BROOKS COOKS! | Awesome quarterback Kayson Brooks the latest in a long line of great Kilgore signal-callers (w/ special video by BOX.COUNTY!)

EDITOR’S NOTE: A special thanks to Bobby Beane, Kenneth Plunk Jr., Taurean Stoker (aka “Box.County”) and Ashton Vallery for help with this story. And there’s no audio with the video, by the way, so…)

They say quarterbacks get all the love when things go right…

…and all the blame when things go wrong.

We do tend to identify a team with the guys who led them, the face of the team. That’s not always the quarterback, for sure. The 2004 Kilgore Bulldogs included that quarterback, Chase Fisher, for sure – but it also included Eddie Jones, Wayne Daniels, a pair of defensive front guys; it included Rudy Galvan, as a quarterback and primarily as a kicker; it had offensive linemen like Billy Slagle, Lon Roberts; it included defensive secondary guys like Pat McCrory, Trey Sands, and um – some guy named Nick Freakin’ Sanders.

But we usually say things about most teams like, “Who was the quarterback? Oh, yeah, it was” so-and-so.

That’s because they touch the ball the most and how the quarterback goes, so goes the offense.

Usually.

Here’s the truth: it lies somewhere in the middle.

The team is the team. And EVERYBODY — all the players, all the coaches, the athletic trainers, the managers, the parents — is important. Even the community plays a role.

As far as the quarterback, Kilgore High School has one now that, well…

His name is Kayson Brooks. He wears number two.

And he really is number one in your hearts. And in your record books. And just about everywhere else.

Brooks is just the latest in a long line of great quarterbacks in Kilgore history.

Let’s remember…

Loyie Nawlin “Buddy” Humphrey played for Kilgore in the early 1950s, terrorizing East Texas teams alongside Larry Hickman, Bob Bustin and other teammates. I don’t have a lot of information on Buddy during his time at Kilgore High School other than I know from several who watched them play, including his brother Billy, that Buddy – who was a lanky guy at 6-foot-1 and 198 pounds – stomped a mudhole in people and walked it dry. Numbers-wise, I have nothing. I can tell you that he left Kilgore for Baylor University, Hickman went with him, and Humphrey beat second-ranked Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, 13-7, in 1957, and the following year, he threw five touchdown passes in a single game against Rice – that one stood as a record for a single game for the Bears until it fell in 2006. He was a big star in the senior games, as in the North-South Shrine Game in 1958 and the Senior Bowl in January 1959, the South’s captain.

He moved on to the NFL, where he played for five different franchises (the Los Angeles Rams, the Dallas Cowboys, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Denver Broncos, and the Houston Oilers) from 1959-66), and deservedly so, Humphrey is a member of the Baylor University Sports Hall of Fame.

Now, listen. I came to Kilgore in 2002. And I lean on a lot of people when it comes to some Kilgore knowledge before then. Bob Bustin has been one of them. Gene Fout, John Slagle, John Heffner, the late Bobby Bittick, the late Sonny Spradlin (and now Ronnie Spradlin), SO many people I’ll forget someone.

And so I made some calls this week, specifically for this story.

The late 1960’s, Steve Lacy was Kilgore’s quarterback, and you might say Lacy was the man. He had his eye on a pro baseball career, and went from Kilgore to Ruston, La., where he starred at Louisiana Tech, and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.

The early 1970s belonged to a young man who would also end up at Baylor – playing baseball – who would return to Kilgore and become one of its leading citizens, Bobby Beane.

Beane’s senior season at Kilgore was 1972, when Kilgore was good at – well, everything, so good in football, track and baseball at the state level, doing things that the Bulldogs had never done.

One thing, though, they weren’t doing was throwing the ball that much, Beane laughed.

