Rabb Record Breakers Enter HOF
By Gordon Pynes

Three former Rabbit athletes who competed at the national level will enter the Atlanta Athletics Hall of Fame (HOF) Friday night at the Atlanta - New Boston football game.  At pre-game induction ceremonies Martin Miller, Sammy Epps and Sherri Steward - Ganz will be honored as members of the HOF Class of 2022.  Each had stellar sports careers at Atlanta High School and then went on to compete in college and beyond.

The three honorees will have their pictures and athletic achievements etched on black granite plaques mounted on the left stadium wall as you enter under the press box.  Since the HOF was established in 2018 there are already 14 plaques that adorn the wall under the Atlanta Athletics banner. 

Martin Miller was honored in 2014 by the Atlanta ISD Education Foundation as a distinguished Alumni.  Miller was a successful Assistant District Attorney for a number of years in the Dallas area.  He passed away in 2019.  A 1971 Rabbit graduate,  he had a big impact in sports for the Maroon and White.  He was a key football and basketball player but track was the showcase for his accomplishments.  Martin became the first Rabbit State track champion when he brought home the gold in the 1970 mile run.  He established the school mile record while repeating as the State champ in 1971.  During his four high school years he earned a spot in the State track meet each season.  His performances brought a scholarship to run at Southern Methodist University (SMU).  Running both cross country and track, Miller turned in top finishes for the Ponies in Southwest Conference competition.  A pinched nerve in his back during his junior cross country season knocked him out of high level competition but he continued to run  distance events for many years beyond college.

Sammy Epps joins his older brother Phillip who was inducted into the HOF last year with the Class of 2021.  As did his older brothers, Sammy played football, basketball and ran track for the Rabbits.  Although a good high school athlete, Epps was small and physically immature at that stage of life.  A good long jumper in track, he got an opportunity to join the track team at Southern Arkansas University (SAU) in Magnolia, Arkansas.  He headed off to college after high school graduation in 1981.  Put in the Muleriders off season program of weight lifting and distance running, Sammy began to physically mature.  Stronger and faster by that first college track season Epps began to make his mark in Arkansas collegiate track.  During four seasons he established several school records that still stand.  Sammy closed his college career by entering seven events in the Conference meet and piling up 45 points to lead the Muleriders to the championship. He earned an invitation to the 1986 USA Olympic track training site in San Jose, California and just missed a spot on the Olympic team.  His performances earned induction into the SAU Sports HOF and in the State of Arkansas’ Track and Field Hall.

The Atlanta HOF welcomes a dynamic female member in Sherri Steward.  Truly a pioneer in women’s track she has a long record as an outstanding competitor in distance running events.  Sherri began running at Atlanta HIgh School in 1968 when girls sports were severely limited in opportunity and support.  As a junior she earned second place for the Lady Rabbs in the 1970 Girls State track meet held then in Abilene.  The Texas track club noted her ability and asked her to join them during the summer for various track meets.  Accepting a warm up suit and shoes from the club resulted in a protest that robbed her of high school competition during most of the 1971 track season. A year later Sherri joined the North Texas University women’s track program which then was almost nonexistent.  Title IX to bring women’s athletics toward equality with men’s was just passed in 1972.  Despite funding difficulties, Sherri began to win Cross Country and track events within the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).  She won the 880, mile and two mile events among a number of Texas Universities.

Following college competition she ran for the Metroplex Striders Track Club based in Dallas.  With the Striders Sherri competed in numerous national level meets like the Texas and Kansas relays plus several national championship meets.  Running the 880 and mile she competed against an Olympic champ and several other Olympians finishing second and third.  As the anchor runner for the Striders two mile relay this unit had the best time in the nation.  Truly a pioneer in women’s track, Sherri blazed a trail, beginning as a small pigtailed girl running the red clay roads of Cass County for the Lady Rabbs.  Even now she still does long runs.  Honored last Fall by the Atlanta Education Foundation as a Distinguished Alumni, she now joins fellow classmates Ted Thompson and Martin Miller from the class of 1971 as a member of the HOF class of 2022.

