I usually write about Dallas-Fort Worth issues as they relate to Arkansas, whether touching on the Euless Trinity’s battle down the street from the world headquarters of Walmart or the template African-American sports preservationists have set for Arkansans, but today I’m breaking down DFW as it relates solely to the Houston metro area.
Specifically, I’m ranking how all the area’s high school products have fared in all 49 Super Bowls, and then I’m comparing them to their Houston counterparts. Make sure to check out my upcoming piece in the Dallas Observer for more details on the rules and who wins this interstate battle of all-state Super Bowlers.
For now, let’s see what each side brings to the table in the following positions:
All-Time DFW Super Bowl Rushers
| Super Bowl | Team | Winner or Loser | Player | Yds (Rush) | Yds/Att. | Att (Rush) | TD (Rush) | Recs | Rec Yards | TD (Rec) | City of HS | Name of HS |
| VI (6) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Duane Thomas | 95 | 5.00 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 0 | Dallas | Lincoln |
| VI (6) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Walt Garrison | 74 | 5.29 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | Lewisville | Lewisville |
| V (5) | Dallas Cowboys | Loser | Walt Garrison | 65 | 5.42 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 0 | Lewisville | Lewisville |
| XVII (17) | Washington Redskins | Winner | Alvin Garrett | 44 | 44.00 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 1 | Mineral Wells | Mineral Wells |
| V (5) | Dallas Cowboys | Loser | Duane Thomas | 35 | 1.94 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 1 | Dallas | Lincoln |
| XI (11) | Oakland Raiders | Winner | Carl Garrett | 19 | 4.75 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | Denton | Fred Moore |
| XXX (30) | Pittsburgh Steelers | Loser | Erric Pegram | 15 | 2.50 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dallas | Hillcrest |
| XXVIII (28) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Kevin Williams | 6 | 6.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dallas | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| XXX (30) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Kevin Williams | 2 | 2.00 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 0 | Dallas | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
All-Time Houston Metro Super Bowl Rushers
| Super Bowl | W/L | Team | Player | Yds (Rush) | Yds/Att. | Att (Rush) | TD (Rush) | Recs | Rec Yards | City of HS | Name of HS |
| XXV (25) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 135 | 9.00 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 55 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| XLIV (44) | Loser | Indianapolis Colts | Joseph Addai | 77 | 5.92 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 58 | Houston | Sharpstown |
| XLI (41) | Winner | Indianapolis Colts | Joseph Addai | 77 | 4.05 | 19 | 0 | 10 | 66 | Houston | Sharpstown |
| II (2) | Winner | Green Bay Packers | Ben Wilson | 62 | 3.65 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Houston | George Washington Carver |
| XXVIII (28) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 37 | 2.31 | 16 | 1 | 7 | 52 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| V (5) | Winner | Baltimore Colts | Norm Bulaich | 28 | 1.56 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 5 | La Marque | La Marque |
| XXVII (27) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 19 | 1.73 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 10 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| XVI (16) | Loser | Cincinnati Bengals | Charles Alexander | 17 | 3.40 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | Galveston | Ball |
| XVIII (18) | Winner | Los Angeles Raiders | Greg Pruitt | 17 | 3.40 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Houston | Elmore |
| XXVI (26) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 13 | 1.30 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 27 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| XXXIV (34) | Winner | St. Louis Rams | Robert Holcombe | 11 | 11.00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Houston | Jefferson Davis |
| XI (11) | Loser | Minnesota Vikings | Robert Miller | 4 | 2.00 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 19 | Houston | Jack Yates |
| I (1) | Loser | Kansas City Chiefs | Bert Coan | 1 | 0.33 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Pasadena | Pasadena |
Just to recap, I’m fairly sure these all the high school DFWers/Houstonians who have ever rushed for at least one attempt or caught at least one ball in at least one Super Bowl. I had to go through the records with a pretty fine tooth and comb for this, but I think it’s worth it.
