Texas Football magazine presents Abilene Wylie with special edition cover
Clay Martin can remember anxiously waiting to read Texas Football magazine each summer when he was playing football at Burkburnett High School in the early 1980s.
“It was neat,” said Martin, a 1984 Burkburnett grad who begins his third year as Wylie’s head football coach. “You couldn’t wait to open up the magazine and see where your team was picked. I think everybody across the state, the first thing they do is go look for this magazine. They want to know how Dave Campbell’s sees it across the state.”
Martin and the Wylie Bulldogs got a treat Wednesday at the Wylie Performing Arts Center. Players and staff were presented copies of a special edition with the Wylie Bulldogs on the cover. There’s also a question-and-answer segment with Martin on the inside cover and the Bulldogs’ schedule on the inside back cover.
“This is just an awesome privilege that we have,” said Martin, who has been at Wylie since 1993. “I’m pretty honored to be chosen by Suddenlink and Optimum and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. It’s the bible of Texas football."
The magazine did a wrap-around cover for 12 high schools for its 2022 edition this year in conjunction with Suddenlink Communications, which is becoming Optimum.
Six of the schools are in West Texas – Lubbock Monterey, Wollforth Frenship, Amarillo Caprock, Amarillo Palo Duro, Wylie and Abilene High.
Palo Duro is in District 2-5A Division II with Wylie and Cooper, while Caprock and Monterey are in District 2-5A Division I with AHS.
Cooper got its own cover last year.
The Eagles were to receive their copies Thursday – a day before scrimmaging Wylie at Shotwell Stadium.
So, it will be a battle between two Texas Football cover schools.
“The fact that two of us are in Abilene and just happen to be scrimmaging in a couple of days, that’s pretty neat,” Martin said.
Texas Football printed up 300 copies of its special edition for each school. There were a few extra left Wednesday, so Wylie fans might check with Martin to see if any are available.
Finding this year’s regular edition at a retail location in Abilene might be tough. The magazine had to delay production this year because of supply chain problems.
“A lot of it has to do with the paper shortage,” said Clay Powell, a Texas Football representative who handed out the Wylie editions. “They can’t get paper to print them on.”
Powell, who lives in Lubbock, isn’t sure about the magazine’s availability in Abilene and the Big Country
“Some of them are out,” Powell said. “It depends upon where it is in the state. I know Amarillo got theirs this last week. So, I’m not 100% sure where they all are and who has them right now, but they’re all going out. Be patient.”
The high school football season kicks off Aug. 25, a Thursday, including Cooper’s home opener against Keller. Wylie begins the season the following night in Brownwood, while AHS is home against Odessa Permian.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Wylie lands special edition cover on Texas Football magazine
