Jack Crain (January 7, 1920 – October 22, 1994) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player for the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

who later served three terms in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

. He was named an All Southwest Conference player in 1939 and 1940, and was twice selected All-America

High school

Crain grew up in

Nocona, Texas Nocona is a city along U.S. Highway 82 and State Highway 175 in Montague County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,033 at the 2010 census. The city, its lake, and its resurgence as a regional travel destination were featured in thJune ...

, where he was known as the Nocona Nugge

During high school, he scored 258 points, and his team won a Class B regional title. Crain's football talents were gaining attention in the media; consequently, he was selected to play in the 1938

Oil Bowl (high school) The Oil Bowl was a college football bowl game played three times at Rice Field in Houston, Texas in the 1940s. Muddy conditions for the first game, and freezing temperatures for the third game, doomed future contests. In 1949, a junior college bow ...

. Fifty-six years later, he would be inducted in the

Hall of Fame. Jack Crain Football Stadium of the

Nocona Independent School District Nocona Independent School District is a public school district based in Nocona, Texas (USA). Nocona ISD provides more than the standard K-12 curriculum. NISD offers extended opportunities for students ranging from Head Start for very young chil ...

is now named for him.

College career

Coach

Dana X. Bible Dana Xenophon Bible (October 8, 1891 – January 19, 1980) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi College (1913–1 ...

thought that Jack (Jackrabbit) Crain helped lay the foundation for the

Longhorn's rise from mediocrity to preeminence in the late 1930s. In the game between the Longhorns and Razorbacks in October 1939, Crain an unknown sophomore, ran a

quick kick In gridiron football, a quick kick is any punt made under conditions such that the opposing team "should not" expect a punt. Typically this has been a kick from scrimmage from a formation that is, or resembles, one usually used other than for pu ...

back to help UT later score from seven yards out. Late in the game with only under 30 seconds to play, Crain caught a flip-out pass and ran 67 yards untouched and scored a touchdown to tie the game at 13–13. Finally, as the clock ran out Crain kicked the extra point himself for the 14–13 win. This game became known as the Renaissance Game in Texas football history and the win is credited for revitalizing the football program once again. At the University of Texas, Crain set records that still stand today.

After college

When Crain's college career ended, he joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

as an officer in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the war, he returned to Nocona, where he lived for the rest of his life. His celebrity status helped him to be elected to three terms in the

from District 61. In 1978, his wife, Jean Crain, was killed when a building in downtown Nocona collapsed from a heavy accumulation of snow

This event provided the impetus for Crain to found a church called Jean's Men's Bible Class. This nondenominational church, named after his wife, is still active today. Crain died October 22, 1994, at the age of 74.

References

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External links

MackBrown-TexasFootball.ComThe Nocona Cowboy by Ray SchmidtTulsa World Sports ExtraH.R. No. 26, Texas House of Representatives Bill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crain, Jack 1920 births 1994 deaths Texas Longhorns football players Members of the Texas House of Representatives 20th-century American legislators People from Nocona, Texas 20th-century Texas politicians