By Tracy Gupton
With the entire nation preparing today to watch Super Bowl 59 on TV, I find myself not really caring who wins. I’m pulling for the Philadelphia Eagles because their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, played high school football in Channelview, which isn’t too far from West Columbia. But then again, I would also like to see the Kansas City Chiefs “3peat,” becoming the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. I can’t believe this year’s Super Bowl will already be the 59th played. Coach Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers won the first two. That is why the winning team in each Super Bowl is awarded The Lombardi Trophy, named for the legendary former NFL head coach. Three of the best football players in West Columbia High School history have had the opportunity to participate in National Football League championship games. And, unfortunately, all three played for the losing teams in those, the biggest games of their respective NFL careers. James Ray Smith was the first of the three. His Cleveland Browns lost the 1957 NFL championship game to the Detroit Lions 59-14 in the year that I was born. That same year Dennis Earl Gaubatz was one of the stars of the Roughnecks’ football team that advanced in the playoffs one win shy of playing for the AA state championship. My cousin and fellow Columbia Heritage Foundation board member Peggy Lou Gupton was a cheerleader and her husband, Kenneth Boone, a running back on that great 1957 Roughnecks team. Ken started on both offense and defense for the ’57 and ’58 Roughnecks, as did Dennis Gaubatz who was the center and middle linebacker for Head Coach Elston Golson during his West Columbia high school days. Gaubatz would go on to be a standout college football player at Louisiana State University while James Ray Smith continued his pro career in Cleveland and Dallas. “Jim Ray,” as he is named on his Topps football cards from the late 1950s and early 1960s, was an All Pro offensive lineman for the Browns who used to block for the late Jim Brown, considered by many the greatest running back in NFL history. Smith was a sixth round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 1954 NFL draft. The Browns won the NFL championship in 1955 while “Jim Ray” was in the Army, defeating the Los Angeles Rams 38-14 with Otto Graham as their quarterback. James Ray’s first year with the Browns was 1956 when the Browns finished 5-7 on the season and missed the playoffs. They had also won the NFL title in 1954. In 1957 the Browns came in first in the Eastern Conference with a 9-2-1 record. They lost the NFL championship game to the Detroit Lions 59-14 when rookie sensation Jim Brown (out of Syracuse) led the league in rushing. The 1958 Browns tied for first in the NFL Eastern Conference with the Giants (both had 9-3 records) but the Browns lost to the Giants 10-0 on Dec. 21, 1958, at Yankee Stadium in a playoff to see which team would represent the Eastern Conference in the NFL championship game (in which the Giants lost to the Colts 23-17 in overtime). Jim Brown was held to 8 yards rushing on only seven carries in the Browns loss to the Giants in the ’58 Eastern Conference playoff game. The 1959 Browns finished 7-5 and did not make the playoffs. The 1960 Browns finished 8-3-1 and came in second behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the East. James Ray Smith and the Browns lost to the Lions 17-16 in Miami in the first ever NFL Playoff Bowl that featured the second place teams in each conference going against each other in Miami. The 1961 Browns finished in third place in the East with a record of 8-5-1 (the first year the league switched from 12 game seasons to 14 game seasons). The 1962 Browns also finished in third place in their conference with a record of 7-6-1. James Ray Smith, who is now 91 and still resides in the Dallas area, played for Coach Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys in 1963 and 1964. He played pro ball from the ages of 24 to 32. The 1963 Cowboys were 4-10 and came in fifth in their conference. The 1964 Cowboys were also the fifth place team in their conference with a record of 5-8-1. Jim Ray Smith wore number 64 for both the Browns and Cowboys. Jim Brown ran for 1,408 yards in 1961, the fifth consecutive season Brown won the league rushing title and the fourth consecutive season that he ran for more than 1,000 yards. James Ray Smith played in five Pro Bowls (1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962) and was voted first team All Pro in 1959, 1960 and 1961 as a Cleveland Browns guard. He normally played left guard in the Browns’ offensive line. James Ray Smith played in 93 regular season games in the NFL before retiring after the 1964 season. Jim Ray Smith, born Feb. 27, 1932, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He was an All American for Baylor University. He is the uncle of current Columbia Heritage Foundation board member Jana Smith Ogilvie. The 1969 Roughnecks, under the guidance of first year head coach Jack Hays, advanced one round further in the playoffs than that 1957 team that included Dennis Gaubatz and Ken Boone on the roster, and to this date remains the only Roughnecks football team to play for a state championship. The Marvin Gray Award winner, given to the Roughnecks’ most valuable player each year, in 1969 was Charlie Johnson who would go on to be the second Roughnecks alum to play in a Super Bowl. A seventh round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977, Charlie Johnson, born January 17, 1952, was a three-time Pro Bowl pick (1978, 1979 and 1980) as the Eagles’ nose tackle/middle guard on the defensive line. He wore number 44 for the Roughnecks and more famously number 65 for the Eagles. Another current Eagle star, offensive tackle Lane Johnson, wears Big Charlie’s number 65 now and will be playing in today’s Super Bowl. Charlie Johnson, who passed away a few years ago, played in Super Bowl XV on Jan. 25, 1981, in the New Orleans Superdome where today’s Super Bowl 59 will take place. When Charlie Johnson appeared in his only Super Bowl, the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders 27-10. He played for the Eagles from 1977-81 and for the Minnesota Vikings from 1982-84.