“We didn’t throw the ball, for sure, like this,” he laughed. “We didn’t throw it in our day and years after that like they do now. I watched Kayson made a couple of throws against La Vernia – he put that post corner rout, I believe it was to Dre’ Sanders, just right on the money. And I believe – Mitch, you have to throw that before that kid makes his break. Kayson is just doing things so much better than what we’ve done them. He’s hitting his timing, he’s got things down – he’s just as good a thrower as we’ve ever had come through here. He’s as good a passer as we’ve ever had come through here.”

After Beane’s career, played for coach John Blocker, many might remember Eddie Hare, who was quarterback of the Bulldogs – like Beane – during a time when so many fantastic athletes were here, and under the guidance of a familiar name: Humphrey, who returned to Kilgore, this time as its head coach!

Hare went on to a college career at Tulsa, and then spent a short time in the NFL, too, as a punter with the New England Patriots.

Beane, of course, is now a part of Laird Insurance, and is not just a Kilgore fan, but one of many legitimate Kilgore football historians, alongside Kenneth Plunk Sr., longtime leader in the banking industry as a figurehead of Citizens Bank in Kilgore.

But for this story?

“Kilgore fan,” Plunk laughed.

Plunk remembered Kevin Kalmus, “The Blond Bomber,” as the Kilgore News Herald called Kalmus in the late 1970s, and then in the 1980s, it was the James Cameron Era at Kilgore High School.

Ever hear Kilgore football referred to as “The Ragin’ Red?”

It was the now-late coach Cameron who coined that phrase back in the ‘80s, only about Kilgore football, and it stuck.

Cameron took Bulldogs football, who had some good years, to new heights.

Cameron took over Kilgore football and went 6-4 his first season. By year three in 1984, the ‘Dogs were 8-2, and in 1987, Kilgore had the best season at that point in school history, a 12-2 record and a trip to Texas Stadium.

“Cameron had this thing running like a well-oiled machine,” Plunk recalled.

At first, he said, E.D. Jackson “played a little quarterback,” Plunk said. But then…

“Cameron converted E.D. to a running back, and boy, that worked,” Plunk said. “That’s when Robbie Procell took over at quarterback, and E.D. moved to running back.”

By the way: that combination, a darn good football team that would go on to the land where the Cowboys play, began their season by knocking off the Longview Lobos at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

Two seasons later, though, and coach Cameron had retired.

Plunk’s son, Ken Plunk Jr., took over at quarterback for the Bulldogs, and his love for football developed there – Plunk and his brother David wound up in the profession. Ken Plunk Jr. is now coaching at Amarillo Tascosa.

The early 1990s was a transition period for Kilgore football, one before a dynamic personality would burst onto the scene.

That dynamic personality was none other than Michael Lynn Vallery.

Coach Val.

It would change Kilgore football forever.

But not immediately.

Vallery, in an interview with me last year, explained that when he came in, he wanted to win right off and make a statement.

“I’ll be damned if I didn’t lose my first three games,” Vallery laughed. “And these people had to be thinking, ‘Who is this guy? And what’s he doin’ coming over here from Louisiana?’”

But Vallery’s first win at Kilgore was a 14-6 win over Athens, and there would be more winning to come. Much more. Using an offensive style we know as “Jack-O,” and a defensive style that makes opposing offensive lineman quit – I’m sorry, but it’s true – Vallery would go on to be the all-time winningest coach in Kilgore High School football history.

Along the way: quarterbacks like Rafe Mata, Kyle Ferro, Davon Vinson, and Jeremiah Shepherd would all be leaders of the team at some point.

“Kyle Ferro was one of the better throwers of the ball,” Beane said. “Honestly, he held onto some records there for a while.”

Shepherd, the son of former Major League Baseball standout Ron Shepherd, was the quarterback for a season because of his senior leadership, and gave way to another young man waiting in the wings whose leadership would get Kilgore back to familiar ground.

That young man would be none other than Clint Toon.