By Gordon Pynes

Returning to  Atlanta in 1967 to begin the 9th grade she took to running the red clay roads of Cass County.  Little did this young teenage girl in pigtails realize what a pioneer she would be for Girls Athletics in Atlanta, the state of Texas and the nation.  Sherri Steward loved to run and now over 50 years later she still enjoys an early morning cup of coffee and a four-mile run from her home in Northlake, Texas.

Lady Rabbs track in 1968 was barely in existence.  Coach David Murphy got things going with the talents of Sherri Steward.  Distance running for high school girls in Texas involved nothing more than one lap around the track (440 yards then).  At a meet on the track of Stephen F. Austin University Murphy persuaded the other coaches to allow for a girls 880 yard run.  Sherri won it easily and from then on she would run races as far as the 26 mile marathon.  While running for the Lady Rabbs she paired some workouts with classmate Martin Miller who was twice boys state mile champ.  Miller gave Steward plenty of encouragement.  As the new Atlanta High School opened in 1970 Sherri’s home was 4.2 miles from school.  Many days come rain or shine she ran both to and from school.  Her revered English teacher Ruth Trumble kept dry clothes for her at school.

During her high school career in Atlanta she was the District and Regional champ before placing second in the 1970 State meet then held in Abilene for girls.  The UIL track records archives don’t begin listing Girls State results until 1972.  There was little recognition or support for Girls sports at that time.  Spotted in Abilene by the head of the Texas Track Club, Steward was invited to run with this team in the summer of 1970 as she completed her junior year.  By running with the club and accepting a pair of shoes and warmup suit from the club she was declared ineligible to run for the Lady Rabbs early in her senior track season.

Moving on to college at North Texas University (NTSU) in the early 1970”s Sherri began to star for a track program that was almost nonexistent.  Recall that Title IX was passed in June of 1972 to make Womens’ Athletics equal with Mens’.  That was a slow process to endure but Sherri pressed on with virtually no financial support.  The legendary Dr. Bert, coach at Texas Womans’ University took her under the wing of his track program.  Her college performances in track and cross country and later with the Texas Track Club and Metro Striders Club in Dallas are very noteworthy.

Running for NTSU in what was the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), a grouping of several major schools in Texas for state competition and then beyond at the National level, she excelled.  During meets at the state level she won the 880, mile and two-mile events.  Turning to Cross Country in the Fall she won the Southwest AAU races three years in a row and placed in the National meets.

During and following her college years Sherri ran for the Texas Track Club and then Metroplex Striders.  In doing so she got her first plane ride and travel to compete in most of the big national meets.  Competing several years in the Texas Relays, Sherri ran second twice and third once in the Invitational mile.  Two of those races found her behind the winner, Francie Larrieu, who was a five-time USA Olympian.

Competing at the Kansas Relays in the 800 meters she finished a second and third behind Olympic champion Madeline Manning.  Her post collegiate career in the late 1970’s earned her qualification for six USA National championships and AAU nationals.  In those, she placed in the top six over the mile, 1500 meters and two mile.  At one time the Metroplex Striders two-mile relay team had the best time in the nation and Sherri was their anchor runner.  Finishing a relay for the Striders, she anchored in a time of 2:03  for the two laps.  That time would be very competitive today.

The little Lady Rabbs runner in pigtails continued distance running, and at age 40 won the Masters’ Division at the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth.  There, of all the women competing, only two young Oregon women were ahead of her.  For four years she applied her talent and knowledge of running to coach boys and girls track at Irving Nimitz high school.

One of Sherri’s highest honors came in 2002 when she was selected to carry the Olympic torch for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games during a  run through the streets of Arlington.  This proud honor certainly rewarded her for outstanding athletic achievement.

Her love for running began as a child and has been a big part of her life.  “It gave me self esteem” and certainly added to her drive as a professional educator.  Last Fall I witnessed her being honored at a Rabbit football game as a Distinguished Atlanta Alumni by the local Education Foundation.  At that time I had no idea of what she had achieved as an athlete.  Sherri Steward’s professional accomplishments are worthy of a book, but this article concentrates on her recognition to be selected to the Atlanta Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2022.  Her induction unites her with fellow 1971 Rabbit graduates Ted Thompson and Martin Miller in the HOF.  Sherri was a true pioneer in Womens’ track and blazed an award winning trail for the Lady Rabbs.

