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By Rick Cantu
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, May 9, 2005
LAKEWAY -- Only in Texas!
In the 49 states that don't comprehend the deep-rooted tradition and passion of high school football in the Lone Star State, this will seem a bit wacky. How does one explain a gathering of 900 people to watch an old bull relieve himself on the 20 yard line?
Call it crazy. Or, as the folks at Lake Travis High School will tell you, it's a fund-raiser with a rancher's attitude.
Some kids sell raffle tickets, others Girl Scout cookies. "We're here to watch a bull poop," said Martin Frey, whose son Dan will be a senior on the Cavalier football team this fall.
For the record, Lake Travis officials said they raised at least $75,000 for school athletics Saturday night on the campus football field. The third-annual event included a barbecue, games for kids, prizes for adults, a tour inside a helicopter, a rock 'n' roll band, and slick new T-shirts with the phrase "It's Showtime" for sale.
The showstopper, though, was a 2,000-pound Brahma bull named Mr. International, a gentle beast whose mission was to roam the football field until he, ugh, took a bathroom break.
At exactly 8:30 p.m., 45 minutes after he was released from his pen, Mr. International did his business. Frey and others who purchased the 3,000 squares on a computerized grid anxiously waited to see if the old bull hit their target
The winner was Rafred Hunt, whose two-foot by two-foot square was the correct marker. Hunt, who did not attend, will receive $2,500 in gift certificates.
With the possible exception of Hunt, no one was happier than Lake Travis Coach Jeff Dicus, who took over a hopeless football program three years ago and turned it into a district-winning team last fall.
Dicus could not envision such a night when he was hired to coach the Cavaliers, whose string of 1-9 and 0-10 seasons made them the butt of jokes in Central Texas.
"We're just one spoke of the wheel," Dicus said with modesty. Twelve of 16 Lake Travis athletic teams reached the playoffs this academic year, but it was the football team that energized the entire community.
"If I had a dollar for every time I said 'unbelievable' to describe the people here, I could have retired last year," Dicus said.
All home games have been sellouts the past two years, and there are plans to renovate the 4,000-seat stadium. There are 300 people on a waiting list to purchase season tickets.
On a grander scale, Lake Travis ISD Athletic Director Jack Moss said there has been "discussion" on building a 10,000-seat facility in the near future. He added that a second high school in the district is scheduled to be built by 2012.
Dicus has been an innovator since the day he moved to Central Texas.
To celebrate the beginning of summer football camp, the Cavs hit the playing field at midnight. Those practices have ended with pancakes and breakfast tacos at sunrise.
As for the bull-dropping contest, Dicus recalled a Future Farmers of America group having a similar event when he coached at Mission High School.
"That's when I caught wind of it," Dicus said, pun intended.
"It's a unique way to make money," said Melissa Etienne, who graduated in Plano, a football hotbed. "Football is always going to be a big tradition here."
In the first competition at Lake Travis, in 2003, Bevo, the official Longhorn mascot of the University of Texas, was selected for the contest. A disappointment, Bevo spent the majority of his time lying on the grassy field.
Lake Travis has used a Brahma bull from Mexia the past two years. In 2004, it took the bull eight minutes to complete his assignment. On Saturday, school officials were about to cancel the contest -- and pick the winner from a drawing -- when Mr. International finally plopped.
Gary Taylor, who has trained Brahmas for years, said Mr. International ate 30 pounds of "basic bull ration" to prepare for Saturday's main event.
That plan backfired, so to speak, when he dropped a load before the Lake Travis-Alamo Heights bi-district baseball game in the afternoon. An extra 20 pounds of food was delivered to give him a full tummy again.
Mr. International was a hit with the children who petted him and grabbed his horns for fun. Taylor said the 14-year-old bull -- that's about 90 in people years -- is not dangerous.
"People (outside of Texas) will think this is pretty weird," said Pam Greer, whose son Derek is a freshman defensive end.
"I had to call my mother in Florida before we got here to wish her a happy mother's day and to tell her we were going to a cow patty drop," added Sherri Fuller. "She wishes she could be here."
To say Saturday's event was a success would be an understatement. The crowd was so much larger than expected, the barbecue ran out early.
Feeding 5000, the band, was enthusiastic, however. Singer Kellyscott Taylor has played n the Austin area for many years, mainly at Sixth Street bars and various stages around Lake Travis.
"This is the first time we've ever performed for a cattle drop," Taylor deadpanned.
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