An old attic once held a Texas treasure
1914 uniform of Longhorns-ex was hidden for decades11:15 PM CDT on Saturday, May 16, 2009
When word got out about an estate sale at ol' Mrs. Weems' place, two doors down, Buddy Laughlin said no, thanks.
"That woman ain't got nothin' I'd be interested in."
But you never can tell what you might find in a box in an old woman's attic.
Like a 1914 University of Texas football uniform, intact from leather helmet and curious rubber nose guard all the way down to the square toe on the right shoe.
Turns out the gray, orange and khaki ensemble belonged to Mrs. Weems' father. In 1914, his senior season, Len Barrell scored 121 points for Texas, a record that stood 83 years, until Ricky Williams broke it in 1997.
Barrell, who played several positions and kicked extra points, also was the first Longhorn to rush for more than 100 yards in a game. He hung 162 on Baylor in '14, a perfect season, the year before the Southwest Conference was formed.
After lettering four years at Texas, Barrell eventually settled in Meridian, where he opened a Ford dealership, built a home, stowed his uniform in its attic and, until the day he died in 1975, never gave anyone at Texas a clue that he had something his alma mater might want for a trophy case.
But he did tell the Meridian paper when he was inducted into UT's Hall of Honor in 1972.
The first Laughlin heard about the vintage uniform was after Mrs. Weems died in her daddy's house, and someone from out of state bought the Longhorn memorabilia at the estate sale.
With $3,000 his wife loaned him, Laughlin bought the uniform back and put it up for auction last week.
Laughlin and his brother-in-law, Dennis Behm, had no idea what their investment might be worth. But Behm, a retired French horn professor at Southern Miss, had experience selling on eBay. Needing a model for a picture to post online, he found a former student who was about Barrell's size, 145 pounds.
Behm took great care with the uniform, which, except for a few moth holes and a small tear in the pants, was in remarkably good condition.
And for the first time in almost a century, someone filled it out.
"He did his best to strike the Heisman pose," Behm said of his model, "but he's a French horn player, not a football player."
Online bidders were perplexed by the nose guard. Some told Behm it was meant to protect a more delicate area.
"But it has air holes in it," Behm said, "and you could see Len Barrell's teeth marks."
The proud new owner of Barrell's uniform: an unidentified New Yorker who ended up paying $14,500.
Not a bad profit for Laughlin, who kept a football from 1913 stamped with Barrell's name. He took a lesson from the episode, as well.
"From now on, whenever anyone calls about an estate sale," he said, "I'm going."
■ After Wayman Tisdale put in three All-America seasons at Oklahoma and 12 good ones in the NBA, he returned to his first love. Even toured last month as an accomplished jazz bassist before dying Friday after a two-year bout with cancer. He was 44. As Abe Lincoln said, it's not the years in a life, it's the life in the years. ...
■ Asked to compare his indoor practice facility with the Cowboys' "tension structure," Hebron football coach Brian Brazil told our Matt Wixon, "I don't think ours could've been approved if it was built that way." Brazil is no engineer, and neither am I, but it's interesting that local high schools spent more on their domes than Jerry Jones did. ...
■ Two Mavs evoked Avery Johnson's name in exit interviews Thursday, and one was Dirk Nowitzki, not exactly a fan. Nowitzki and Josh Howard said Johnson promoted a defensive identity the team now lacks. ...
■ Give Rick Carlisle credit for adapting on the fly, though. Besides giving Jason Kidd the keys at mid-season, he hired former Mav Darrell Armstrong, who "helped me through a lot," Howard says. ...
■ Count Nowitzki relieved that his boss, Mark Cuban, didn't make it to Denver for Game 5: "I think it would have gotten even more ugly if he'd been there." ...
■ If you need only one explanation for the Rangers' improved play, try the Mark Teixeira trade. For a guy who wasn't going to re-sign, Jon Daniels got a big-time shortstop ready at 20 (Elvis Andrus) and a left-handed starter (Matt Harrison) and catcher (Jarrod Saltalamacchia) coming into their own. Throw in their top prospect (pitcher Neftali Feliz), and that's four reps from the most important positions on the field. ...
■ Of the darts in A-Rod's hide, none hurts more than the professed determination of Cal Ripken, one of his heroes, to learn why A-Rod used steroids. ...
■ John Elway says he's "happy" for his son, Jack, a redshirt freshman quarterback at Arizona State who quit this spring. Because you have the genes of a Hall of Famer doesn't mean you inherit the will. Just the pressure. ...
■ An Eastern Nazarene (Mass.) College official says they changed from "Crusaders" to "Lions" because the old mascot failed to promote a "positive message of Christian love." So they went for a mascot that used to eat them.