And then there were two.
Blackshear High School had closed in the 1960s, leaving Ector County Independent School District with a trio of high schools – Odessa High, Permian and Ector – throughout the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s.
In 1981, the Mexican American League Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) filed a civil action for force ECISD to completely desegregate its schools.
Instead, ECISD closed Ector as a high school and sent its students to either Odessa High or Permian. But not before the Eagles got to add a few more trophies to the trophy case.
Economically, the decade started with a boom, with oil flowing like water from faucets, people making money hand over fist.
Forbes magazine, in 1982, listed eight Permian Basin oilmen among the richest men in the country, their combined worth just under $2.5 billion.
But the glut of oil that was taking over the country soon found its way back to the source and suddenly the boom went bust, with hundreds of thousands of workers quickly out of a job.
Through it all, the Bronchos and Panthers kept competing, and in the Panthers’ case, competing well.
And when the decade was drawing to a close there would be a different kind of Buzz around town, one that had nothing at all to do with oil.
Here are some highlights from the 1980s:
>> NOV. 14, 1980: This was the night that the streak almost ended, as Permian and Odessa High tied, 14-14, to cap the regular season.
The Panthers had won the previous 15 meetings and would extend the streak into the next decade, but on this night the Bronchos scored first and last to sandwich a pair of Permian touchdowns.
The victory gave the Panthers the district title and the lone playoff spot, while the Bronchos again were left on the outside looking in.
>> DEC. 20, 1980: Inside cavernous Texas Stadium, the Panthers put their stamp on the 1980 season with a 28-19 victory against Port Arthur Jefferson to win the Class 5A state title.
It was Coach John Wilkins first title with the team, in his 100th game at the helm of the program and his 85th victory leading the Panthers.
>> MAY 14, 1982: Charles Ricks and Tony Gamble of Ector High, along with the Eagles’ Girls 800-meter relay team, had a strong showing at the UIL Class 4A State Track and Field Championships in Austin.
Ricks earned a pair of titles, winning the 100 meters in 10.64 seconds and then backing that up with a 200-meter victory in 21.74 seconds.
Games, who had won the 1,600 meters in 1981, earned the top prize at half the distance this time, taking the 800 meters in one minute, 53.70 seconds.
The relay squad also found the top spot on the podium, finishing in 1:40.80.
>> MAY 12, 1984: Permian’s Britt Hager saved his best for last, the last meet of the season, that is.
Hager, who had been flirting with the 60-foot barrier all season, broke through when it mattered most, winning the Class 5A shot put title with a toss of 60 feet, 6.25 inches at Memorial Stadium in Austin.
Hager’s first toss of the competition (59-8.75) was actually enough to win the crown, but the Panthers’ standout wanted more.
Permian finished second in the team race with 30 points, tied with Houston Forest Brook. Dallas Roosevelt won the crown with 52 points.
>> DEC. 22, 1984: The Panthers found themselves back in the Class 5A state title game, this time against Beaumont French.
When things were said and done, there was no winner and a lot of gas has been used to get to Texas Stadium by both teams, who battled to a 21-21 tie and co-championship.
Permian finished the season 16-0-1 for its second crown of the decade, but the Panthers had their chances to win in the second half.
Permian reserve linebacker Danny Servance (yes, that Danny Servance) intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, only to have the score nullified on a penalty.
The Panthers also had a second touchdown reversed on an illegal procedure call.
>> DEC. 21, 1985: John Wilkins coaches his final game as the Panthers lose to Houston Yates, 37-0, in the state title game. Wilkins would move from the coaching ranks into administration, becoming the ECISD athletic director beginning in the spring of 1986.
One of his first hires … Gary Gaines.
Gaines had been on Wilkins’ staff from 1979-81, along the sidelines for the state title run in 1980. He was the head coach at Amarillo Tascosa for a season (1982) before taking the same position in Monahans from 1983-85.
>> JULY 27, 1988: Just a little story on the bottom of the front page of Sports, nothing fancy, no picture, mentioning that a writer from Pennsylvania was going to move to Odessa and follow the Permian football program for a year.
His name … H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger
Bissinger was a writer/editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer and took a leave of absence from his job to move to the Permian Basin after doing research and having all roads lead to the Panthers.
“Basically, for the past four or five years I’ve traveled around the country a lot and become convinced that the glue that keeps towns together is high school sports … It’s an extremely important part of the town’s fiber,” Bissinger said.
Once the subject was decided upon, it was up to Bissinger to convince Permian head coach Gary Gaines that the project was a good fit for the Panthers.
Gaines gave the thumbs up after he was “sure he wasn’t going to write a negative-type impression of high school football. He’s got a positive attitude about it, and that was my only concern when I talked to him.”
>> NOV. 4-5, 1988: Bissinger has been following the Panthers all season and now gets to witness an event that will never be duplicated — a three-way coin toss featuring Permian, Midland Lee and Midland High — at a “secret” location so secret that television stations were there to film the proceedings.
Three teams, two spots, one team left out. The coins went in the air and came up heads for Permian and Midland Lee, tails for the Bulldogs, which was bad luck for Midland High.
The Bulldogs had defeated Midland Lee during the regular season, only to watch the Rebels upset No. 5 Permian on the final night of the regular season to force the tiebreaker.
>> DEC. 10, 1988: The game wasn’t for the state championship and it wasn’t indoors. Instead, the Class 5A state semifinal was played in a steady rain at Memorial Stadium at the University of Texas and when the final horn sounded, Dallas Carter had a 14-9 victory to end the Panthers’ season.
Carter scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game winner, while Permian had trouble throwing the ball because of the conditions and a stout Cowboys’ defense.
Dallas Carter would go on to defeat Converse Judson the following week to win the title, only to see it taken away when it was ruled it had used an ineligible player.
>> DEC. 23, 1989: The Panthers closed the decade the same way they opened it, with a state championship. After back-to-back losses in the state semifinals, Gaines and his team capped a perfect season with a 28-14 victory against the Aldine Mustangs at Texas Stadium two days before Christmas.
Permian finished 16-0, earned a mythical national championship and solidified its spot as the winningest program in Texas high school football over the past two decades with its five state titles.
Everyone in Texas knew about Permian. That would change before the next state champion was crowned.
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
