Recently author and Rockdale Tiger Tamara Hebert Powell shared some interesting information about what great athletes and great men and women have emerged from Rockdale’s Sixth Street. These athletes grew up just down the street from the Aycock School which served as the school for blacks in Rockdale until 1967.
Think about how many of these kids from our small town were raised in a small geographic area, just blocks away from each other and then went on to play at the college level and some even at the professional level.
Let’s run down the list.
• Dr. Dennis Brooks Sr. played football at New Mexico State.
• Hi s son Den n is Brooks Jr. played football and ran track at Angelo State University.
• Terence Brooks played football, ran track and did field events at Howard Payne.
• Tony Brooks played football and ran track and field at TCU, was a junior Olympian and was drafted by the Houston Oilers.
• Donny Brooks played football, ran track and did field events at Texas Tech and he was drafted by the Chicago Bears.
• Billy Ray Locklin played football at New Mexico State, had a great career in the Canadian Football League and played for the Oakland Raiders (he was one of the original Raiders) of the NFL.
• Ray Keith Locklin played football at New Mexico State and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.
• Kerry Locklin played football at New Mexico State, was drafted by and played for the Los Angeles Rams, then played for Denver Broncos, as well as the USFL Arizona Wranglers. Kerry has had a fantastic career coaching at the professional level, including with the New York Jets. Most recently he has held several head coaching positions with indoor/arena league football teams.
• Kim Locklin played football and ran track at New Mexico State. Kim was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals and has had success both coaching and teaching at the college level.
• Don Wesley played football at Navarro College.
• Virgil Clark played at both Eastern New Mexico and Utah State.
• Anthony Wesley played basketball at Temple College.
• Darin Wesley played football at Texas State University.
• Dexter Wesley played football at Texas A&M and was drafted by the Houston Oilers.
• Edward Mays played football and ran track and field at Howard Payne University.
• P.J. Williams, who is in our Sports Hall of Fame, played football and baseball at Blinn and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
• Jamal Williams played football at Reedley College (Reedly, California) and Texas State.
• Krysten Brooks ran track and field at University of Texas at Arlington.
• Elijah Brooks and Drevone Walton both played football at Reedley College.
There is an interesting father-and-son fact in this story. Kerry Locklin played on the original Rockdale football/track state championship teams in the 1970’s and his son Torry helped lead Rockdale to a state championship in football in 2017.
Torry is currently playing for the University of Kansas. Kerry’s other son Tymon Locklin played at New Mexico State and played professionally for the Canadian Football League and in arena leagues.
In addition to these student and professional athletes. Rockdale’s Preston Moultry coached at Howard University and was an Olympic Track and Field team coach.
Each of these have helped put Rockdale on the map concerning sports.
High five to Sixth Street!
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