well as the Stars.

Nelson was the news editor when he hired me in 1983, fresh out of college. He later became publisher and he remained a sports fan. He loved baseball and especially golf. When the Eisenhower International Golf Classic was held in Tyler, Nelson would enjoy meeting all the golfers, not just the superstars. It was fun talking with him about the accomplishments of everyone from Andy Dillard to Brian Henninger to Tiger Woods. Back in April he attended the Masters and his description of the course made you feel as if you were there.

In my family, two of my favorite people - Lawanda Vandiver of Lindale and Bob Vandiver of Tyler - passed away.

Lawanda was a huge football fan, especially of John Tyler and the Cowboys. She and her husband, Charles, would never miss a JT or Dallas game. Her favorite Cowboys were Charlie Waters and Jay Saldi. It was an annual ritual of our families to spend a weekend in the Metroplex, going to Six Flags, attending a Rangers game and then a Cowboys preseason game. And Lawanda would always say, "why didn't they build this stadium with air conditioning?" She was happy the new Cowboys stadium would feature AC.

As far as Bob, he was a big Texas Longhorns fan. One of my favorite stories from Bob came from the 1969 Big Shootout between the Longhorns and Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Ark. Bob and his wife, Pat, attended the game, which was on a chilly, rainy day. He said it was a miserable until the Longhorns rallied in the fourth quarter for a 15-14 win.

After the game, they needed gasoline, but no one would sell them gas in Arkansas as their car sported Texas license plates.

So they had to go across the border in Oklahoma just to get gas. These are four people who will be missed.

Phil Hicks
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