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BOOKISH TEXAS EVENTS

3.29.2015

TODAY:

#5 THROUGH
#1

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Texas Reads >> archive
Glenn Dromgoole

 

 

El Paso football coach fought discrimination

Gaines Baty has written an interesting book about his father’s impressive and principled success as a high school football coach in El Paso in the early 1950s.

 

Champion of the Barrio (Texas A&M University Press, $24.95 hardcover) tells the story of Buryl Baty, a Texas A&M quarterback in the 1940s who went on to produce winning high school teams at Luling and then El Paso Bowie. The book focuses on his years at Bowie, when he not only coached but inspired, influenced and stood up for his all-Hispanic team from the Segundo Barrio.

 

The school, which had enjoyed little success in football before Baty came along, won two district championships and was on its way to a third when Baty’s life tragically ended. He was only 30 years old. The author, his son Gaines, was only 4.

 

The lessons Baty taught his players had a great impact on them for the rest of their lives, and many of them are quoted in the book.

 

Gaines Baty tells how his father was a pioneer, “a champion for equality,” in fighting blatant prejudice and discrimination that his players had to endure in the early 1950s, especially during road games outside of El Paso.

 

Two games in particular are highlighted, and both took place in Snyder —in 1952 and 1954, ten years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, etc.

 

Gaines Baty tells how the team had to suffer racial slurs at a restaurant before the 1954 game and then from school officials, players and referees during the game. Snyder beat Bowie 19–0, but after the game Coach Baty told his team: “There were two contests going on here tonight: one of character and the other of football. You won the more important one.”

 

Author Baty said of his father: “I did not know my father well, or for every long. Now, I’ve finally met him. I realize that he is alive inside me, and inside my children. And he has inspired me. This man lives in the hearts of many. I’m proud to pass on his inspiration to future generations.”

 

Former player David Canales concurred: “I try to live up to his example every day.”

 

The El Paso Bowie stadium was named for Buryl Baty in 1998, and Baty was elected to the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.

 

Gaines Baty founded and directs an executive search firm in Dallas and was himself a football star at Texas Tech and is a member of the Garland, Texas, Sports Hall of Fame.

 

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Glenn Dromgoole is co-author of 101 Essential Texas Books. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Read his past Texas Reads
columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.

 

 

 

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LONE STAR LISTENS interviews
>> archive
Susan Witting Albert:
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Kay Ellington, Editor & Publisher

 

Kejia Parssinen played basketball competitively throughout middle and high school. In many ways, her new novel The Unraveling of Mercy Louis (Harper, 2015) is a tribute to all the girls she met on that journey: her coaches, the ones on her team, and the few Mercys she played against, the ferocious girls who left her awe-struck as they lit up the scoreboard, as they owned the court, the day, the season, the town. We corresponded with her during her recent Texas book tour.

 

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Welcome back to Texas. What’s it like to set foot on Lone Star soil again?

 

KEJIA PARSSINEN: It’s always wonderful to be home. I love waking up in my mother’s house, in the neighborhood where I grew up. The sun rising over the hills, the early morning mist in the live oaks, the mourning doves calling—these things are so familiar and comforting to me. I was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there until I was twelve, when my family then moved to Austin. For a while, I didn’t know where to tell people I was “from,” but now it feels so natural and good to say I’m from Texas. It has truly become home to me, even if I no longer live here.  >> more

​Second Annual Dallas Book Festival set for April 18

The Second Annual Dallas Book Festival (formerly the International Book Fair) will be held at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library Saturday, April 18, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

 

In 2006 the Dallas International Book Fair presented annual literary events showcasing works by internationally acclaimed authors as well as national, regional and local authors representing diverse regions of the world. The event was renamed in February 2014 as the Dallas Book Festival with a purpose to continue the goal of promoting a love for books, reading and literacy through multilingual and multicultural activities with a focus on spotlighting the city of Dallas and its wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity.

>> read more

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San Antonio Book Festival slated for

Sat., April 11, 2015

 

More than 75 acclaimed national and regional authors at engaging readings, panel discussions, book sales and signings. Check out the full lineup and schedule here.

 

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Authors, bookstores, festivals draw book lovers and writers statewide

 

We polled our staff—in a most informal but serious way—about the places in Texas that fueled their bookish imaginations. What literary  destinations called to them, to get out the map, get in the car, and go? Was it a whim to attend a festival, a desire to follow in a favorite author's footsteps, an urge to browse the shelves of an unusual bookshop, a hunt for a novel's real-life inspiration? Find out what we decided—and whether you agree. >> read more

Texas's Top Ten Bookish Destinations 2015

TODAY:

#5 THROUGH #1

and honorable mentions

LAST WEEK:

#10 THROUGH #6

​Full slate of book events at
second annual Wildcatter Exchange March 27-29

The Wildcatter Exchange, Fort Worth’s South Main Village second annual celebration of the written word in all its various forms, is set for March 27-29 in the following locations: Landers Machine Shop 207 E. Broadway; Starr Conspiracy 122 S. Main Street, Amphibian Theatre 120 S. Main Street, J.O. Design 440 S. Main Street, Shipping & Receiving 201 S. Calhoun Street. >> read more

​2015 Texas Author Series continues Mar. 23
at Abilene Public Library with "Football"

The Texas Author Series is an extension of the West Texas Book Festival and allows the Friends of the Library to present free public programs in the spring. Funds from the festival underwrite the Texas Author Series. This spring’s series includes five programs, featuring history, mystery, football, romance and inspiration.

 

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All the programs begin at noon at the Abilene Public Library downtown. A delicious lunch is served at 11:45 for just $5, or you may bring your own. Books are available for purchase and signing.

>> read more

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Writespace to hold first Open House and Faculty Reading Series March 20-21

 

HOUSTON  – Writespace, a non-profit literary organization, announces its first Open House and Faculty Reading Series to be held Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21. Faculty readings will be held both nights at 7:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public, and $15.00 Writespace Gift Certificates will be awarded to all who attend. >> read more

​Austin International Poetry Festival April 10-11

The Naturalist Poet: Finding Inspiration for Poetry through Texas Natural History >> read more

 

Easter book event for kids Mar. 19, George W. Bush Childhood Home in Midland

The George W. Bush Childhood Home will be holding a FREE reading event for children of all ages in the Visitor Center Thursday, March 19, from 4:30-5:30 PM.  Children will read a few books including the feature book "Queen of Easter," and each child will receive a copy of the book to call their own. >> read more