60 years of Wildcat football

Jeff Bargas Photography

This season will be special for Wildcat athletes, coaches, alums and history buffs. Lake Highlands High School will mark the 60th anniversary of its first-ever varsity football game.

“On September 1, 1961, The Wildcats beat Anna 16-12 for the first varsity win in school history,” recalls alum Chuck Carona on the Lake Highlands High School Alumni Facebook page. The game was played at Richardson ISD’s Greenville Avenue stadium, which was demolished a few years ago. The team consisted of freshman and sophomores.

Legendary coach Bill Georges led the team, assisted by Bob McMillan, Jack Russell and John Naylor.

“I know that I speak for many who have been a part of a Wildcat football team as a player or coach in saying that one of the greatest mentors that we all had was Bill Georges,” recalled Dr. Bob Iden in 2017. Iden played on that first team and went on to become a coach, and then principal, at LHHS.

Georges was “the man who we all consider to be the Grand Patriarch of the football program,” continued Iden. “We all did whatever he told us to do – he was literally one of those men who if he told you to run through a wall, you would be willing to attempt it.”

The game against Anna High School was also the first for the Highlandettes, directed by Gail Williams, the cheerleaders, and the band, directed by Howard Dunn. A.M. Anderson served as the school’s first principal. In the stands, the band played the school’s new alma mater, with words by LHJH 7th grader Margaret Johnson and tune, based on the old Welsh folk song, “All Through the Night,” arranged by Dunn.

If you haven’t purchased season tickets yet, you should know your pickings will be slim. Fewer than 20 single season tickets are available online here, but general admission seats will be available the week of each game. Here’s the schedule: