The Story Lives On...

A few weeks after Jim Dent's book, Twelve Mighty Orphans, was published, Dewitt "Tex" Coulter died at age 83. At left are the Coulter brothers, Dewitt and Ray at The Masonic Home.

Dewitt had been a Mighty Mite star in the 1940s, playing all line and backfield positions and punting. Dewitt played for West Point's famous teams of WWII, the New York Giants of the National Football League where he was an All-Pro left tackle (he was an offensive and defensive end, offensive and defensive tackle, linebacker and punter, too) and the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. He was an All State football player, won a national shot put in track, was All American at West Point before he was All Pro but he also excelled and found great satisfaction with his art, writing and humanitarian talents.

In an article on Dewitt for the Dallas Morning News, titled Greatest of the Great, Dewitt said, "Whatever Rusty said, we did. We never had many players but we believed we could hold down our own against the biggest school. It was exciting to run those trick plays Rusty taught us and play a lot of different positions. Masonic Home guys always have been close. When you spend that much time together, you're brothers for the rest of your lives."

Just like Dewitt's life embraced more than football, (his talents ranged far beyond the playing field-- an artist, cartoonist, sportswriter, builder and humanitarian -- his portrait of Rusty Russell comes up on the next blog post), the 12 Mighty Orphan story can not be defined as a sports story. As Home kids have grown up, led successful lives and think of the foundations they had, they have realized how unique their story was. And so, the story continues to stay alive.

As more people read and share the story, it becomes deeper and holds more meaning. Once the story was told by Dent, it has continued to grow legs even while many who were a significant part of the story, like Dewitt and Ray Coulter and Rusty Russell, have died. The story has come back to life and in so doing, continues to touch the hearts of many.