: )
All Time Houston Super Bowler Receivers
| Super Bowl | W/L | Team | Player | Rec Yards | Recs | TD (Rec) | City of HS | Name of HS |
| XVIII (18) | Winner | Los Angeles Raiders | Cliff Branch | 94 | 6 | 1 | Houston | Evan E. Worthing |
| IV (4) | Winner | Kansas City Chiefs | Otis Taylor | 81 | 6 | 1 | Houston | Evan E. Worthing |
| XXXVIII (38) | Winner | New England Patriots | David Givens | 69 | 5 | 1 | Humble | Humble |
| XV (15) | Winner | Oakland Raiders | Cliff Branch | 67 | 5 | 2 | Houston | Evan E. Worthing |
| XLI (41) | Winner | Indianapolis Colts | Joseph Addai | 66 | 10 | 0 | Houston | Sharpstown |
| XLIV (44) | Loser | Indianapolis Colts | Joseph Addai | 58 | 7 | 0 | Houston | Sharpstown |
| XXV (25) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 55 | 5 | 0 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| XXVIII (28) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 52 | 7 | 0 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| XLIX (49) | Winner | New England Patriots | Danny Amendola | 48 | 5 | 1 | The Woodlands | The Woodlands |
| XLIX (49) | Winner | New England Patriots | Brandon LaFell | 29 | 4 | 1 | Houston | Mirabeau B. Lamar |
| VII (7) | Winner | Miami Dolphins | Howard Twilley | 28 | 1 | 1 | Galena Park | Galena Park |
| XLV (45) | Winner | Green Bay Packers | Donald Driver | 28 | 2 | 0 | Houston | Milby |
| XXVI (26) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 27 | 4 | 0 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| VI (6) | Loser | Miami Dolphins | Howard Twilley | 20 | 1 | 0 | Galena Park | Galena Park |
| XI (11) | Winner | Oakland Raiders | Cliff Branch | 20 | 3 | 0 | Houston | Evan E. Worthing |
| XI (11) | Loser | Minnesota Vikings | Robert Miller | 19 | 4 | 0 | Houston | Jack Yates |
| XXXIX (39) | Winner | New England Patriots | David Givens | 19 | 3 | 1 | Humble | Humble |
| XLV (45) | Loser | Pittsburgh Steelers | Emmanuel Sanders | 17 | 2 | 0 | Bellville | Bellville |
| XXXVII (37) | Winner | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Keenan McCardell | 13 | 2 | 2 | Houston | Waltrip |
| XXVII (27) | Loser | Buffalo Bills | Thurman Thomas | 10 | 4 | 0 | Sugar Land | Willowridge |
| IV (4) | Loser | Minnesota Vikings | Gene Washington | 9 | 1 | 0 | Baytown | George Washington Carver |
| V (5) | Winner | Baltimore Colts | Norm Bulaich | 5 | 1 | 0 | La Marque | La Marque |
| I (1) | Loser | Kansas City Chiefs | Bert Coan | 5 | 1 | 0 | Pasadena | Pasadena |
| XVI (16) | Loser | Cincinnati Bengals | Charles Alexander | 3 | 2 | 0 | Galveston | Ball |
| XXXIV (34) | Winner | St. Louis Rams | Robert Holcombe | 1 | 1 | 0 | Houston | Jefferson Davis |
All-Time DFW Super Bowl Receivers
| Super Bowl | Team | Winner or Loser | Player | Recs | Rec Yards | TD (Rec) | City of HS | Name of HS |
| XLVII (47) | San Francisco 49ers | Loser | Michael Crabtree | 5 | 109 | 1 | Dallas | David W. Carter |
| XXX (30) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Kevin Williams | 2 | 29 | 0 | Dallas | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| XXXIII (33) | Denver Broncos | Winner | Byron Chamberlain | 3 | 29 | 0 | Fort Worth | Eastern Hills |
| V (5) | Dallas Cowboys | Loser | Duane Thomas | 4 | 21 | 1 | Dallas | Lincoln |
| V (5) | Dallas Cowboys | Loser | Walt Garrison | 2 | 19 | 0 | Lewisville | Lewisville |
| VI (6) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Duane Thomas | 3 | 17 | 0 | Dallas | Lincoln |
| XVIII (18) | Washington Redskins | Loser | Alvin Garrett | 1 | 17 | 0 | Mineral Wells | Mineral Wells |
| XVII (17) | Washington Redskins | Winner | Alvin Garrett | 2 | 13 | 1 | Mineral Wells | Mineral Wells |
| VI (6) | Dallas Cowboys | Winner | Walt Garrison | 2 | 11 | 0 | Lewisville | Lewisville |
| XI (11) | Oakland Raiders | Winner | Carl Garrett | 1 | 11 | 0 | Denton | Fred Moore |
| XXXVII (37) | Oakland Raiders | Loser | Tim Brown | 1 | 9 | 0 | Dallas | Woodrow Wilson |
The above stats are according to databasefootball.com and sports-reference.com. On rare occasions, the sites provide the wrong spelling of a town or some other biographical error. If you spot something needing correction, please let me know.
If you want to see more along these lines, make sure to check out the all-time DFW and Houston metro Super Bowler lists for special teams at my thesportsseer.com site.
While you’re at it (or probably before you’re at it), make sure to sign up for my Texas sports stats email newsletter below. You’ll get all my future Texas-related posts. In the first blast I’ll send you something very similar to the above, except it will include all-time Super Bowl Texans regardless of native city.
