Thomas Earl Scudday, Jr., died peacefully in his sleep on Monday, March 16, 2015 at the age of 91 after a long and fruitful life.
A fourth-generation West Texan, Earl was born November 7, 1923, at Alpine, Texas. His parents, Thomas Earl Scudday and Della D. McSpadden, were members of pioneer ranching families. John C. Scudday, Earl's grandfather, established a ranch in southeast Terry County in 1903, and the McSpadden's moved from the Texas Panhandle to Alpine in 1906.
Although Earl always claimed Alpine as his hometown, he actually spent more of his public school years in Del Rio, where his father was assistant police chief in the middle and late 1930's. The family moved back to Alpine in 1939 and Earl graduated from high school there in 1941.
Earl had one younger brother Eddie. The two brothers were very close growing up during the Depression and always looked out for one another. They maintained the bonds of family closeness and connection throughout their lives no matter where life took them and were the best of friends that brothers could be.
Earl attended both Texas Tech and Texas A & M. As World War II broke out with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he became a mechanic working on airplanes at South Plains Army Air Field in Lubbock.
Earl became a member of the Avalanche-Journal news staff for 40 years from 1946-1986. He was best known for his sports writing. After a year as a reporter and sportswriter, he was named interim sports editor in 1947. He covered Texas Tech's football team that season, along with Lubbock High School athletics. From 1948 through 1953, Earl covered the Westerners, including their undefeated State Championship football teams in 1951 and 1952.
In 1960, when his friend Tom Landry was named head coach of the new Dallas Cowboys team in the National Football League, Earl began a 26 year association with the organization. His Monday afternoon column became know as the "Cowboy Column," although he often had interviews with nationally know sports figures such as golf champions Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus and war heroes Audie Murphy and Ted Lawson of "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" fame. Earl also included accounts of his hunting and climbing trips in the Rocky Mountains.
Earl's connection with the Dallas Cowboys was a thrill of a lifetime. Over those 26 years, he served as a small college scout playing an important role in the signing of such future stars as Cliff Harris, Rayfield Wright, Thomas Henderson and Larry Cole. Earl attended the Cowboy preseason training camps, had access to players and coaches meetings, and would even be there on the sidelines giving players water as they came off the field.
After his retirement from the Avalanche-Journal, Earl spent much of his time playing in chess tournaments and researching his family's history back to the 1700's.
Earl was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, a member of the Texas Sports Writers Association, the U.S. Chess Federation and the National Rifle Association, as well as a past member of the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society.
Earl was predeceased by his parents Thomas and Della and by his brother Eddie. Earl is survived by three nieces and their families; Melanie Leeland and husband David of Houston; Valerie Poerschke of Houston, and Beverly Pasley and husband Mark of Midland; and by many lifelong friends.
Earl's niece Melanie served as Earl's guardian for the last few years of his life and is deeply grateful for the help and friendship given to Earl by David Hester, Choc Hutcheson, and Adrian Stuart.
Memorials may be given in Earl's memory to Texas Tech University, The Garrison House, or First Presbyterian Church, all in Lubbock.
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