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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/high-school/football/article/kenneth-hall-obit-sugar-land-express-20221829.php

Quote

Kenneth Hall, record-setting Texas high school football star known as 'The Sugar Land Express,' dies

By Jon Poorman,Staff writerMarch 14, 2025

Ken Hall, photographed at his home in Fredericksburg in 2006, The painting in the background is from a photo made during his time at Sugar Land High School, where he was nicknamed the "Sugar Land Express." From 1950 to '53 he rushed for 11,232 yards. The 4,045 rushing yards his senior year remain a national record for a 12-game season.

Kenneth Hall, the Texas high school football player who set national rushing records and was famously nicknamed “The Sugar Land Express,” died last week, friends and family said. Hall was 89.

Charles Kenneth Hall was born in Madisonville, in 1935, attended Sugar Land High School in the early 1950s and rose to prominence on the football field as a dual-threat quarterback with his prolific performances and mind-boggling statistics.

He finished his high school career with a national record of 11,232 rushing yards, playing for the Gators from 1950 to 1953. That mark stood for nearly six decades until it was surpassed in 2012 by Derrick Henry, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy at Alabama and has enjoyed a successful nine-year career in the NFL.

Hall rushed for 4,045 yards as a senior in 1953, which ranks seventh all-time nationally for a single season. That total is also the highest single-season output in Texas high school football history. Hall had two other seasons of 3,000-plus yards, rushing for 3,458 as a junior in 1952 and rolling up 3,160 as a sophomore in 1951. His single-game high of 520 yards ranks 11th in state history, and his average yards per carry of 47.3 during that game against Houston Lutheran still stands as a national record (minimum of 10 carries). Hall scored 127 touchdowns during his career, including 57 in 1954.

“When I first started, the only thing I wanted to do was throw the ball and kick the ball,” Hall told the Chronicle's Adam Coleman in a 2016 interview.  “I didn’t care anything about that running stuff.

“I just ran faster than they did, and I scored a touchdown, 70-something yards. And I turned around and those guys were way back there, and nobody had touched me. I said, 'This is kind of fun. Maybe we ought to do this again sometime.' "

Hall was recruited to play at Texas A&M by coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, but he left the program following his freshman year. Bryant's philosophy of defense first didn't match with Hall's skills and mindset.

In his 2016 interview with the Chronicle, Hall said years later he got a letter from the legendary coach who said the "biggest mistake" he ever made coaching was how he had handled Hall.

"I was pleased with that," Hall said. "There's honor in that statement. I wrote him back and told him, 'Well, I think the way you handled me probably was a mistake, but I didn't know that at the time and neither did you. But you learned from that, that all kids are not made the same.'"

Hall later played professionally in the Canadian Football League and with the Houston Oilers.

Hall was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Hall of Fame in 1983. He was added to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Hall was memorialized by Fort Bend ISD in 2004 with the opening of Kenneth Hall Stadium in Missouri City. He is also honored with the Ken Hall Trophy, given to the National High School Football Player of the Year by the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

No details were available on services for Hall, who had moved to California in recent years after living in Fredericksburg.

 

 

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Legend.

When GoBig12.com started they had a limit for handles of 8 characters, no spaces. I wanted something that reflected where I lived and grew up that also reflected my passion for high school sports. 

I never met him, although I talked to a lot of people who knew him. I did help campaign for the stadium to be named after him. At first they were going to name it for a past athletic administrator. But I wasn't the main person involved or anything. 

They don't talk about it in the article, but he suffered an ACL. Maybe on both knees. Still played for the Oilers with injured knees. ]

I always tell the Bear Bryant story they quote in there. Bryant also relayed that on the Merv Griffin show during an interview. The key is Bryant wanted Hall to play linebacker and Hall wanted to play safety. Bryant wouldn't budge and neither would Hall. 

John David Crow said he never would have won that Heisman Trophy if Hall had continued at A&M. "He was a much better player than I was."

3 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

I always tell the Bear Bryant story they quote in there. Bryant also relayed that on the Merv Griffin show during an interview. The key is Bryant wanted Hall to play linebacker and Hall wanted to play safety. Bryant wouldn't budge and neither would Hall. 

John David Crow said he never would have won that Heisman Trophy if Hall had continued at A&M. "He was a much better player than I was."

This is the single platoon era where he had to play defense to be on the offense!?

1 hour ago, notre dame joe said:

This is the single platoon era where he had to play defense to be on the offense!?

 

Yes. College football was single platoon from 1953 until 1964. UT's first national championship was won under single platoon football in 1961.

16 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

 

Yes. College football was single platoon from 1953 until 1964. UT's first national championship was won under single platoon football in 1961.

I believe that was 1963.  Sonny Gibbs and Buddy Isles ruined that 1961 opportunity which, I think, is when DKR made his “cockroach” comment.

Yes and lost one game in 62, until LSU beat them in the Cotton Bowl. The CB loss was “greater” physically from the sideline than the scoreboard reflected according to Dad.

DKR after that game stated that he’d never coach a team again that was physically overmatched. Welcome the Fall of ‘63, as the Spring was brutal!

Hook’em!!!

This is the single platoon era where he had to play defense to be on the offense!?

Most players during Dads time (early 60s) played a position on both sides of the ball, especially through their Sophomore year. Dad was a year ahead of T Nobis, but he took a spot ahead of him on the depth chart as a OL (guard). Dad was also a DL, but only in practice (scout team), as he knew there was no way he was going in on defense in a game.

Hook’em!!!

RIP to the Texas schoolboy legend.  

My father told me many stories about Kenneth Hall's exploits when I was a little kid.  Said he should have been an NFL HOFer had it not been for injuries.  He also had stories of the Koy family and the San Antonio battles of Warren McVea and Linus Baer.  RIP Mr. Hall.

The old timers at Rice that saw him in action all said that with his speed and size he’d still be a stud in modern college football and not a “plumber” as the modern urban youth say. 

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