Run through history at Galveston Revival Race

  GALVESTON, TX (KTRK) -- Residents in Galveston will walk and run today during the fourth annual Galveston Historical Foundation Revival Race.

Events range from a kids' 1-K run to a 10-K race.

The races begin at 5:30pm on Galveston's East End, and finish at Saengerfest Park at the corner of 23rd and Strand.

Clay Wade, Galveston Historical Foundation's director of events, says the race is USA Track and Field-certified. The route will highlight the island's tree sculptures, carved from 100-year-old trees destroyed by Hurricane Ike, along with Galveston monuments and architecture.

"Beginning and ending at the Mardi Gras arch, this year's race will feature new race management and a fun-filled party following the race at Saengerfest Park with entertainment, food and drink for the entire family," Wade said in a release.

Prices for the races range from $25 to $45 with proceeds benefiting the Galveston Historical Foundation. Each registrant also receives a free ticket to the 39th annual Dickens on the Strand festival.

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A Brief History of Houston, Texas

History of Houston Football

Houston has a rich and proud history of professional sports. With football being such an important part of life in Texas, the city of Houston boasts a rich tradition of professional football going back 50 years. With the loss of the Oilers in 1996 it was only a matter of time before pro football would be restored to the city and its loyal fans.

The first professional football team in Houston was the Houston Oilers. The team was started in 1959 by owner Bud Adams who was also a co-founder of the AFL. The Houston Oilers took part in the first ever AFL championship match and beat the then Los Angeles Chargers to claim the title. The oilers and their fans continued to enjoy many years of football in Houston before their owner decided to unceremoniously move the team to Tennessee in 1996 with the lure of a new state of the art stadium which they moved into in 1998. Despite huge public outcry against the move the owner decided to move the team anyway and pay millions to the city of Houston for damages for the loss of the team to the city. With football being such a huge part of Texas it would not be long before professional football would be returned to the city of Houston and their great and loyal fans. However, it was not easy to get a new team and many obstacles had to be overcome before the NFL would grant Houston with a new franchise.

In 1997 the now current majority owner Bob Mcnair began a push to bring professional football back to Houston by establishing a new organization called Houston NFL Holdings. In 1998 the NFL announced that it had narrowed its search for a new location for its 32nd franchise to three possible locations. These were Toronto, Los Angeles and Houston. Los Angeles quickly became the front runner to get the new franchise mainly because of its huge media market. Houston officials announced that they would build a new domed stadium as part of their plan to compete for the new franchise. At the same time entertainment guru Michael Ovitz announced plans to a new state of the art stadium in Los Angeles. Both Mcnair and Ovitz would put pressure on the NFL to make a decision on the new franchise by early 1999 so as to keep public support from waning. Meanwhile Ovitz would receive competition in his own market from real estate developer Ed Roski whose proposal involved renovating the Los Angeles coliseum.

In early 1999 the NFL owners voted in favor of Los Angeles with their decision being contingent on the city putting together an acceptable ownership team and stadium deal. If they were not able to accomplish this, the NFL announced it would then turn its attention to awarding Houston with the new franchise.

Subsequently the city of Los Angeles decided it would not permit tax dollars to be used to help build a new stadium and neither Roski nor Orwitz were willing to work together or build a new stadium on private financing alone. Since Houston was prepared to build a brand new state of the art stadium, they then became the front runner to get the new NFL franchise. Despite late efforts by Los Angeles to secure a deal the NFL finally decided to award Houston with the new team in October of 1999 and accepted Mcnairs 700 million dollar offer as well as award Houston with the 2004 Super Bowl.

Thanks to persistence and hard work professional football had been restored to Houston where it belongs. The new franchise would decide upon the name Houston Texans after receiving permission to use the name from Lamar Hunt who had previously founded the name Dallas Texans and which later would become the Kansas City Chiefs. With former Denver Bronco assistant Gary Kubiak now in place as the head coach and quarterback Matt Schaub signed, the Houston Texans hope to establish a winning tradition for years to come. Along with their loyal fans they are looking toward the new season as a breakthrough year.

La Rue Team is a group of Houston relocation specialists dedicated to helping families find the best homes & new lives in Houston, Texas.

Houston Texans History Still Short, But Progressing

The Houston Texans history is limited considering they were established as an expansion team in 2002. The Texans were created after the original Houston Oilers were moved to Tennessee and became the Tennessee Titans. The Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee courtesy of owner Bud Adams, which cost him millions of dollars in lawsuits. This move prompted a dry spell for Houston without a professional football team, considering the NFL was not adding teams at that time. Bob McNair, who had been working to bring the NHL to the city, instead founded Houston NFL Holdings, which was headed by Steve Patterson, an associate of McNair.

In 1997, a report was issued stating the attractiveness of Houston, Los Angeles, and Cleveland for expansion teams to come. The Browns' move to Baltimore had Cleveland as a promised destination for the next expansion team. This would bring the total to 31 NFL teams in the league. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue praised the efforts of McNair and Patterson, including their decision to build a domed stadium to entice the NFL to return a team to Houston. Within the next three years, the Cleveland Browns were given a new team, and the NFL determined that they would add an additional team, either in L.A., Toronto, or Houston. This worried many of the football fans in Houston, television and advertising revenue is a big part of football now. They were almost certain that the NFL wouldn't turn down the chance to have a team in Los Angeles, which is the second-largest TV market in the country.