By Gordon Pynes 

In any endeavor there has to be someone to start and lead the way in being the first to do so.  Martin Miller was definitely a trailblazer for Atlanta High School Athletics.  Running for the Rabbs in the late 1960’s and early 70’s he brought Atlanta High its very first State Champion in an individual track event.  After more than 40 years of competing in UIL track the Rabbits finally had a champion as Martin won the mile run at Austin in the 1970 State Track Meet.  He enjoyed the success so much that he came back in 1971 to win gold in the mile again.  Eighteen years would pass until another Rabb would be a State Track Champion in 1989.  Many Runnin’ Rabbs have since earned gold following in Miller’s lead atop the State victory stand.

Martin probably ran thousands of miles in his lifetime but it all started on the streets and roads of Atlanta and Cass County in his early teens.  As his Dad owned a motorcycle shop in Texarkana he could easily have ridden a cycle around.  However, he chose to run and run.  Maybe his first notice as a distance runner happened as a result of an accident during a Boy Scout campout.  A fellow scout was injured and Martin ran several miles into town to get medical help.  As a Rabbit freshman he met Roger Sessions, a young new coach at Atlanta High.  The two bonded and Martin was off to the races.  Running the mile he won the District mile title all four years in high school competition.  He took the Regional title three times and qualified four times for the State Meet.  That is a rare feat and I’m not aware of any Atlanta trackster matching that in a four- year career.

Miller’s success did not come easy as he put in a tremendous amount of work during those high school days.  Somehow, he found time to play football and basketball earning All-District honors.  Fellow teammate Barron Christensen, described Martin as fun loving but serious in his approach to workouts.  Martin was prone to start a workout by exclaiming “Let’s go hurt” and he led the way.  According to Christensen, Miller had a positive attitude and always felt he would win.  Certainly, he knew his workouts were both of quantity and quality.  He ran to school in the mornings, did the track workout in the afternoon and ran some more later in the evening.  Many times he would run to Linden for a workout and then catch a ride back to Atlanta.

Another teammate, Bogie Price, lauded Miller as a master of race pace which is vital to a distance runner.  Coach Sessions had worked hard to implant this sense of pace.  Martin set the Atlanta School record for the mile in 1971 with a time of 4:15.7 which stood for 42 years until Chris Ibarra broke it with 4:12.6 in 2013.  However, you might put an asterisk by that as Ibarra ran 1600 meters which is 9 yards shorter than the mile.  During the early 1970’s State Cross Country was not fully organized but Martin ran in one race billed as the State Meet.  He ran second on a course along Town Lake in Austin.  The two mile race (now 3200 meters) was also not on the boys high school track format back then.  That may well have been his best race as his college races proved.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) recruited Martin and he was immediately successful with the Pony track team.  During his freshman and sophomore Cross Country seasons he finished fourth at the Southwest Conference meet.  On the track he blazed a 8:32 two mile indoors at a meet held in the Astrodome.  Running in the three mile he ran 14 minutes.  During his junior year at SMU he suffered a pinched nerve in his back and was found to have one leg slightly shorter than the other.  This injury served to end his college track career.

Upon completion of college, Martin joined the Army and became a military policeman which fit his college study of criminal justice.  Then after discharge he enrolled at Texas Tech and earned an MBA degree.  Then it was on to Baylor Law School and a law degree.  For the rest of his life Miller served as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas and was a criminal attorney for a private law firm.

His love for running and track continued.  According to his wife Joan, Martin loved to run marathons and set a goal to run one in all 50 states. He ran in some ten major marathons before an achilles injury suffered in a Las Vegas run ended his quest.  Joan waited at the finish line for most of those 26 plus miles with refreshment after the several hour effort.

Boyhood friend James Joslin, traveled with Martin during his Army years in Europe.  Joslin said Martin always attended the State Track meet and followed Rabbit track through the years.  I met Martin only once at one of our Rabbit track competitions.  It was easy to tell his love for the sport and the dedication he had given it.  The Atlanta Educational Foundation honored Miller as a Distinguished Alumni in 2013.  He passed away in late 2019.  As the Rabbit trailblazer to that first gold track medal Martin Miller is most deserving of taking his place in the Atlanta Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2022.

