The next stop on my Small-Town Texas HS Football journey brought me to Hermleigh, Texas—a small West Texas town located just south of Snyder and north of Sweetwater. I have an uncle there named Clarence Spieker. He is the little brother of my 92-year-old grandmother Helen Spieker of San Angelo, who is a bit of a matriarch to our family.
My memories of Uncle Clarence stem back to early family gatherings at my great-grandparent’s little house on Churchill Street in San Angelo. Edwin and Annie Spieker raised five children from their humble beginnings on the Spieker farm near the small community of Eola. I remember getting together often with my aunts, uncles, and cousins to watch them play some dominoes, break some bread, and have some good ole German fun.
In 2020, my uncle received an honor that was even hard for him to believe. The school board in Hermleigh voted unanimously to have Cardinal Stadium renamed after my uncle, Clarence Spieker. He was so caught off guard by the honor that he couldn’t believe it was true until Mark, his son, called him and confirmed it when he read the article in the Snyder news.
And oh, what a stadium it is! Hermleigh’s football field had come a long way from the days when in my interview with Dennie Ray Braswell, he told me that they had to run the cows off the field before they could play the game. The tax revenue from a sea of windmills surrounding the community has allowed the school to build a state-of-the-art complex featuring the Sportturf 419 artificial playing surface courtesy of Carter Construction. The stadium has hosted many playoff games since it was constructed in 2011.
Uncle Clarence and my Aunt Mary met me early in the morning at their humble abode just down the street from the school for our interview. Clarence walked out to greet me in my truck, and as we walked back to the house, I noticed a large pecan tree right there in the front yard. Proudly, Clarence said that his son Mark had picked up a pecan from the neighbor’s yard and poked it in the ground, and despite Clarence mowing it over a couple of times, it kept growing back. It is a huge, beautiful tree today.
Clarence was eager to show me his robust garden, the numerous fruit and pecan trees all over the backyard. One pecan was transplanted from his father’s place in San Angelo, and the pear tree has provided our whole family with pears each year for pies and other recipes. He then took me inside his woodworking shop. It was just what you would imagine, a perfect setup to explore your “Tim the tool man” creativity. We went inside the home to see many pieces of furniture that Uncle Clarence had built or refinished, and Mary was so proud of her amazing collection of miniature creamer cups that she had gathered from their travels all over the world. They both showed me pictures of their son Mark’s and daughter Michelle’s wonderful families, and what they showed me next really left an impression on me. After raising their children, they hosted seven foreign exchange students in their home. Even more, on their travels abroad, they visited all but one of these children in their hometowns all across Europe!
Aunt Mary mentioned an article we did at Texas HS Football in our magazine on Sammy Baugh and his NFL record being broken. They told me that Sammy Baugh’s granddaughter was Clarence’s second-grade teacher. Later in life, he arranged for her to have Sammy autograph two footballs. One was auctioned off, and the other he gave to his son, Mark. After receiving the gift, Mark said, “Sammy Baugh, who is this?” Later, he went online and came back and said, “Dad, did you know Sammy was the first player inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame?” Clarence laughed.
While catching up with my aunt and uncle was so nice; as a reporter for www.TexasHSfootball.com, I was there to interview Coach Spieker. I had prepared a few questions for our interview, and here is what followed:
DP: What made you want to be a coach?
CS: “I started out and wasn’t going to coach. Then my first job was down in Charlotte, and Leroy Starns was the coach, and he asked me to help. In my second year, he gave me the jr high and assistant to High School for three years, and then this job in Hermleigh came open, and it was closer to San Angelo, and it was 6-man, and I knew a little bit about it, and so I took that job to be closer to mom and dad”
Clarence played high school football for the Wall Hawks when they were a 6-Man team. The coaches he had in high school at Wall inspired him to be a coach. J.W. “Spud” Aldridge and Charlie Kelso made him appreciate coaching and community. Later, when Clarence became a coach, Spud, who was by then the head coach at McMurry, often called to check in on him. Clarence said he was really checking to see if there was any 6-man talent he needed to be aware of for recruiting. Spud and Clarence stayed in close contact all the years that he coached.
DP: What was your fondest coaching memory?
CS: The 1984 quarterfinals while coaching at Newcastle, the location, of Comanche, TX. Newcastle was playing Abbott and down at the half 40-14. Clarence said Abbott had an outstanding running back that went on to play college ball. “We can’t panic,” Spieker thought to himself, even though they had never been down like this at any time during their season. The coach kept calm at halftime. He went through his regular routine, checking in with his offense and then with his defense, and made adjustments. Adding to the intensity, Abbott came out and scored again on their first possession in the 3rd quarter to make it 46-14. Spieker’s squad stayed calm and didn’t panic. Mary chimed in that a key to the game was that Abbott had never played a full game all season, they had 45-point mercy ruled all other opponents up to that game, and Coach Spieker had his boys in shape. In the game’s final minute, Newcastle scored and set up for an onside kick. The ball was headed out of bounds, but a Newcastle player ran as hard as he could go and slid, barely keeping the ball in bounds. Then they ended up scoring as time ran out, winning the game 63-61. “Newcastle fans went berserk!” Mary exclaimed.
