On December 19, 1980 right at the start of the Christmas holidays, PISD Athletic Director Gerald Meyer reassigned three of the four PISD High School Football coaches to serve as substitute teachers until the start of the second semester, at which time they would be assigned to only teaching in their fields. The men resigned.
Sam Sailer, who had been the head football coach since Dobie's doors opened as well as South Houston's head coach Ray Clockler and Pasadena's Jack Fink.
The reassignment got most of the South Belt up in arms about the move, which prompted three gentlemen from the area to run for the school board in the upcoming elections.
No Sagemont area representative had ever been elected to the PISD Board of Trustees before.
Thanks to this, all three of them were elected.
Dr. B.J. Garner, John Elam, and Rudy Schubert were sworn in the following month.
The heavy voter turnout at Dobie was the key to swinging the victory in the favor of the three South Belt candidates, since each of the three gathered approximately 90 percent of the 1,474 votes cast at Dobie. Elam garnered 91 percent of the Dobie vote, and Schubert and Garner each took 88 percent of the vote at Dobie.
In addition to coming to the polls in record numbers, South Belt residents formed telephone committees to call every registered voter in the area as well as every member of the Sagemont Baptist Church and St. Luke's Catholic Church. Elam and Garner are members of Sagemont Baptist, and Schubert is a member of St. Luke's.
Some residents say they got as many as nine calls.
At the start of February, Sailer was honored at a banquet and featured in an extensive interview.
Late last December, Sailer felt forced into resigning from Dobie by athletic director Gerald Meyer. Sailer was one of three head football coaches from the PISD to get reassigned. The coaches were then pair for the extent of their contracts along with severance pay and were officially released of their duties as football coaches at the respective schools.
Sailer is very candid on the incident and expresses very definite feelings on the matter as well as for his relationship with Meyer.
It had to be a political matter. The reasons given for reassignment were not valid." Sailer still professes the loss to Rayburn cost him his job. "I though the Rayburn win would relax some of the tension which had been built around Rayburn becoming a winner. Obviously I underestimated him (Meyer).
I know that when he was brought in as athletic director five years ago that changes were going to be made. I think the general feeling around the district was to keep Rayburn down.
When Meyer first arrived, it was a time when some board members were dissatisfied with the way things were going at Rayburn. At the time, Dobie was just beginning to get on its feet.
In those five years, Dobie had built a winner and Sailer's feeling was, "I thought we'd weathered the storm. It thought were were in good standings. I felt pretty safe," Sailer admitted.
His relationship with Meyer was not of the closest and friendliest variety. But Sailer was under the impression that the two were under a good working relationship. "We weren't close friends, but we weren't enemies, either."
I thought he'd done as much for the district as athletic director. He gave me most of the things that I asked for.
All of his public talks were favorable in our direction. He never told me to change anything or that I was doing anything wrong.
I wouldn't be human is I weren't bitter about being fired unjustly. That's what it amounted to, me being fired."
Sailer is suggesting to the three new board members that the Rayburn facilities be examined and the other three PISD school be brought to equalization.
Sam Sailer still holds the record tenure of 12 years as the head football coach at Dobie. (The only coach who's come close to him was Buzzy Keith's 10 years.)
(from the first yearbook)
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