Learning How to Spell
There was a time when you could turn onto 51st Street from North Lamar Blvd. in Austin Texas, take a right on Rowena Ave. into a quiet neighborhood, and then another right, and you would’ve run straight into the chain-link gate of the Texas Game Warden Academy. It looked way out of place, for sure.
Behind the gate was an old warehouse facility that was converted to suit Texas Parks and Wildlife’s purposes sometime around 1977. The main building was two-story. The second floor was a dormitory, and the ground floor had a classroom, workout area, and a lobby/lounge. Taking advantage of this setup, academy instructors would, at various unannounced times, show up and start hollering for everybody to get up, get dressed and get to the classroom on the double.
I remember my experience vividly. Once we were all seated in class, our instructors passed out papers and administered a spelling test by calling out whatever word it was that they wanted us to spell. I think the only one I missed was “anhinga”, but at the time, I didn’t know what the heck an anhinga (water turkey) was. The whole point of the exercise, ostensibly, was to prepare us for responding to calls in a timely manner.
Game Warden Norman Anthony (retired) went to the Texas Game Warden School on the campus of Texas A&M University long before the name was changed to the Texas Game Warden Academy, and it was moved to Austin. BUT - Norman informed me that they had spelling tests back then, too. Did they help prepare him for the rigors of patrol? Hmm – that’s a headscratcher.
Anyway, it’s a given that all game wardens get a lot of calls – some turn out well, and others, well, not so much. Many of them come at the worst times; you’re sleeping, or you just sat down to eat, etcetera, etcetera. And sure enough, one night while Norman was relaxing at his home in Falfurrias, the phone rang. The sheriff’s office had gotten a call from a woman who had seen some guys loading a doe into the trunk of their car on a dead-end road about 20 miles away. Norman got up, got dressed, and got going.
As luck would have it, Norman met the suspect car travelling in the opposite direction about 15 miles from his house. He turned on them, hit the red-andblues, and the chase was on! Norman was hot on their trail, heading back towards Falfurrias. When they got close to town, the suspect vehicle made several turns down various streets. Norman kept the sheriff’s office dispatch informed, and other units were enroute. Then – POP – they blew a tire and spun into a yard. It was a yard Norman was familiar with, because it was right across the street from his house.
About that time, other units arrived and provided backup so Norman could inspect the car. There were five guys inside, and there was blood on the back bumper. “Give me the key to the trunk,” Norman said to the driver. “I don’t have it,” the driver said. Norman persisted, “Give me the key, or we’re gonna rip the trunk off.” Lo and behold, the guy found the key. Norman opened the trunk, and there was the doe. The men in the car were arrested and taken to jail, and their car was impounded. Norman took the deer to a needy family and was back home in less time than it took to take one of those spelling tests back in the day.
Nowadays, there are condominiums where the Texas Game Warden Academy used to be, and the re-named Game Warden Training Center is a state-ofthe art facility in Hamilton County. Much has changed, but I hope they’re still teaching our Texas Game Wardens how to spell.
.png)
