PIGSKIN PREVIEW: Rattlers hoping to build on tradition

The saying goes — if history is not learned, it will repeat itself. Daniel Hutchins is hopeful that’s not true when it comes to rebuilding Tucumcari Rattlers football.

The second-year coach is trying to solidify a future by looking to the program’s past.

“We’re trying to build a lot of community support and commitment,” said Hutchins, We want to get as many people wearing purple as possible.”

Each Tucumcari home game will feature ceremonies to honor a different community segment.

The 1959 team, which ended on a nine-game winning streak after losses to Clovis and Dalhart, Texas, will be honored when the Rattlers host New Mexico Military Institute Sept. 4.

Two weeks later, the 2002 state championship squad will be the featured group. Hutchins said the uniforms from that squad are still in use by the Rattler JV program, but the varsity will borrow them for the night to create a “throwback” feeling.

“We’re trying to get it across to our guys that you play for a team with a long tradition,” Hutchins said. “It’s an honor to put on that Rattler jersey and that Rattler helmet and it means something.”

A.W. Hancock, a senior left end on that ’59 squad, said the team was senior-loaded, so “that was the year we had to do it.”

Longtime assistant W.A. Wise stepped up to take over the varsity, and Hancock said Wise didn’t succumb to small-town arguments over whose kid gets playing time.

“Coach Wise didn’t put up with any of that,” Hancock said. “He played whoever deserved to play.”

The Rattlers were tough on the run, sending eight men to the line most plays, and were tough to stop on the run with the Power I.

But there were growing pains, as the squad went 0-2 against Clovis and Dalhart. But then a win over Portales started the momentum.

“That made us football players,” Hancock said of the early losses. “We got down and dirty.”

Vic Baum, who was a sophomore on the squad, said after the team beat the Rams, they knew they had something special.

“ It was a fun time,” Baum said. “Those were great times. The team just jelled.”

Triumph came on Thanksgiving Day, when the Rattlers hosted Aztec and won 13-7.

Hutchins said the traditions set by the previous championship teams are only part of the story.

He mentions the detailed history book written by Billy Jack Turnbeaugh five years ago. He brings up Mick David, who was offered a contract by the Minnesota Vikings, and Stan David, who played for the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos and the late Rod David, who died before graduating but had athletic offers from 38 Division I schools.

“What we want to do is latch on to that. It’s much bigger than all of us,” Hutchins said. “We want to take that seriously and honor that and make those people proud.”

Hutchins thinks it’s already working.

When the Rattlers were knocked out of the playoffs last year, they had 21 on the roster. When two-a-day practices started, Tucumcari had 42 players and the number could go up to 60 before the opening kickoff Friday at Carrizozo.

Other ceremonies will include first responders (Oct. 9), veterans (Oct. 23) and a ceremony to be determined Oct. 30.