Charlie played college ball at the University of Colorado. The Eagles were 12-4 in 1980, the year they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl under head coach Dick Vermeil.
The first former Roughneck to appear in a Super Bowl was Dennis Gaubatz who was the starting middle linebacker for the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. He played for the Detroit Lions in 1963 and 1964 and was with the Baltimore Colts from 1965-69. The 1965 Colts tied for first place in the Western Conference with a 10-3-1 record. They lost to Green Bay 13-10 in overtime in a playoff game at Green Bay on Dec. 26, 1965, at Lambeau Field for the Western Conference crown. On Jan. 9, 1966, the Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-3 in the Playoff Bowl at Miami’s Orange Bowl. In 1966 the Colts finished in second place in the Western Conference with a 9-5 record. The Colts beat the Eagles 20-14 in Miami on Jan. 8, 1967, in the Playoff Bowl. The 1967 Colts were 11-1-2 and tied for first in the Coastal Division with the Los Angeles Rams but the Colts did not make the playoffs. The 1968 Colts were 13-1, winning the Coastal Division. The Colts defeated Minnesota 24-14 in the 1968 divisional playoffs, then whipped the Cleveland Browns 34-0 in the NFL championship game played in Cleveland on Dec. 29, 1968. The Colts lost to the New York Jets 16-7 in Super Bowl III played Jan. 12, 1969, in Miami.
Dennis Gaubatz was a 1958 graduate of West Columbia High School while James Ray Smith graduated in 1951. The 1969 Roughnecks football team featured two outstanding players named Charlie — Charlie Johnson and Charlie Davis — who both played college football at the University of Colorado and who both also played in the NFL. Charlie Davis, a 1970 graduate of Columbia High School, was a second round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals and until 2025 was the former Roughneck football player taken highest in an NFL draft. Expectations are for 2020 Columbia High School graduate Cameron Ward to knock Charlie Davis down a notch in that area as Cam is predicted to be taken among the first few selections in Round 1 of the 2025 NFL draft in April. Charlie Davis may have never appeared in a Super Bowl but he will always remain in the NFL record books as the first player to score an offensive touchdown for the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Davis was an outstanding running back for the Colorado Buffaloes in college but the only other former Roughneck who can even come close to matching Cam Ward in college football notoriety was James Ray Smith. He was an All American lineman for the Baylor Bears in his college days. Cam Ward’s future is very bright after being named the Peyton Manning Award winner as the outstanding quarterback in college football in 2024. The Miami Hurricanes quarterback is projected to go first overall to the Tennessee Titans (the former Houston Oilers) in April’s NFL draft. Perhaps some time in the not-too-distant future, Cam Ward can join James Ray Smith, Dennis Gaubatz and Charlie Johnson as former Columbia Roughnecks greats to have the opportunity to shine in an NFL championship game!
The Super Bowl Charlie Johnson played in was held at the SuperDome in New Orleans, the same venue where today’s Super Bowl will be held. The first time New Orleans hosted a Super Bowl was in January of 1970 when Emmitt Thomas of Angleton roamed the defensive secondary at cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs. That fourth Super Bowl was held at Tulane University’s football stadium where the New Orleans Saints used to play their home games before the SuperDome was built. Emmitt Thomas went to high school in Angleton in an all-black school before blacks and whites integrated. He played in the first Super Bowl when his Chiefs were beaten by the Green Bay Packers. But he finally tasted victory in Super Bowl IV when the Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings in New Orleans.
Emmitt Thomas was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame a few years ago. That’s amazing that a guy who grew up in Angleton, just a few miles from West Columbia, is in the Hall of Fame. But he is very deserving. He is still the Chiefs all-time leader in interceptions, and he led the AFL in interceptions with nine in 1969 (and had three more in the playoffs that season, including one in the Super Bowl) and led the NFL in interceptions with 12 in 1974. He was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Falcons a few years ago when the head coach resigned during the season and Emmitt Thomas was named acting head coach of the Falcons for the remainder of that season).
James Ray Smith played his final two seasons in the NFL with Dallas. He is now 91 years old and still lives in the Dallas area. He is the only former Roughneck in the college Hall of Fame, although Cam Ward’s eventual induction is almost a sure thing.
