updated 1:52 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2006

FREDERICKSBURG, Texas - Every football season, Ken Hall expects a call telling him that someone has broken his high school rushing records.

More than 50 years later, he’s still waiting.

“I am surprised,” said Hall, now silver haired and 70. “We didn’t need to know at the time we were setting records. It was just a bunch of kids out there having fun.”

A lot of it.

From 1950 to ’53, Hall rushed for 11,232 yards for Sugar Land High School. His senior season was downright ridiculous — he averaged 337.1 yards and 32.9 points a game, also national records. His 4,045 yards rushing that year remain a national record for a 12-game season.

“It’s special to have those. There’s joy in it,” said Hall. “But records are made to be broken. I don’t know if anybody’s shooting at it. But if they are, hey, I gave them something to shoot at.”

Nicknamed the “Sugar Land Express,” Hall was also a track star, winning state championships in the 100-yard dash, long jump and shot put.

Now he shares a simple brick house in the Texas hill country with his high school sweetheart and wife of 50 years, Gloria.

They try to make every Fredericksburg High School home game, and they’re regulars at Memorial Presbyterian Church. Whenever someone asks Hall to relive the glory days, he patiently complies and tries to deliver a message along the way.

“I answer them, because if they’re bringing it up, then it has some meaning to them,” he said. “But I’ll say, ’I did set records, but I had help. You can’t do anything in life by yourself.’ And pretty soon, we’re talking about something else.”

Hall wasn’t seeking gridiron stardom when he started high school. He was content playing trumpet in the band, and only joined the team because it seemed like the thing to do.

But Hall had a growth spurt between eighth grade and his freshman year, sprouting from what he called a 5-foot-6, 135-pound kid “who could barely put one foot in front of the other,” to a 6-1, 185-pound athlete.

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Sugar Land started 0-5 that year before superintendent W.E. White spotted Hall at practice. He suggested coach H.L. Jenkins switch from the “T” formation to the single-wing offense, with a direct snap to the best runner, to better utilize Hall’s skills.

The only problem was that Hall was afraid to run.

“I thought it was kind of a cruel game,” he said.

Jenkins put him in anyway and on one of his first plays, Hall found no one open, tucked the ball and took off. And scored.

“I went like 77 yards, out of fear,” he said. “I tell people the only reason I ran that fast was because I was so scared.”

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