Editorializing a bit here: I once called Toon the best high school quarterback I ever had the privilege to watch because he was the smartest. And he had the uncanny knack for knowing when to turn his shoulders, when to avoid the pass rush – sometimes just in the exact moment that the pocked collapsed. And it didn’t often, because guys like Jordan Moore and Billy (now Bill) Slagle were there to make sure Toon was staying upright, a part of a fantastic offensive line.

Toon and the 2003 Kilgore Bulldogs, led by a running game with Briant Sanders, a defense with Arnaldo Periera, Nick Sanders, Trey Sands, Jess Todd, Coty Gatewood, Lee Livesay and so many more, got the Bulldogs to the cusp of state greatness.

Kilgore returned to Texas Stadium and surpassed it, dealing Wylie a loss there. When I asked Vallery about kicking a field goal (by Josh Majors) instead of going for a fourth down in that game, and Kilgore went on to win, Vallery famously answered, “My favorite country song is (Kenny Rogers’) “The Gambler.”

The Ragin’ Red would meet their end that season, though, at Tyler’s Rose Stadium, in what would turn out to be a bitter showdown with Matthew Stafford, Clayton Kershaw and the Highland Park Scots. Kilgore scored and took the lead late. Vallery stared into the sun. “We scored too quick,” he growled, during the game.

And they did. Stafford, the future No. 1 pick, would lead the Scots back downfield and in front for the eventual win.

Not the next season, though.

Beginning with a trip to Greenville, Kilgore lined them up, and knocked them down.

One after another. After another. After another. They all. Went. Down.

Sixteen of them.

Until nobody.

Nobody.

Was.

Left.

Standing.

Except one.

KILGORE.

Nick Sanders came off the edge in that double THUD! THUD! of a moment, and the THUD! THUD! was the best sound: Sanders, the Bulldogs’ speedy defensive back, had not only blocked the kick by Dallas Lincoln in that 4A state championship at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco in 2004, but the ball bounced fortuitously right back into Sanders’ hands.

Sanders had the ball and escorts, all the way back for the game-winning touchdown, beating Dallas Linclon in double overtime, lifting Kilgore to the program’s first-ever state football championship, and in style: a 16-0 season.

The quarterback for that Kilgore team: Chase Fisher, who would play the bulk of the 2004 season and all of the 2005 season as a starter and is the only Kilgore quarterback to this day who can call himself a starter on a state championship team.

We’re hoping that Chase, also known as Roy, has some company on Sunday.

Big, bad man Riley Toler helped Kilgore play John Tyler to overtime in a famous Kilgore-JT homecoming game here, and then after coach Vallery’s retirement, Toler was part of the quick turnaround under Mike Wood. Wood was the defensive coordinator with coach Val, and then after a rough first season, got it going: 9-5 in 2011 improved the ‘Dogs to 11-2 the following year and – get this – a loss to none other than Stephenville in the third round in Mansfield.

Cooper Coldiron, who could do it all on the field and on the baseball diamond, was the Bulldogs’ signal-caller for that 2012 team.

His teammate, Benny Colbert, was just as good if not better on defense, as a defensive back, and then took the reins for Coldiron the following year.

That would chill the hearts of the opposition. Maybe you’ve heard of “Respect the K”?

Colbert, Aaron Foy, DQ Scott (now an assistant with Kilgore) and those guys helped put that ‘K’ on that helmet. And courtesy of Wody Lynn (former Bulldog Cody Murphy), here it is…

Under the rock-steady guidance of Wood, the Ragin’ Red would return to the state championship game, this time after the UIL had relocated all the games to a one-week dynamo at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, the spectacle it’s known as today.

By the way, again, the Bulldogs’ opponent in 2013, in the state semifinals in an old-West-style showdown in Corsicana: Stephenville. Although this time, a year later, in a driving wind, the Yellowjackets were no match for a Kilgore defense that spent the whole afternoon attacking quarterback Jarett Stidham, who had absolutely nowhere to run. It was a blowout.