In 1999, it was decided that L.A. would get the expansion franchise, but only if they could have an ownership team and stadium deal in place by September 15th of that year. The two groups in L.A. were facing a standoff, and tax dollars were not allowed to be used for the new stadium, putting the progress at a standstill. It was at this point that they realized that L.A. was not nearly as prepared to host an NFL franchise as Houston, who already had plans for a state-of-the-art stadium and the proper people in place for team ownership and building the franchise. The Houston officials were told to attend a meeting in Atlanta with the NFL owners, at which point the L.A. group put in a bid of $540 million for the new franchise. However, McNair had better financial resources and wisdom, bidding $700 million for the franchise, this gave them the rights to the franchise, as well as the 2004 Super Bowl game.

Reliant Stadium broke ground in 2000, and the officials worked quickly to establish a team name, logo, and uniforms so that they could begin play as soon as the stadium was completed. In the later part of the year, the Houston Texans were christened during a downtown celebration, where the new team logo was unveiled. Dom Capers was hired in 2001 as the head coach of the team, and by 2002 the Houston Texans team was ready for action. Their first game came in September against the Cowboys, which they rightfully won. This made them only the second expansion team in NFL history to win their first game of the regular season, although they subsequently lost the next five games.

The successes have progressing slowly for the Houston Texans, fans rallied to show their support for having the NFL back in Houston. There were plenty of Houston Texans team apparel and Houston Texans memorabilia sold at games and in stores outside of the games, because fans were so excited about their new team. They have been steadily improving over the past years, but still have yet to make it to a championship or Super Bowl game. In 2005, Dom Capers was fired along with the majority of his coaching staff. Gary Kubiak was hired to replace Capers, and led the team into a very controversial off season. They were assumed to draft Reggie Bush or Vince Young, but when it was all said and done, they shocked everyone by acquiring Mario Williams instead of either of the first two picks. 2006, 2007 and 2008 were mediocre seasons for the Houston Texans, although fan support has gained momentum and so has the success of the team considering their talent and a first time playoff appearance.

Copyright (c) 2010 Matthew Love

Matt Love
FootballCollectibles.com
http://www.footballcollectibles.com/HoustonTexans.htm
Houston Texans Fan Guide - History, Blogs, Articles, Collectibles, and Memorabilia.

The History of the Houston Texans

Does anyone remember when the Houston Texans used to be called something else? Probably not, as most will tell you that the Houston Texans are nothing like the former football team that used to be the darling sports team of Houston. Yes, I will mention them here just for ol' time sake. They were the Houston Oilers and not only were they a good team, they had a pretty good dance line too - called the Derrick Dolls (isn't that name fitting?)

Anyway, getting back to here and now, the fact that Houston has another great football team is absolutely wonderful in my opinion.

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the US and has had a professional football team since 1959 (just one year before Dallas got their Cowboys). In 1997 the owner of the Houston Oilers got the go-ahead to move his team to Tennessee and all of a sudden, the rabid football fans in one of the largest cities in Texas found themselves with no home pro football team to root for. As a matter of fact, Bud Adams had to pay a lot of money for the privilege of moving out of state. But that did not deter him in the least and Houstonians had to face the fact that they might be in for a long dry spell without a pro football game at home to attend.

As fate would have it however, Houston fans were is for a big surprise. Bob McNair was in the mood to bring a pro hockey team to town n 1997 and that didn't work out. So being the brilliant man that he is credited for, he set his sights on bringing another pro football team to town. By using strong local community support from the citizens of Houston, coupled with the partial promise of a new domed stadium to house the team's games, Houston was in the running for a new football team to replace the sorely missed Houston Oilers.

However, In 1998 Cleveland received their expansion franchise and then the next franchise would be awarded to Los Angeles (or so it seemed). LA couldn't get their act together so the NFL owners turned to Houston and decided to give that city a serious look. So the league's expansion committee told McNair and the other Houston official to attend the October 6, 1999 NFL Owner's meeting in Atlanta. And on the morning of that same day, the NFL owners voted 29-0 to award the 32nd franchise and also the 2004 Super Bowl to Houston. WOW, is all anyone can really say to that. Houston really wanted a team back at home.

After that, things started to move fast for the future team. They didn't have a name yet but that did not really matter to the fanatical fans of Houston. All they cared about was that they had been starved for a home team now for a number of years and were ready to have one once again. By 2000, things were really on a roll with the new Reliant stadium groundbreaking occurring. The state-of-the-art facility would have 69,500 seats and would become the NFL's first stadium with a retractable roof. Quite a feat in anyone's stretch of the imagination.

Also in 2000, the worst kept secret in Houston history became reality and the team was named the Houston Texans. The next year saw Dom Capers announced as the club's first head coach and his first task was to fill out the rest of his staff. Play began in the 2002 season. The Texans first game saw them up against the Dallas Cowboys at their own Reliant Stadium. History was made as the Houston Texans were just the second expansion team to ever win their first game. They beat their intrastate rivals 19-10 and even though they lost their next five games, the Texans had won the hearts and minds of their home town.

Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school football coach of 25 years. His love of the game of football is reflected in his words and memories of growing up in the South and playing football in the back yard with his brother, cousins and neighborhood friends. His biggest thrill is watching former high school players he has coached play at the college level. His favorite pastime is watching NFL football on tv and attending the games in person every chance he gets. Freddie Brister is a huge fan of the NFL and the Houston Texans. Check out his Houston Texans Lamp or his Kansas City Watch