The Lone Star State is big on sports. That might not be a surprise when it comes to football, but in addition to Texas’ two professional football teams and countless college teams, the state is also home to multiple pro baseball and basketball franchises and more powerhouse collegiate sports programs than we could list. This means there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy your favorite sports in venues across the state.
- Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was born in the coastal city of Port Arthur Texas. She was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. Didrikson is the only track and field athlete, male or female, to win individual Olympic medals in a running, throwing, and jumping event. The Associated Press voted Zaharias the Woman Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. Several golf courses are named after her. During the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, besides winning two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field, how many world records did Didrikson set? Subtract 4 from this number to get A.
- Nolan Ryan was born on January 31, 1947, in Refugio, Texas. Over a record 27-year career, Ryan pitched for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. After his retirement in 1993, Ryan served as chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers and an executive advisor to the Houston Astros. Ryan was a right-handed pitcher who consistently threw pitches that were clocked above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). He maintained this velocity throughout his pitching career. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four different decades. Ryan’s career strikeouts is an MLB record by a significant margin. How many strikeouts did Ryan make? The second digit of this 4 digit number is B.
- George Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas. He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the world heavyweight title with a stunning second-round knockout of then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. He defended the belt twice before suffering his first professional loss, to Muhammad Ali in the iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Following what he referred to as a religious epiphany in 1977, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister. Ten years later he announced a comeback, and in 1994 at age 45 won the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer. Foreman had 12 children. How many are girls, and how many are boys? Subtract the number of boys from the number of girls, then multiply by 4 to get C.
- Laura Ann Wilkinson (born November 17, 1977 in Houston, Texas) is an American diver, 3 time Olympian, and Olympic gold medalist. She is the first woman to win the three major diving world titles. Wilkinson retired in 2008. After several years of retirement, she returned to competition and placed 2nd at Nationals. Currently she is training for a fourth Olympic Games (2021) at The Woodlands Diving Academy in Texas. When did Wilkinson return to competition after her retirement? Take the sum of the first 3 digits, then subtract this sum from the 4th digit to get D.
- Andrew "Rube" Foster (September 17, 1879 – December 9, 1930), born in Calvert, Texas, was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. Foster, considered by historians to have been perhaps the best African American pitcher of the first decade of the 1900s, also founded and managed the Chicago American Giants, one of the most successful black baseball teams of the pre-integration era. Most notably, he organized the Negro National League, the first long-lasting professional league for African American ballplayers, which operated from 1920 to 1931. He is known as the "father of Black Baseball." When was he elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame? The 4th digit in this year is E.
- Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008), also known as "Uptown Gene" and "Highway 63" was born in Robston, Texas. He was an American professional football player for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He later served as the executive director of the National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA). He led the NFLPA in an unsuccessful strike and through years of antitrust litigation against the league, including a brief period in which the NFLPA became a professional association rather than a union, that ended with the union's acceptance of a salary cap in return for free agency and an enhanced share of league revenues for the union's members. Until his death, he was the Executive Director of the Association. In 1987, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is also the only player in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl in three different decades with the same team. When did Upshaw lead the NFLPA in its first (unsuccessful) strike? Take 1/2 of the 3rd digit; this is F.
CACHE IS AT:
N42 39.ABC, W75 06.DEF
Earn your diploma from the Texas School House by finding the 11 caches in the Texas School House State Forest. But first you'll have to learn the history and facts of the Lone Star State! Your day in the classroom includes a lovely streamside stroll, beaver lodges, and interperative signs provided by the Audobon Society. Find the caches and ride off into the sunset!
All the caches are winter-friendly preforms or bison tubes.
https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/maptexasschool.pdf