Rewrite a fully new long article using the information from
BY MARK MAY
An all-around talented athlete, Larry Caldwell earned 13 letters before he graduated from Mission High in 1967. He found success in four sports but really made his mark in football and baseball.
He was so good in both, he had to choose between the two sports after high school. He could go to Rice and play football or follow in his father’s footsteps and try out for Major League Baseball.
“(His father Earl) kind of let me make the decision,” Caldwell said. So, despite being drafted by the Houston Astros, Caldwell elected to play football at Rice.
For his heroics on the gridiron and the diamond, Caldwell will be inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The 34th annual Induction Ceremony will be at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Brownsville Events Center.
Caldwell is one of eight inductees. This year’s group also includes Tony Guerrero (football officiating), David Longhofer of Harlingen (football), Albert Ochoa of Edinburg (golf), Joe Solis of Edcouch-Elsa (football), Richard Thompson of Mission (sports administration), Gabriel Valdez of Weslaco (basketball) and Laura Vasquez of Edinburg (track & field). This year’s class will bring the Hall of Fame’s total membership to 280.
Caldwell’s father pitched 29 years in professional baseball and won more than 300 games, including 39 victories for the old Harlingen Capitals. He enjoyed stints with four different major league teams, even once striking out Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
“I just remember a little bit at the end of his career in Harlingen, when I was about 4 years old or so,” Caldwell said. “He was, like, 44 when I was born. He got out there with my brother and I, (and) tried to teach us the curve.”
Caldwell’s father was inducted into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
The younger Caldwell played football and baseball his freshman year at Rice. He even returned a punt for a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns’ freshman team. A broken right wrist on his throwing hand in 1970 closed the door on baseball.
“The wrist never fully healed,” Caldwell said. “I didn’t have the range of motion. I didn’t have the snap in the throws.”
He showed his versatility, playing quarterback and running back for the Owls in the old Southwest Conference. As a senior, he switched to wide receiver, often playing the slot in passing formations. He lined up at tight end despite weighing just 210 pounds.
At Mission, he played quarterback for the Eagles as a junior and switched to running back his senior year, when he finished second in the Valley in scoring. He scored five touchdowns in one half against Laredo Nixon. He was named All-Valley his junior and senior years and earned second-team all-state honors as a senior, despite missing the last three games due to a separated shoulder. He also played safety and returned punts and kickoffs.
His prowess as an outfielder on the baseball diamond drew notice from Texas’ only major-league team at the time — the Houston — who drafted him during the 26th round of the 1967 draft.
“I had the speed and the arm for the outfield,” Caldwell said. “It was just learning to hit.”
He was a four-sport athlete at Mission, also exceling in basketball and track. After college, Caldwell went into the construction business and now lives in Arizona.
For ticket information for this year’s event, visit the RGV Sports Hall of Fame website at www.rgvshof.net.
Founded in 1985, the RGV Sports Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization whose mission it is to recognize men and women who have brought honor and recognition to the Rio Grande Valley through their participation in sports as an athlete, coach, official, trainer, journalist or other sports-related position.
The RGV Sports Hall of Fame collects, preserves and exhibits memorabilia and statistical data of Rio Grande Valley sports for historical preservation, database collection and enjoyment. Some memorabilia items are housed at Doubleday’s Bar and Grill in Port Isabel.
make sure the article is SEO-optimized following all the SEO Guides, from Focus Keyword to H2 and H3 titles and so on.
the article must explain all the details in a very clear and engaging structure.
very important: Use external links for keywords and sentences inside the article you will generate to boost the SEO.
Avoid writing any author related or donation related texts.
Avoid writing what you did in the articles because the article is published for visitors to read.
