Abilene Author: Al Pickett

He didn’t know it at the time, of course, but the first book that Al Pickett wrote set a pattern for the ones to follow.

It came at someone else’s request, just like his subsequent four books. Al was the sports editor at the Abilene Reporter-News for 15 years before leaving in November 2001. He started a freelance career in 2002 that continues today. He got a call in 2003 from his former editor, Glenn Dromgoole, who was at the time managing editor of State House Press. He asked Al about writing a book commemorating the upcoming 50th anniversary of Abilene High School’s trifecta of state football championships in 1954, 1955 and 1956.

“I’d love to do that,” Al said. “How do you write a book?”

He successfully answered his own question with “Team of the Century: The Greatest High School Football Team in Texas,” published in 2004. Four more sports-themed books followed–”The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You’ve Never Heard,” in 2007, “Wishbone Wisdom” in 2011, “Brother’s Keeper” in 2011 and “Mighty, Mighty Matadors” in 2018.

Now, Al is thinking about a book that is his own idea. It would include some of the most unusual games he has covered over a 50-year span as a sportswriter and announcer. He’s jotting down ideas, but the book is still in the planning stage.

“Whether I’ve got enough to fill a book, I don’t know,” he said.

A Kansas native, Al earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Kansas State University. Besides writing books and magazine articles, Al also owns an oil and gas reporting service and is chairman of the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame, which he founded in 2002, a museum that houses artifacts from area sports teams located in the Mall of Abilene. Since 2012, the Hall of Fame has awarded $140,000 in scholarships to area athletes, including 12 scholarships this year valued at $1,500 each.

“It’s been a labor of love,” Al said. “It’s a neat deal.”