DP: What was your philosophy for coaching?
CS: “There had to be rules, but there had to be some flexibility in those rules too. I think if the kids could see me work as hard as they were working, they would continue to buy in. The longer I coached, the more I realized it’s not so much what the kids can do for your program, but it is what the program can do for some of the kids. Especially those that never start but stay with the team. Many of those kids come back years later and tell you what the program did for them. It took me a while to realize that. As a young coach, you want to be gung-ho and get it done and get some wins, but you got to look at everything.”
DP: Can you describe the small-town atmosphere as it relates to coaching Texas HS Football?
CS: “I think small towns are like any town, everybody wants to win, but in small towns, I think it’s closer knit because in a lot of small towns, people that grew up there and went to school there remain in those small towns. But the history of that school stays in the community, and I think the community is a little tighter than the large towns. The impact that a coach has… I think that he has to realize, you can’t get lost in a small town, you have to be a part of that community. You have to take part in everything that the community does. Whether it’s a community gathering, whether it’s a church gathering, or whether it’s a school function that doesn’t have anything to do with football, in a small town, coaches need to be a part of that. Not just in the good times but in the problems too, you have to be involved and present and be there to help when somebody needs help.”
DLP: How special was it to have the stadium named after you?
CP: “It was humbling….it was humbling.” DP: “Did you have any idea it was coming?” CS: “No, I did not. The board meets on Tuesdays, and Wednesday morning, I was sitting here drinking coffee, and the superintendent called and said, ‘they voted last night to have the stadium named after you, and I wanted to call you and tell you before it came out in the paper.’ Well, Mary heard a bit of the call and said, ‘what was that about?’ Clarence said, “Don’t tell anybody; I don’t know if it was a joke or not; let’s wait until the paper comes out.” So, a previous student that went to school with Mark saw it online and called Mark. Then Mark called his dad and said, “They’re naming the stadium after you?” “That’s what they told me, but I ain’t telling nobody,” Coach said. Mark said, “Well, people know already.”
Well, sure enough, Coach got a copy of the paper when it came out, and it was official; it was in the paper! Coach concluded, “It was very humbling, but also, I was very proud, for my family, for everybody.”
The conversation led to tales of Coach farming for various farmers in the community in his downtime to make extra money. They shared that they used that extra money to travel all over the country and to Europe many times. As I mentioned earlier, they welcomed seven foreign exchange students into their home and visited all but 1 in their own hometowns. They love to travel, and they love living in their little, small town of Hermleigh, Texas.
I had given Coach a Texas HS Football logoed YETI cup when I first arrived as a gift. Well, when I took a restroom break, the recorder kept rolling. Clarence boasted to Mary, “Did you see my new YETI cup?” Mary said, “Uh, you may think that’s yours. I’m the only one allowed to have a YETI in this house,” Clarence said. “Well, we may have a fight on our hands,” LOL.
DP: One last question before we head over to the football field: What would you like your legacy to be as a coach?
CS: “I’ve never thought about that…I guess that the kids that played for me got something out of it. Not wins and losses, but just got a foundation of what you need to do to be successful. If they can learn that in sports, I think a lot of that carries over to real life, and if they did that, then I’m happy.”
Mary added one final thought:
“He’s the fairest person that I’ve ever met. He treated his kids pretty much the same, all of them. He had his favorites, but they didn’t know it. He’s the most fair person I’ve ever met in my whole life; in anything, whether it be football or whatever, he’s fair.”
I want to thank my Uncle Clarence and Aunt Mary for the wonderful time they shared with me to catch up on family and to talk about Small-Town Texas HS Football.
Also, a special thanks to 3rd-year Hermleigh Cardinal Head Coach Sam Winters and Assistant Coach Heath Gibson for allowing Uncle Clarence and I to walk in on their practice. The Cardinals are coming off three solid winning seasons under Coach Winters and are in one of the most competitive districts in 1A. Here is our preview of that district: https://texashsfootball.com/district-8-1a-division-i-season-preview/
Best of luck this year to the Cardinal Football Team!
Coach Clarence Spieker
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- Record as Head Coach 118-56
- Head Coach at Hermleigh & Newcastle
- 1974-1990 Head Coach Hermleigh and Newcastle
- 3 Appearances in State Quarterfinals
- 1 Appearance in State Semi-Final
- 7 Playoff Appearances
- District Director of Six-Man Coaches Association: 8 years
- President of Six-Man Coaches Association: 2 terms
- Coached Six-Man All-Star Game: 1983
- 6-Man Hall of Fame Inductee: 2008
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