Null's accomplishments in the classroom recognized
Jeremy Heath

Jeremy Heath is the Dispatch Record's sports editor. His column appears Fridays. He can be contacted via e-mail at jheath@lampasas.com.

Former Badger and current West Texas A&M University starting quarterback Keith Null has been recognized on a handful of preseason All- America lists this summer, almost to the point of it becoming old hat.

On Wednesday, he proved he's not up in Canyon just for a football degree. Null, a senior to-be who led the Buffaloes to a school-record 12 wins as a junior, finished second in the voting for the Fred Jacoby Lone Star Conference Academic Athlete of the Year Award.

Fellow West Texas A&M athletes Emily Brister and Tyler Cooper received the awards, which were selected by the sports information directors in the LSC based on athletic and academic achievements by nominees from every sport.

I know football fans here take a lot of pride in Null's on-field accomplishments, but I think recognition like this is a good reminder to everyone that there are countless LHS graduates performing well in the classrooms of colleges around the country.

They might not get the public recognition a student-athlete gets, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve it.

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I can't even put into words how happy I was to see a particularly friendly face in the office this week.

Dispatch Record columnist and outdoors expert Mat Taylor and his wife, Nelda, stopped by Wednesday.

Mat, whose outdoors columns appear every Tuesday, is recovering from surgery, so it was great to see him out and about. Mat is a writer extremely devoted to his readers, and he wanted to make sure I let those readers know he would be writing again as soon as possible, but that his column might be absent from the pages of the Dispatch Record for a while.

Mat's columns are truly unique. Like many outdoors writers around the state, his love for the land and the creatures that live on it is strong. What sets him apart from other outdoors writers are his travel stories. He has the ability to take seemingly mundane actions, such as driving a secluded West Texas highway, and turn them into informative and entertaining travel pieces.

To be perfectly honest, I have very little interest in most of the subjects Mat writes about, but I enjoy each of his columns. He has an uncanny knack for identifying and relaying just the right details to illuminate a story.

That's called good writing. Get well soon, Mat.

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As many readers already know, I'll be moving my family closer to the Houston area in the next few weeks. I've accepted the news editor position at the Wharton Journal- Spectator. It's a great opportunity to take a step forward in my career and to get my wife and son closer to our families.

I got to thinking about some of the friends I've made in this community over the past year, something I'll address in greater detail in a later column. One of those friends stood out again this week.

See, most coaches do a lot for kids, but many of them coach because they love coaching itself. Helping kids just goes along with the job. Lampasas High School's cross country and track coach Trent Lancaster truly loves kids.

I know this because 1) I've had more than one athlete he advised tell me so, and 2) because he does the little things that show how much he cares about them.

Case in point: There's a short story on this page about the Blue Blazes track club's performance in Temple last weekend. While it might seem like a minor story to anyone other than the participating athletes and their families and friends, it's important to Lancaster. Important enough for him to make sure I have the information.

He was the same way during the cross country and track seasons; no matter how his athletes fared, he made certain the information was relayed to the Dispatch Record for publication.

It's a minor detail, but he does it because he wants his kids to be recognized. He wants them to be recognized because he cares about them.

And on a personal note, Lancaster is one of those guys I sometimes wish I were more like. He doesn't say much, but when he does it's poignant and positive. Those are the kinds of things I'm going to keep in mind while I'm trying to guide my son, Landry.