Glory Days

This will be dedicated to the athletic achievements, highs, lows and in between in the sports career of me, your author and aspiring literary leader.

As a child and youth I gravitated and enjoyed hanging out at WAYA. What was W.A.Y.A.? The West Austin Youth Association. WAYA was a youth athletic compound with multiple indoor gyms, baseball fields, pool tables, offices, sports camps, activities, counselors and more. It was a jock kid's Disneyland.

Early on for some reason, I became really fond of playing basketball. Traditional real hoops basketball. I played all the time, pick up games after school, team youth leagues, summer camps, etc. It was a year round joy. Like anything you practice and get paid guidance on, I became a top tier "baller". How good? As a child, one of the best. At the Rodney Page basketball camp, I often recall leaving on the final day with usually between 3 to 7 trophies. Each for a different basketball category. Most of the trophies I actually won fair and square. They were live competition trophies, and not judgmental subjective counselor gifts.

A different youth basketball camp I attended every summer was the Texas Future Stars Camp. It was lead by a former Univ. of Texas lettermen, Bill W. whom also played for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA for a bit I think. This camp was wonderful too! The Camp possessed Talented counselors, Westlake newer facilities, and guest talk visits by former and current NBA PRO players. Avery Johnson then an NBA Spur, at 5-10' in height would inspire us with his speeches on hard work, faith, practice and determination. Tommy Penders Jr. the son of the former University Coach was also a counselor. He was a lefty white player like me. Tommy Jr. was an entertaining, informative and fun basketball guidance counselor. At this particular camp, there was more competition from the fellow campers, but I still did very well. There were few times, I lost to anybody, one on one. I could run, score, rebound, pass, and win with the best of them. Again, I often was awarded trophies for performance at this camp too.

Our youth league basketball teams were usually coached by my father, and I also got to play with my little brother, John S. My father was a caring, punctual fun coach, and my little brother was a knock down three point shooter and talented guard in his own right. We often won the league championships! We were the rafter, banner creating, "Boston Celtics" of WAYA. To this day, I should probably be inducted into the WAYA, youth hall of fame.

During these youthful days below 14, I played others sports too. In 6th grade I was the lead quarterback of the West Austin Corsairs football team. We ended the year with a spectacular record at 8-2. One of the losses to the Raiders ended up being voided, as the Raiders two star players were over the required age and weight limits. The other loss to the South Austin Cowboys, happened because our star running back J.R. was absent. My favorite personal highlight from this particular season was intercepting the Westlake Chaps quarterback, Alvin C. AND THEN returning it back 80 yards for the game winning score. Corsairs 13, Chaps 7.

Moving towards Middle School, I continued to play both Basketball and Football. We had excellent teams. In basketball I continued to start at guard, and in football on offense I played wing, and corner-back on defense.

In high school, the athletic prowess, progress and glory continued. In football as a freshmen wide receiver, I caught touchdowns from Adam W. As a sophomore I made the Varsity Basketball Team. That was a sweet promotion. That year, there were 3 sophomores total on the Varsity term, me, Tal S., and Dion. Dion had already made the Varsity as a Freshmen. We, Austin High won the District Championship my Junior Year.

In high school football junior year, our Austin High Maroon Football team was getting trounced by Westlake High. The scoreboard was circa 45 to ZERO at halftime. In the second half, somehow I made it through the enemy front line, BLOCKED the punter's punt, and then tapped the football to myself. With the football now in hand, I ran it back myself for a Touchdown. I generated all the glory on that play. Final Score, Westlake 62, Austin High (George Vance McGee) 7.

Honestly, I wasn't great at every sport. I humbly sucked at baseball. I knew when I asked my Cardinals Coaches if I could BUNT, instead of swing away. Baseball was not the best sport for me. Who wants to wear polyester pants in the summer anyway?

With this spring time season void, I needed a replacement. It was then, when one of my best friends older brother introduced to Lacrosse. The game was awkward at first, but lively, new, unique and fun. I enjoyed the physical, running elements, and excitement of the action. With more practice and coaching I slowly got better. By the time, senior year rolled around, I was a confident goal scoring machine. Right to the cage. How good? ALL STATE SELECTION worthy. When coach Rich W. called my name with the All-State honor, it was a smiley day! Our Senior Year of Lacrosse Team at Austin High was glorious, with the help of Kit M., Graham B, Matt P, Ben Sklar, and more, we kicked ass. Our average margin of victory was 10 to 15 goals. Often when we were winning by say 19-3, our coach would "call off the dogs" and make us pass, run plays, and purposely not score. That was a great fun team!

So...by the time Senior Year of High School had come to fruition, I was a contributing starting player, letter man, and proven athlete on 3 major sports teams, simultaneously. Basketball, Football and Lacrosse. At the time, there were no other student athletes with an athletic resume, whom could compare. I was in full glory days jock mode.

So George did it continue? Did it ever crash down on you? Well luckily I was never seriously injured while playing any of the games, practices or sports. To this day, I have lucked out and not had a serious medical sports injury. Knock on wood. I also played Lacrosse for the University of Texas for 3 years. Although it was often too time consuming, it was an honor to hit the field and have TEXAS #5 on your jersey. That was cool!

It was after college, that the GLORY athletic DAYS ended. I never became a professional athlete. Oh well. The glory could not last forever. In present time, as a thirty something full grown man and adult, I still have athletic skills. The "thing" for former jocks in this age demographic is triathlons. I've thought about training, and entering a triathlon, but despite my joy for outdoor swimming and biking, I loathe running and jogging for no reason.