Rudder: From Leader to Legend

4. Coaching Years, 1933–1941

Rudder’s year-long search for a job ended in April 1933 when he was offered a position at Brady, Texas, High School to start in September. He accepted without knowing the salary and was on the job when it was approved at one hundred dollars a month for the nine-month school year. He was expected to coach football and basketball while teaching history, mathematics, and chemistry. Without teaching experience, he would learn about teaching while teaching. Years later he acknowledged that “planning those courses was quite an education for me.”1 His daily routine was to teach for the first five periods before going to the gymnasium to prepare for team practices after school. He did not complain about the workload or the salary. At last he was doing what he wanted to do and, by chance, was exactly where he wanted to be. Rudder’s arrival in Brady (population about four thousand) was splashed across the front page of the Brady Standard, along with his photograph and the caption: “The Brady School Board was fortunate in securing the services of Earl Rudder, former Texas A&M star.” L. B. “Smitty” Smith, the sports editor , praised Rudder’s experience and preparation at Texas A&M and Tarleton College, leaving no doubt that Rudder was well qualified to coach football.2 Nothing was mentioned about his qualifications to teach history or chemistry , and they could hardly have been worse. One year of chemistry was required for his degree; he twice attempted the first half at Tarleton College, managing to pass it the second time with a C, and he completed the second half at Texas A&M, also with a C. His interest in history rivaled Henry Ford’s, whose quip, “History is bunk,” was more widely quoted at the time than anything said by a historian. In five years of college Rudder enrolled for exactly one history course—not once but twice, because he failed the first time; he got by with a C on second effort. Furthermore, the course, History 305 at Texas A&M, was history in name only; the actual subject matter was state and federal government.3 So it was that history—one of the most subtle and elusive of all subjects—was assigned to a poorly prepared coach who was sent to the classroom without CHAPTER 4 COACHING YEARS 1933–1941 54 CHAPTER 4 broad knowledge of the subject matter or insight about the issues other than the commonplace interpretations found in textbooks. In this mismatch Rudder continued a combination that became a deplorable practice. In spite of his initial deficiencies , Earl was a popular teacher and respected by his students, some of whom became outstanding teachers, university professors, and medical doctors. He succeeded by his native intelligence, his diligence , and his likeable personality. He overcame his shortcomings by studying at night and concentrating on the welfare of his students. When he married in 1937 after four years of teaching, he knew the subject matter, but he still “burned the midnight oil,” his bride lamented, “preparing for his classes.”4 Rudder did not compromise academic standards for his players, even the stars. “You got what you made,” recalled Bill Roberts, who played under him for three years. “He did not overlook anything. Whatever he did, he was fair about it, and it didn’t matter if you were captain of the football team, you had to do your work. It didn’t make any difference if he liked you or not, he’d help you but he expected you to do your part. We tried not to get behind because we knew he wouldn’t pass us, and we wouldn’t be able to play.”5 CHICK WILLIAMSON As 1933 was the turning point of Rudder’s professional life, so it was for his personal life. That summer he began seeing the young woman he would marry four years later. Her name was Margaret Williamson, called “Chick” until mid-life. She had just completed her freshman year at the University of Texas and was home for the summer with her family on their ranch near Menard. Rudder during the first year of his appointment as a teacher and coach at Brady High School. (Bulldog, Brady High School, 1934) COACHING YEARS 55 Chick—the valedictorian of her class of thirty-six students in Menard’s high school in 1932—smiled easily and often. Her voice was low, vibrant, and not soon...