By Gordon Pynes

Sometimes high school athletes get overlooked for opportunity at the college level.  Physical maturity and size play a big role in college coaches evaluations for athletic scholarships.  That was almost the case for former Atlanta Rabbit Sammy Epps.  A slight 5’- 9” at 135 pounds soaking wet made athletics a difficult endeavor back in 1978 when Sammy played football, basketball and ran track for Atlanta High School.  However, his family background made success in sports a top priority.

Rabbit sports have long enjoyed an outstanding group of both boys and girls in athletics who came out of the rural community of Shiloh.  Six miles down Highway 59 at the roadside park turn leads to Shiloh.  Numerous families there have contributed a load of talented athletes who have worn the Maroon and White.  Many have gone on to star in college and even in the professional ranks.

Sammy was the seventh child of nine in the Epps family with six brothers and two sisters.  He came to Atlanta High School with a reputation in athletics to uphold.  The pressure was on and he was fondly called “Little Epps”.  Pure determination to uphold what his older brothers had achieved drove him to hard work and tremendous effort in the three sports.  He did well but his size and physical maturity did not allow him to catch the eyes of college coaches.  

In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, Atlanta competed in a very tough District that included 12 teams divided into two zones.  The Rabbits represented the smallest school among such as Kilgore and Mount Pleasant.  Such competition kept Sammy from ever competing at the State Track Meet.  He did excel as a long jumper in track and got off a 23 - foot leap as a senior.  One of the Rabbit coaches at the time saw further potential in Sammy.  Barron Christensen, a Rabbit himself, had played football for the Muleriders at Southern Arkansas University (SAU) before coming home to coach.  Barron called his former coach and strongly urged that the Muleriders grant Sammy a track scholarship.  To his way of thinking Sammy was to be a late bloomer physically and would give them the maximum in hardwork.  Epps got his chance and quickly got better and better.

Sammy describes his success this way.  A Mulerider assistant coach developed the distance guys and Sammy was put in with them for long early morning runs.  This didn’t seem to fit for a jumper but soon his endurance improved and a weight program began to strengthen his small stature.  By the time track season rolled around in the spring of 1982 Epps was a different athlete.

During those next four track seasons Sammy Epps firmly held up his family athletic tradition.  His speed increased drastically over his high school performances and soon he was competing in the long jump, 100 and 200 hundred meters and both 400 and 1600 relays.  His accomplishments over the four seasons of 1982-85 were superb.  Each season he led the Muleriders to three  Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships and earned NAIA All-American status.  One year SAU coaches entered Sammy in seven events and in leading them to the title he scored 45 points.  His best marks set now 40 years ago stand today as outstanding.  Epps holds SAU track records with 10.43 in 100 meters, 20.84 at 200 meters, 45.98 for 400 meters and 25’-5.5” in the long jump.  These marks earned him recognition as an SAU Hall of Famer and since he was named to the State of Arkansas Track & Field Hall of Fame.

Sammy was invited to try out for the 1984 USA Olympic track team to compete in the Olympics  held in Los Angeles.  He trained at the track team training site in San Jose, California.  Numerous athletes competed for spots and he made it down to the final eight.  Only six could be chosen so he just missed a spot on the Olympic team.

Following graduation in 1986, Epps took a job as a management trainee at Joske’s in Dallas.  He longed to coach and after a year took a coaching job in Crossett, Arkansas.  Following six years there he came back to coach at Arlington Bowie and became the head track coach in 1997.  He would guide Bowie to a 5A State Track title in 2003 and has since produced numerous strong  boys teams during these 25 years.

He and his wife have six children and seven grandchildren.  Sammy Epps epitomizes what hard work and determination can achieve.  Despite his size while in high school he applied desire and a strong work ethic to expand his opportunity.  A quote of his on social media certainly sums up his reason for an outstanding career as an athlete and coach.  “No matter what the task is, I have always given my best so that others can be their best.  I truly love helping others.”

Atlanta Athletics Hall of Fame welcomes Sammy Epps as a deserving member of the Class of 2022.  He now joins his brother Phillip who was inducted in 2021.