A state title win, though, was not in the cards this time. There were some circumstances beyond Kilgore’s control. Wood’s father passed away shortly before the state championship game, and Kilgore arrived as a team right before the game began; Carthage, the opponent, was already on site and had stayed the night, ready for the weird game-time the following morning.

Kilgore lost the 2013 title game, and even though Wood and the Bulldogs were often competitive, especially with Dalton McElyea at quarterback, there were obstacles, like in-district rival Lindale in 2020.

That brings us to the now, doesn’t it? Clint Fuller came to town – we should say “returned” to town, because he grew up here, watching his dad Phil engineer defensive masterpieces for Kilgore College football back in the 1980s. Fuller seems to be a mastermind himself, as Kilgore went 11-2 his first season in 2021, 10-4 his second season, and 12-2 his third, all ending, unfortunately, in losses to a Chapel Hill team that seemed much more concerned about beating Kilgore than about moving on from Kilgore afterward.

DaMarion VanZandt helped Fuller by bringing a big frame to the quarterback position in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, a big arm that helped Kilgore continue that famous balanced offense that McElyea established. Then Derrick “DD” Williams slid over into the role, forcing defenders to not only look out for a passing threat but asking them to have to chase Williams down – something Williams wasn’t about to let happen.

And then when Williams was injured in a playoff game in 2023, some might have thought Kayson Brooks would not be ready.

Brooks came in.

Bam… bam… BAM!

Oh, snap.

He’s not only ready… he’s like…

Oh, crap, he’s like great.

That was 27 wins and just four losses ago.

Do you need me to repeat myself?

Kayson Brooks is 27-4 as Kilgore’s starting quarterback.

Last year, he completed 241-of-362 of his passes for 3,673 yards, threw 43 touchdown passes and only nine interceptions. He also ran for 345 yards and had five rushing scores. In just this season alone, Brooks is 203-of-305 for 3,097 yards, a completion percentage of .665, for 28 touchdowns and six interceptions in 15 games. He’s ran for 242 yards and eight touchdowns on 61 carries.

In two seasons of this, two seasons as a starter, Brooks is 444-of-667 for 6,770 yards, 71 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions, passing. He’s ran for 587 yards and 13 touchdowns in his career.

How does that stack up in Kilgore’s record book?

Well, he already owned some records, but before the title game even gets played, Brooks:

• Owns the record for career touchdown passes (71, shattered that one; he had it before the year started and shattered it. Second place is VanZandt (2021-22) with 40, Vinson (1999-2000) and Ferro (1997-98) with 29 each, then McElyea with 27 in 2020.
• Owns the record for TD passes in a season, set last year (43; McElyea (2020) is second, VanZant’s 22 in 2021 was second, Ferro’s 19 (1998) follows, with VanZandt again with 18 in 2022, and Vinson with 15 in 1999).
• Is in a three-way tie for TD passes in a single game with three performances, both he and McElyea. Brooks set it against Lindale twice, oddly enough, against Lindale with five TD passes in 2024, and then McElyea did it with five in 2019 against Lindale and five again in 2020 against Pine Tree.
• Passing yards in a career belongs to him, too: 6,770, and that will move VanZandt (4,182) to second place. Vinson is third (3,378).
• Passing yards in a single season he already owned from last year (3,673), and then this year (3,097). McElyea is in third (2,689, in 2020), and then VanZandt twice (2021 with 2,148 and 2,034 in 2022). Ferro comes in with 1,980 in 1998, and Vinson with 1,788 in 1999.
• Career completions? He’s got that, too, with 444 of them. Van Zandt has 288, Vinson 201, Toler, 188, and McElyea, 179.
• Completions in a season: yes, 241 of them, last year. McElyea’s 179 were in 2020. VanZandt’s 158 were in 2022, and 130 in 2021. Ferro had 122 in 1998, Vinson had 102 in 1999, and Toler, 100 in 2011.
• Career passing attempts: Yes, with 667.
• Passing attempts in a season: That too, 305, last year.