How’s this for trash talk: weeks before Burkburnett High’s Bulldogs began practicing for their 1972 football opener, a 78-year-old resident of nearby Wichita Falls marched onto their field, planted a stake in the turf, and soon after brazenly declared, “I am going to drill an oil well right in the middle of their damned stadium.”The uncongenial intention of Samuel H. Walton predictably riled the town of 9,200 on the banks of the Red River. “I don’t think there’s been any violent reaction,” high school principal Bill Darland said, “but, sure, they’re upset.”This conflict between the oil business and high school football, which have long been among Texans’ most traditional endeavors at work and play, became a huge storyline well beyond Wichita County or even Dallas,…View Original PostThe post The Great Burkburnett Football Field Feud of 1972 appeared first on Texas Monthly.