The 1960 Roughnecks varsity football team won a district championship under Head Coach E.S. Golson, boasting a pair of honorable mention All State selections 64 years ago. Both of those All State picks were linemen, seniors Robert Eugene “Bobby” Liles and Kenneth Basil “Kenny” Perkins. Perkins joined Liles and Golson in Roughnecks Heaven a little over two weeks ago when the former professional football player passed away at the age of 81 at his horse farm in Simonton, surrounded by his loving family.
The former Texas A&I University Javelina standout fought long and valiantly against many health issues, always “bouncing back” and surprising everyone with his strong will and determination. Ken will be greatly missed by many who knew and loved him, but especially by his family who adored and greatly admired him.
Ken was born in Olney, Texas, on December 31, 1942. He was the son of Everett Basil Perkins and Irma Mozelle Perkins. His parents moved to West Columbia when Kenny was one-year-old. They lived in a duplex across the street from the dressing room at old Griggs Field. Growing up in such close proximity to the local football field stirred Kenny’s desire to one day become a Roughneck like the older West Columbians he watched when they played football in junior high and high school.
Kenny Perkins excelled as an offensive lineman, playing center, guard and tackle during the four years he lettered on the varsity football team. In the late fifties and early sixties, the better players went both ways, so Kenny spent very little time standing on the sidelines when he was a Roughneck. The 1961 Gusher yearbook lists Kenny Perkins as a captain on the varsity basketball team his senior year and all district and honorable mention all state in football as a senior. He was also a four-year letterman in varsity basketball at West Columbia High School.
Holmes Ellisor was the varsity boys basketball coach during the 1960-61 season at West Columbia High School. Games were played in the gym that is now Heritage Hall during Kenny Perkins’ high school days.
Perkins, Liles and the Roughnecks lost a heartbreaker to their biggest rival, the Sweeny Bulldogs, in the bi-district round of the 1960 football season. The Bulldogs, who had shut out the Roughnecks 17-0 during the regular season that year, kept the boys in maroon and white off the scoreboard in the bi-district matchup as well, winning 8-0.
All District selections from the 1960 Roughnecks team included Perkins at center, Liles at offensive guard, Johnnie Bob Hester and Peyton Dorsett as offensive halfbacks, Wayne Pollard and Philip Brigance as offensive ends, C.W. Henry as a defensive guard, and Bill Jones and James Wleczyk as defensive linebackers.
Kenny Perkins was awarded a football scholarship at the University of Houston but he broke his pelvis in an automobile accident. Following difficult rehabilitation, he returned to football at Texas A&I University in Kingsville where Kenny earned All-Conference honors for the Javelinas.
A brief stint with the Dallas Cowboys ended when Kenny tore his Achilles tendon. But he recovered well enough to play pro football in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos. Ken would tell anyone that he was equally as proud of his three sons’ accomplishments on the gridiron as he was of his own achievements in high school, college and professional football.
After an ankle injury ended his pro career in the CFL, Ken Perkins found himself back in his hometown of West Columbia where he went to work at Dow Chemical. He would later work for Signal Oil and Gas in Houston until purchasing a small gas distributorship in Houston. In 1979, Ken moved his family to Kingsville where he bought an oilfield services company.
While back in the city where he stood out as a collegiate football player, Ken Perkins served on the Kingsville City Council where he was Mayor Pro Tem for a while. He loved coaching his kids in soccer and Little League and breeding quarter horses on his ranch. The former pro football player enjoyed helping out the Texas A&I football coaches with recruiting and playing in celebrity fundraising basketball games in the Kingsville area.
He and his wife Ruth Ann traveled frequently to watch their sons Todd and Blake participating in college football games. He eventually left Kingsville and started his own business, Ken Perkins Oil and Gas, Inc. in Ingram, Texas. His sons now run their father’s business while his widow Ruth Ann manages Javelina Energy, Inc., another business venture of Ken’s.
Ken and Ruth Ann moved to Fulshear in 2009 to be nearer their children and grandchildren. Ken didn’t let a serious stroke stop him from enjoying his final years, even taking part in a family cruise this past July — wheelchair and all. He passed away on January 13th at the horse ranch he and Ruth Ann had purchased in Simonton. It was Kenny’s wishes to not have a funeral service but everyone who went to school in West Columbia at the old high school campus who has fond memories of attending classes and playing football and basketball with him, please send up a prayer for Kenny, and especially for his family who will miss him dearly.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Ruth Ann Moore Perkins; his three sons, Kenneth Tracy Perkins and wife Cathy, Todd Everett Perkins and wife Parrish, and Stephen Blake Perkins and wife Delanna; grandchildren, Kacy Nicole Perkins, Trey Taylor Perkins, Kaden Blake Perkins, Kendel Aaron Perkins, Noah David Perkins and Kenley Noelle Perkins; his mother-in-law, Laverne Wallingford Etheredge; and his sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and Dan Thomas.
Ken Perkins leaves all of his old friends and classmates in West Columbia with a quote from The Bible, 2 Timothy 4: 7-8: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing,”
