West Orange-Stark Mustang Character

Kevin Smith began as a West Orange–Stark Mustang and, though West Orange–Stark didn’t begin with Kevin Smith, the Mustangs’ identity has been built on his teams.

Come to think of it, for any Texan, looking back at Smith’s football career creates a sense of awe and pride: the assurance that that’s what a football player from our state looks like. It doesn’t matter how often he played for your team or against your team. Smith wore the West Orange–Stark, Texas A&M, and Dallas Cowboy uniforms, so there’s a damn good chance he played for your team at one time or another.

And when he wore those uniforms, those teams won. Smith’s WO-S squads claimed two state titles. His Aggie teams compiled a 34–14–1 record and a Southwest Conference title in 1991, when he earned consensus first-team all-American honors as a senior. Smith’s Cowboys teams won three Super Bowls.

So, you look at him and marvel at how great a player he became and how he played a key role on some amazing football teams. That’s true, and Smith praises the high level of football players around him from high school on up to the NFL.

But the thing about a player like Smith, the thing that makes us want to hold him up as the Texan ideal, was that he was going to have his say in the outcome. Everybody hates to lose, but not everybody has that many chances to do something about it. 

West Orange, DeGruyter.com