After serving 58 years as the voice of the Brownwood Lions and 57 years as voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets, Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Dallas Huston on Friday announced his retirement from the booth.
Carl Wayne first broke the news on KOXE 101.3 FM radio Friday afternoon, and Huston took part in a phone interview earlier in the day.
“It’s always been about health and really over the past few years I’ve had to be propped up by a lot of people who made it possible for me to continue to do ball games,” Huston said. “With the quadruple bypass and the broken hip, the advancement of white matter disease which has taken away my balance, and the tremors that I have that have gone from hands into my jaw and now into my vocal chords, to be honest I didn’t want to end up passing away in a press box. So this seems like a pretty good time.”
Huston stated he has no regrets about his decision to walk away from the broadcast booth.
“When I was in ICU and in the darkness for a couple of days, it just seemed like me and the Lord were in there talking and I asked if it was possible if He might let me get back in a pulpit someday, but not one time in all of those hours did I ask to do another ball game. I’m very satisfied, I’m not sad or anything like that, I’m just very appreciative of the opportunities that have been given to me down through the years. I’m a very lucky man.”
Huston continues to recover from hip and heart surgery in a Brownwood rehabilitation facility, and thanked all those who have offered thoughts and prayers in the past few weeks. Dallas and his wife Linda continue to ask for no visitors at this time.
“I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the prayers and support that they’ve given me and my wife,” Huston said. “I will continue to be a very big Brownwood Lion fan and Howard Payne fan. I don’t think the doctors are going to tell me I can’t go to any ball games, so if they do I’m going to be upset. I’ll be listening, watching and everything I can to support the kids, I love the kids.”
Huston began broadcasting Brownwood Lions games in 1963 and HPU athletics in 1964.
“I’ve had a great, great career and the best thing about it is I never left town,” Huston said. “I have been friends with so many people, I’ve had coaches and superintendents and principals and players support me through the years. I’ll never forget them. I have been absolutely blessed a million times over.”