The Great Coin Flip Fiasco *Reported Missing* LbNA #25378 (ARCHIVED)

Just after midnight on a cool Saturday morning in late November of 1988, the fate of three high school football teams hinged on the flip of a coin. Permian High School from Odessa, Texas, was a perennial playoff powerhouse in the area. Robert E. Lee High School from Midland, Texas, was riding on a recent streak of playoff success. Midland High School from Midland, Texas was having their best season in decades and had not reached the playoffs since 1951. The three schools were separated by 20 miles and intense rivalries. Friday night in West Texas in the fall are something else, routinely drawing 15,000 spectators to watch young men battle on the gridiron. This was the stuff of legends, reach the playoffs and your hero status was sealed. Pretty heady stuff for 16, 17, and 18 year olds. This particular season the Midland Bulldogs were 8-1 going into the last game of the season, the Lee Rebels were 7-2, and the Permian Panthers were 6-3, but, and this is a big but, they were tied in division 4-5A play at 4-1, with the added twist that each had beaten one of the others, Midland lost to Permian, who lost to Lee, who lost to Midland. That Friday night all three won their last game creating a tie for the division championship and invite to the playoffs. Since only two teams would go, a tie breaker was needed, and according to the UIL rules at the time, a coin flip would decide the fate. All three head coaches meet secretly (the location was not announced) in a truck stop outside Midland. All three coaches flipped their coins and two teams advanced, Robert E. Lee and Permian. As a member of the senior class of Midland High School in 1989, I often wonder how far the Midland Bulldogs would have gotten if they had gone to the playoffs. By the way, the coin flip is featured in the Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. Bissinger followed the Permian Panthers through their season that year. Friday Night Lights was turned into a movie in 2004 and it also features the infamous coin flip, although for some reason Midland was replaced with Abilene Cooper High School.


Clues: This box is hidden at Hill Park in Midland. From Interstate 20, take the Rankin exit (State Highway 349) and go north through town to Illinois St. Turn left and go to N. A Street. Turn right and go to Cuthbert Street, where you will turn left. You will find the park on W. Cuthbert Street between N. F Street and N. G Street. On the east side of the park at the north end is a planter. At the northeast corner of the planter (flower bed) you will find the box hidden up in the bushes.