A Tivy basketball program -- from 1978

Tivy High School Basketball program, January 10, 1978.
Click on any image to enlarge.

I’ve been writing a local history column since 1994 – which seems like a very long time. 

Almost every week a kind reader will drop by some historical items: photographs, artifacts, or ephemera. Most of the items are from well before my time, but occasionally an item will arrive from an earlier period of my own life.

When this happens, I feel very old.

Such an item was dropped off a few weeks ago: a basketball program for a Tivy game against Fredericksburg which was played on January 10, 1978. I know most of the players listed in the program, since I graduated with most of them from Tivy the following year, 1979.

The program not only shows photos of some of the players, but also team statistics and advertising from local businesses. 

Of the five businesses with advertisements in this program, only Gibson’s Discount Center, Kerrville Drug, and the two Dairy Queens are still around. Schreiner’s and First National Bank ceased to operate decades ago.

Under “Tivy Antler Basketball Records,” outstanding players from years before 1978 were listed. I remember some of those players. 

Willie Bratcher (’67-’68) scored 708 points in a single season; William Fifer scored 1412 points during his high school basketball career (’71-’74).

I wonder how many of those individual records still stand today.

The coaching staff is also listed, and two of the coaches are still in Kerrville, though no longer coaching: Phil Demasco and Stuart Caulkins. Others listed may also be residents here, but I do not know.

As for the players shown in the program, several have made their homes here. Lane Taylor, Curtis Finley, and Guy Overby are Kerr County residents.

Lane Taylor has long been associated with Ingram, both as a resident and working at T. J. Moore Lumber.

Curtis Finley joined his family’s insurance business many years ago, and recently served our community as a trustee on the Kerrville Independent School Board.

Guy Overby ran a local business, served as the executive director of the Kerr Economic Development Foundation, and also served as a Kerr County Commissioner.

I hope I haven’t missed someone!

Looking at the photographs of the Tivy players, I remember almost all of them. One thing I noticed in particular: they were all so very young in 1978!

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who thinks he attended that Tivy-Fredericksburg game. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead January 23, 2025.