Back for third tour; a talk with Hamrick

BLEEDING BLUE AND GOLD

I’m back and I’m in a new season. I’m on my third tour of Rockdale and Jennifer (the Blonde) and I are very excited about being back. Everyone may not know me, so let me introduce myself. I’m an old Rockdale Tiger (Class of 1982) and I bleed blue and gold. Go Tigers!

I spent several years in business, had some successes and some failures. We have gotten the opportunity to live in some great cities like San Francisco, Denver and St. Louis and we have been all over Texas.

God called me into the ministry as a second career and I have served as a pastor for the last 23 years. Right now I am going to be reporting on Tiger sports and planting a new church called Connect Church in Rockdale.

I have been writing in the religious section for a long time.

Jennifer, my high school sweetheart and I have been married for 40 years, got married right here in First Baptist Church. We are empty nesters. All of our four kids (two boys, two girls) are grown up and are spread out from Dallas to Houston.

Some of you might remember my parents, my mother and father are Gary and Erneva Ansell. He was the pastor of Rockdale Christian Church back in the day. Jennifer’s dad was in management out at the old IGC. Her parents are Karl and Kay Maynard.

I play tennis and golf. I fly fish and kayak. I’m a streak runner (that means I run every day), I love coffee, running shoes, trucker caps, sugar is my favorite food group but since a heart attack in February I eat as healthy as I can. I’m a rookie surfer, I started last December.

I’m a passionate TCU fan, after blue and gold, purple is my favorite color. I was a big fan of the Big 12 until recent developments.

Rockdale is my happy place. See you on the sports page.

If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me at 972-921-4221 or ken@rockdalereporter. com. —ka— I got to spend some time in the office of the new Rockdale Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Hunter Hamrick earlier this week. Coach Hamrick is confident that his Tiger squad is ready to compete for a playoff spot in one of the toughest districts in the state.

Coach Hamrick has put together a quality, veteran coaching staff. Many are Tiger alumni and, while some are young, they have great experience in their profession.

For example, Pete Heintze in his third year as an offensive coordinator/ play caller. Many of you will recognize names like Brinkley, Caffey, Loth and Miller, among others, and the Tigers have an accomplished defensive coordinator in Coach Rene Muniz who came with Coach Hamrick from Ingleside.

The energy and the chemistry of this coaching staf f is second to none. I was on the field Friday night at the Meet the Tiger event and Coach Marcus Chalk had me ready to strap on a helmet and wear my old number 82. Rockdale is fortunate to have these guys and they deserve our support.

The Tigers have 15 seniors returning to the gridiron, however depth is an issue. We are big up front, but these young men need to stay healthy for us to be competitive.

Coach Hamrick shared, “Our team gave a great effort on the field this past Friday night. The passing game was good. Our team has some speed and we do not lack any ability, the talent is there. We are not really in a rebuilding process because we have talent.”

Because of the depth challenge, some players will have to be committed to playing on both sides of the ball. I look forward to seeing these young men make some sacrifices for the team and showing us their leadership skills.

No doubt there is some room for improvement after Friday night. There were some timing and snap issues and maybe some slowness in getting to the ball for the defense, but overall the Tigers did well.

Tiger fans should look forward to a team that is efficient, disciplined and may appear unhurried in order to win games. We have big-play abi l it y through players like senior quarterback and threeyear starter Blaydn Barcak, and receivers De’Andre Stephens, Riley Spears, Gerren Marrero-Carter and Erik Sheppard.

Get ready Tiger fans, it’s football season and we have a lot to cheer about!