At first when Gary Keithley, who is originally from Alvin, Texas, and now lives in Durant, got the phone call from a Waco, Texas, phone number, he didn’t believe it was legitimate. He thought that one of his golfing buddies was playing a joke on him. But the guy called back and convinced him that it was true. He told Keithley that he had been voted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. The induction would take place on May 10 in Waco on the Baylor University campus and the press conference would be at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
“I thought it was a joke,” said Keithley during a conversation. “But he finally convinced me that it was the real deal. I was really surprised.”
Each year, players are nominated for six different age groups, 1969 and before, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s as well as two coaches are selected. There is a selection committee that elects new members into the Hall of Fame each year from the nominations that are sent into the Hall of Fame.
This year, Keithley was selected for the 1969 and before category. This was a special year for the Hall of Fame in that two NFL and former Texas high school greats were also inducted. Robert Griffin III was selected and represented the 2000s players and Patrick Mahomes II was selected and represented the 2010s players. Both Griffin and Mahomes were selected the first year they were eligible. Even as great as they were and are currently, both were as humble and thankful in answering questions at the press conference and even signed a few autographs. The press conference and the induction ceremony were very well done, and it is obvious that being inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame was a great honor for all the inductees.
Keithley has football and family ties here in Durant. His daughter, Amy, was an athletic trainer at Baylor University when ex Durant All-stater Tony Tubbs was a linebacker there on the Baylor team. They eventually married and moved back to Tubbs’ hometown. When Keithley was done with his coaching and teaching career, he and the rest of the family moved to Durant.
The Alvin Yellowjackets had two outstanding athletes to graduate from the school, Gary and Nolan Ryan. During the Hall of Fame press conference that was held prior to the actual induction, Keithley was asked if he had ever played baseball since Nolan Ryan, was a legend. Although he played four years of baseball at Alvin, he was very happy he did not have to face Ryan as he was four years older than Keithley plus he hadn’t gotten control of his major league fastball during his high school days.
Keithley was the starting quarterback in high school for three years and earned all-state honors his senior year. He finished in the top five players for passing yards in each of his three seasons. His Yellowjackets lost to Refugio, 55-44 in the state semifinal game when Keithley was a senior. He wasn’t just a quarterback. He was the all-state punter as well. He was known by the Houston media as “Mr. Do Everything.” He set school records with 1789 passing yards and 21 touchdowns. He also scored 15 more touchdowns and averaged 42.5 yards per punt and led Alvin to a 12-1 record. He was recognized as the top QB recruit in Texas by Texas Football.
“I visited so many schools during the recruiting time,” said Keithley. “All the Southwestern Conference schools offered me a scholarship. Notre Dame and LSU offered a scholarship as well. I wound up signing with Texas.”
In 1969 Keithley played on the Freshman team at Texas andhewasonthe1970national champion team. His teams also won the 1970 Southwest Conference championship and the 1971 Cotton Bowl. But Keithley was a passing quarterback and Darrell Royal, the Texas coach (from Oklahoma), ran the wishbone. It wasn’t a marriage that would last long. After two seasons, Keithley changed schools to UTEP where he was the starting quarterback for two seasons and set records for single seasons rushing TDs for quarterbacks and career completion percentage. He was also in the top 10 in the nation for passing, total offense, and punting. He had said he was always proud of that. Also, as a senior Keithley made the All-WAC Academic team.
Keithley was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round in 1973 and played for them for three years mainly as a backup for Jim Hart as well as a punter.
“Jim Hart was my favorite teammate,” Keithley said. “My roommate on away games was Jim Otis from Ohio State. He was really a nice guy. I really liked the coach, Don Coryell. He was a player’s coach.”
After his three-year NFL career with the Cardinals, Keithley played for the Canadian football British Columbia Lions in 1977 and 1978 which ended his playing career.
Keithley tried working in an office environment as an accountant after football, but he realized that was not for him. He wanted to coach football. It took him a year, but he got his master’s degree and got certified to teach and wound up teaching and coaching. After working his way up to head football coach in smaller schools, he eventually became the Cleburne High School head football coach starting in 1996. He coached and then became the athletic director before retiring in 2010.
Keithley and wife Rhonda and family moved to Durant in 2010. Keithley keeps somewhat busy currently as the starter at the Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course. Keithley’s daughter, Amy and husband Tony live in the Durant area. Keithley’s older son, Eric, lives in Wylie, Texas, and is an IT engineer for Penney’s. His younger son, Gary Tom, lives in the Durant area and is the safety manager for the Choctaw Nation. Gary Tom had been drafted by the New York Yankees as a pitcher but did not pursue the possible baseball career.
“You know, looking back, I called all of my plays in junior high and high school,” Keithley started to remember. “My dad and I would throw the football back and forth for hours. It just felt natural to me to throw a football. As an 8–10-year-old, my dad would give me game situations and ask me which play to call to prepare me to be a quarterback. I got pretty good at calling plays. My dad was a single wing tailback and could run and throw passes from that position. He was an All-American at Tulsa University and joined the Navy in 1942 after graduation. He was drafted in baseball by the Dodgers and in football by the Giants. He is also in the University of Tulsa Hall of Fame.”
The induction into the Hall of Fame is a very prestigious event and is highly anticipated by Texas footballers to see who gets selected each year. The Hall of Fame includes such outstanding football players as Sammy Baugh, Drew Brees, Earl Campbell, Forrest Gregg, Craig James, Kliff Kingsbury, Tom Landry, Colt McCoy, Tommy Nobis, Adrian Peterson, Greg Pruitt, Jerry Rhome, Kyle Rote, Lovie Smith and Thurman Thomas just to name a few. This year, following in his dad’s footsteps of being inducted into a Hall of Fame, Keithley made it into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Gary Keithley.
