By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Fifty years ago, back in 1965, Brownsville had just one high school.
At that point, “The Split,” which eventually resulted in high schools at Hanna, Porter and Pace, was still several years away in the 1970s.
Back then, Brownsville High fielded athletic teams that represented the entire city. And thanks to the combined talents of athletes from across Brownsville, there were some pretty strong ball clubs, particularly in baseball and football.
The ones who came together from the city’s middle schools to play baseball for the Eagles during the mid-1960s at Brownsville High were already familiar with each other. They had played with and against one another since their days of youth baseball, a number of them products of East Brownsville Little League and West Brownsville Little League.
When the 1965 Eagles made it all the way to the state final in Class 4A — the UIL’s largest classification at the time — it was a feat that hadn’t happened before and hasn’t happened since in baseball at any of the city’s six current public high schools. Actually, the only Rio Grande Valley baseball teams to make it that far in the state playoffs besides the Eagles were Mercedes in 1974 and 1986 and Harlingen South in 2007. The Tigers and Hawks also reached the state finals, and sadly, just like the Eagles, weren’t able to win it all.
One-time Brownsville private school Villa Maria was a state champion in baseball.
Brownsville High’s historic 30-8 season came to an end with a 14-0 loss to Dallas Samuell in the 4A state final in Austin on June 16, 1965.
Despite that setback, the Eagles’ journey to the state title game half a century ago was nothing short of amazing.
Sparked by the left-handed pitching duo of Charlie Vaughan and Tony Barbosa, a rarity both then and now, the 1965 Eagles were a unique team to behold. By the playoffs, they were drawing standing-room-only crowds to old Lions Park/Eagle Field — originally called 36 Diamond — once located at present day Skinner Elementary and across the street from St. Joseph Church on West Saint Francis Street.
The 1965 Eagles were a team that thrived thanks to strong pitching, steady defensive play and speed on the bases. The hits and runs the Eagles got were timely, although often not many. And the camaraderie among the players and coaches was second to none.
“They were just a great mix of very coachable kids who never did anything you asked them to do less than 100 percent,” said Joe Rodriguez, who coached the Eagles in baseball, basketball and football before becoming the Brownsville ISD athletic director and a BISD school board member. “It was a team that had two extraordinary players on the mound. There wasn’t anything like them around before, and there hasn’t been anything like them since.
“That season was one of the most memorable times in my life,” Rodriguez added. “I loved those guys then and I love those guys now.”
Besides Vaughan and Barbosa, who alternated playing first base at times when they weren’t pitching, the starting infield included Raul Barreda, who also played first, Cesar de la Garza at second, Rene Torres at shortstop and Arnie Alvarez at third. Ramiro Barreda was the catcher. The outfield consisted of Tony Tamayo in left field, Art Galvan in center and Sergio Manzano in right. The Barredas were twin brothers.
Others on the Eagles’ squad to round out the 19-player roster that season included Chris Carpenter, Louis Huff, Ruben Delgado, Prax Garcia Jr., Jack Harding II, Ronnie Humphreys, Henry Martinez, Albert Solitaire and Tommy Hughston.
Ramiro Barreda, Alvarez, Tamayo and Vaughan, all seniors, were team captains.
“It was a journey that very few kids get to experience, especially back during that era,” said Torres, a retired college instructor and longtime South Texas baseball historian. “We didn’t really understand what that journey meant until later in life. I didn’t ever anticipate the kind of success we had. There were good crowds and the whole city supported us. It was a fun experience.”
Joe Rodriguez was assisted by Ramon Rodriguez (no relation), who later served as BISD assistant athletic director under “Coach Joe.”
Manuel “Meme” Torres was the team trainer, and Roddy Rodriguez, son of Ramon Rodriguez, was the bat boy.
Ramon Rodriguez died Feb. 11, 1995. Other members of the team that have died are Alvarez, Tamayo, Carpenter and Solitaire.
To fully understand just how dominant the Eagles’ stellar left-handed pitching tandem was that season, it takes only a quick review of the stats.
Vaughan went 13-3 for the Eagles in 1965. He threw a pair of no-hitters that season and finished with 203 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings with an ERA of 0.39. He recorded double digit strikeouts during 13 of his 15 starts as a senior, including 20 in a 3-0, no-hit district victory on the road against McAllen High on April 20, 1965.
As a 1965 Brownsville High graduate, Vaughan passed up college scholarship offers, including one from the University of Texas, and went directly to the pros, pitching briefly for the Atlanta Braves. One month shy of his 19th birthday, Vaughan defeated the Houston Astros 12-2 on Sept. 3, 1966, with Joe Torre as his catcher.
“It was just an awful lot of fun to play on that ‘65 team,” said Vaughan, whose major league career was cut short by injuries. “We were a very loose, fun-loving group of guys. ‘Coach Joe’ challenged us and kept us focused (on winning).”
Barbosa, a junior that season, was equally as impressive with a 12-1 mark, his only loss coming in the state final. Barbosa threw three no-hitters for the Eagles in 1965, including a 2-0 perfect game against Harlingen High that lasted only 1 hour, 20 minutes. That season, Barbosa recorded 139 strikeouts in 91 1/3 innings with an ERA of 1.01.
Barbosa, who went a combined 29-2 with five no-hitters during his junior and senior seasons for the Eagles, later pitched for then-Pan American University in Edinburg before going to the pros and rising to the Triple-A level and playing in the Mexican League. He also later was the baseball coach at Pace, Porter and Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
“Charlie was completely overpowering, and my style of pitching was more finesse,” Barbosa said. “I’d get my strikeouts because I had a good curveball. I didn’t think I was as good as Charlie mainly because I didn’t throw as hard. I was getting 10 strikeouts or so against opponents that Charlie might get 15 against, and to me, that felt very rewarding.”
Added Torres, “We weren’t a team to score eight or nine runs. If we scored one or two runs, that was enough (to win) with Charlie and Tony, our lefties, on the mound.”
At the plate, Alvarez led the Eagles with a .478 regular-season batting average, and de la Garza came next with a .385 average. Barbosa was third on the team with a .353 average.
“We were talking about it (at a 50th anniversary reunion of the team recently), and no one could recall that any of our guys was ever thrown out stealing a base,” Rodriguez said. “That’s how fast we were on the bases. One time we took four players from the baseball team and raced against the track team’s sprint relay. We beat them running in tennis shoes.
“That’s one of the reasons I’ll always fondly remember that team as Brownsville’s ‘Boys of Summer’ in ’65,” Rodriguez added. “No one had ever gone that far (in the playoffs), and it was just a very special group of ballplayers.”
The 1965 Eagles are scheduled to be honored at Saturday’s 28th annual RGV Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Port Isabel Events Center.
For ticket information regarding the banquet, call (956) 227-6563 or (956) 495-4687.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected] . On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.