Masonic Home, the tiny orphanage on the east side of town, was the classic underdog—skinny kids with tattered jerseys, bony knees, and dirt-smudged faces. Corsicana, in turn, represented the muscled-up bully that ruled the playground. Naturally, the local bookies had made the Tigers a fourteen-point favorite. Boone, whose column was called “Pop’s Palaver,” had labored overtime explaining to his readers how the little band of orphans had come so far so fast: In the first place, it is just short of phenomenal that a team of such power and brilliance could be culled from the smallest Class-A high
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