Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football

by Jim Dent

In ten games that season, the Masonic Home outscored its opponents by the aggregate of 216–37. Still, they were going nowhere fast and were still regarded to be among the bottom-feeders of Texas high school football. Few people knew that Russell was working on a plan that would attract a lot of attention to the Masonic Home and shake up the structure of high school football in Texas. When the Masons finished the 1931 season with an 11-0-1 record, and won the Class B regional championship by the score of sixty to zip over Clarendon, he decided to spring it on the public. Russell wanted to play with the big boys. No, the Masonic Home did not come close to qualifying for the Class-A level. They had about one-tenth the enrollment of most of the Fort Worth schools. The dictatorial Texas Interscholastic League would never approve of his little scheme. But Russell knew about a backdoor. There was a little-known provision that would allow the local district to accept teams that did not meet the enrollment requirement of five hundred students. Russell had already canvassed the six coaches of District 7A and knew he had the votes. The door was open for a bold, sweeping move into Class A—the major leagues of high school football. In the spring of 1932, District 7A of Fort Worth welcomed the orphans. This was major news across the state, as it meant the district was defying the powerful TIL. It meant a new day was dawning in Texas high school football. Some people would accept it with...