Pat Wheeler

It is my earliest memory of track and field competition — the Tyler Junior High City Meet circa 1963. I was only 10 years old but remember watching the pole vaulters on the northside floor of Rose Stadium.

A skinny little kid for Hogg Junior High went racing down the cinder path and arched into the blue East Texas sky, discarding his pole after climbing upwards to clear what looked like a circus high wire. Descending onto the landing pad, Billy Gammill lay still with a big grin.

Among those congratulating him for his record jump of 9 feet, 6 inches, was his proud father Emmitt, a short but stout man who was known for his car repair business.

“Billy, you can take the T Bird out tonight,” Emmitt said.

Driving a red 1955 Thunderbird, Gammill made junior high look very cool to a 10-year-old kid. Later, I would see it parked at Mike’s Drive In on Vine Street, not far from Gammill’s home just off Outer Drive in Southwest Tyler.

Such memories began to flow as I began to process his recent death at age 75.

Gammill was my older brother Mike’s age and I recall an old Birdwell Braves baseball picture with Billy and Mike and my dad Crutcher as the coach. That must have been the summer of 1957 and Gammill was the smallest player on the team.

Before his pole vaulting days, Gammill raced go-carts built by his dad and won a box full of trophies. It was more evidence of the daredevil gene that he possessed, a penchant for speed and thrills. Such a gene is foreign to me but is much needed for pole vaulting.

At Robert E. Lee High School, Gammill won the pole vault at district both as a junior and a senior and his vault of 12 feet, 8 and ½ inches his final year in 1966 set a record that held until six years later when Fred Griffin of Lufkin cleared 13 feet. In those days, Lee regularly won district championships under the coaching of the late Oz Amburg.

Gammill also set a precedent for pole vaulters at Lee being followed by others who were successful in the event — Lew Duff, David Lorance, little brother Johnny Gammill and most recently the NCAA champion at SFA, the free spirited and cowboy hat wearing Branson Ellis. And I know I left out a lot of other good vaulters at what is now Tyler Legacy High School.

After high school, Gammill became obsessed with golf and became good enough to earn a scholarship to East Texas State University in Commerce. He played golf while John Carlos ran the sprints on the track team on the eve of Carlos’ historic protest at the 1968 Olympics.

Looking back at the golf results of 1968, I noticed Gammill playing in the Briarwood Invitational with outstanding players like Mark Triggs, George Rives and Arnold Salinas. Salinas would go on to win that year in a playoff over Tyler’s Mike McKinney. Later that summer, Gammill and McKinney beat Triggs and me in a sudden death playoff that went seven holes at Bellwood Golf Club. We were 11 under for 36 holes. Those were the days!

In my new book just out, “The Fringe Runner,” I reference my first lesson from Bellwood pro Tye Stroud. I was told to sit and listen as Stroud helped Gammill with his swing. Stroud likened the golf swing to another field event, the shot put, as he said the golfer should use his big muscles like the shot putter and access power from the ground up. Stroud was way ahead of his time.

As a golfer, Gammill was a robotic driver of the golf ball — very straight with a tight draw. His short game tended to hold him back but these past seven or so years, we have been partners in a 27-holes Yamboree tourney at Gilmer Country Club and done quite well. We won our flight one year, finished second another time and just played our hearts out the other five or so times. We always played with his dear friend Mike McKie and that made for lively yet friendly banter.

The Yamboree tourney is always late October with gorgeous fall weather in beautiful East Texas surroundings. This year Gammill was really struggling with his breathing but mustered amazing courage and stamina to go the distance and drove the ball in his usual fashion, straight down the middle.

We were about two under for the event with each nine even or 1 under par in a two-person scramble format. I remember the last hole where we were scrambling and had about 10 or 15 feet for par. Billy hit a great putt that lipped out and I didn’t even come close. But we finished and though I was worried about his health, we said we would do better next year.

Unfortunately, that was to be our last Yamboree tourney and I will surely miss him terribly next fall if the Lord allows me to be there again.

A couple of weeks ago, I received word that Gammill’s health was even worse than previously thought — it was cancer and not just emphysema.

I visited Gammill in the hospital and he was understandably distraught but we talked about Jesus and Tyler memories and golf. At first he was remorseful about certain events I brought up, like the time he was hitting balls perfectly at the old driving range on South Broadway and turned to A.J. Triggs, who was standing close by.

“Mr. Triggs, what do I have to do to get on the tour,” Gammill said.

Triggs pointed to the lighted putting green at one end of the range and said hours spent there would be beneficial.

Gammill said he hated that story because it made him look foolish. I countered that it was more an example of his exuberance that everyone admired. That seemed to cheer him up and he said something profound.

“You know,” he said, “we could have been anything we wanted to be in life,”

That has stuck with me ever since. Those words are good for anyone to ponder.

What is important to you? Decide to pursue that and leave the results to God. It may seem daring, but it is the best way to live.

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