Inductees
Running back Arthur Whittington won a Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders after playing at Cuero and SMU. Whittington and Rodney Pedraza, who played baseball at the Univesity of Texas and professionally, will be inducted into the Cuero Gobbler Hall of Fame on Friday night.
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Arthur Whittington and Rodney Pedraza appear an odd coupling for this year's induction into the Cuero Gobbler Hall of Fame.
Whittington played football, basketball and participated in track and field during the 1970's. He played college football at SMU, for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL, and the Oakland Invaders of the USFL.
Pedraza played football and baseball during the 1980's. He played college baseball at the University of Texas, minor league baseball for the Montreal Expos and Colorado Rockies organizations before playing for five years in Japan.
Whittington and Pedraza went different directions in the sports world, but they each left Cuero with a state championship.
Whittington was a member of Cuero's 1973 state championship teams in track and field and football, and Pedraza was a member of the Gobblers' 1987 state championship football team.
"The main thing is I played with a great group of guys," Pedraza said. "We played well together in whatever sport we did. I'm still in contact with those guys some 20 years out."
"The best thing," Whittington agreed, "is all the guys there are still my best friends."
Whittington has five children, sons, Randy, Jamaal and Amir, and daughters, Amber and Ashton, and resides in Los Angeles where he works as a sport agent.
Whittington not only won a state championship in football and track and field at Cuero, he went to the state tournament in basketball and participated in the state track and field meet four years in a row.
Whittington was second in the nation behind Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett in all-purpose yards at SMU, and was named to the Dallas Morning News' all-time all-Southwest Conference team as a returner.
He went on to make the NFL's all-rookie team and win a Super Bowl with the Raiders.
Whittington attributes much of his success to the foundation he built at Cuero and gives special credit to the late Ada Kirk.
"My family stayed beside me and Buster Gilbreth and the coaching staff were there for me," Whittington said. "But the person who deserves the most credit is my teacher Ada Kirk. After I made 710 on my SAT, she got mad at me. She made me come over to her house every day. She gave me milk and a sandwich and put me in a room and made me study. She stayed on me for weeks at a time. She saw something in me that I needed to get out. The next time I took the test I made 1,150. She helped me more than anybody. She was not just the teacher of the year. She was the teacher of my life."
Pedraza retired from baseball in 2003 and owns 350 acres in DeWitt County where he lives with his wife, Deborah, and daughters Haley and Kendall.
Pedraza played linebacker and fullback for the Gobblers and pitched for the baseball team, which lost to eventual state champion Sinton in the regional final his senior year.
Pedraza had the opportunity to play football at Texas, but decided baseball was the best course for his future.
"I talked to coach (David) McWilliams and he asked me if I wanted to do both," Pedraza recalled. "I didn't want to do that. I really wasn't fast enough for football. I made a decision to play baseball and decided to stick with it."
Pedraza was a second-round draft pick of the Expos before being traded to the Rockies and eventually went to Japan where he was the closer for the World Series champions.
"I'm satisfied with playing in the minor leagues," Pedraza said. "I had a chance to play for the Rangers in Triple-A, but decided to go to Japan and make some money."
Pedraza and Whittington will be honored with a reception at the high school cafeteria Friday at 6 p.m. before returning to Gobbler Stadium to be recognized during Cuero's game against Edna.
"We felt like we were pretty good and we always talk about it when we get together," Pedraza said. "We had quite a few good athletes all the way through."
"Very few people have won a Super Bowl, very few have won a state championship, and very few have scored 37 professional touchdowns," Whittington said. "I had a great career."
Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
