Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • A7

SATURDAY AUGUST 12 2023 7AFACEBOOK.COM/STARTELEGRAM TWITTER.COM/STARTELEGRAMSTAR-TELEGRAM.COM Sports LOOK FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE NFL AS TEAMS START TAKING THE FIELD FOR PRESEASON GAMES. Go to xtrasports. GRIDIRON GEAR UP The moment become surreal for Carlton Dixon until he saw Bill Russel put on the jacket he made. For the 2021 Naismith Bas- ketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Russell was being honored as a coach. It was also the first year company, Reveal Suits, made the iconic orange hall of fame blazer.

An- other former great enshrined that day was Chris Bosh, who attended the same high school as Dixon. Dixon, a Dallas native, Lin- coln high school and University of Texas basketball player, be- gan making suits in 2017. He has a partnership with the Nais- mith Basketball Hall of Fame, the Big 12 conference, UT and more across American sports. On Aug. 12, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki will put on a blaz- er Dixon created when he is inducted into the hall of fame.

Before he founded his compa- ny six years ago, Dixon was never in the fashion industry. He was the athletic director for North Dallas high school after playing college basketball and Texas. He was inspired by ath- letes customizing the inside of their suit jackets to honor form- er schools or teams on draft night, and thought there was an opportunity to craft those suits. started to notice the land of Dallas brand designs Nowitzki, other Hall of jackets BY GABRIEL TREVINO SEE JACKETS, 8A Jordan Spieth chipped in for eagle to take the first-round lead at the FedEx St. Jude Cham- pionship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, on Thurs- day in Memphis, Tenn.

eagle at the par-5 16th hole at a rain-logged TPC Southwind vaulted him into the seat at 7 under, and he made two pars to finish off a bogey-free 63. was telling (caddie Michael Greller) maybe sometime on the back nine, I was like, I feel good, but it quite feel as tight as some of the days in the last week or so Spieth said. all of a sud- den I ended up hitting a good one on 15 and then chipping in on 16, and all of a sudden, now three strokes Tom Kim of South Korea was in second at 6-under 64, and Collin Morikawa and Argenti- Emiliano Grillo were tied for third at 5-under 65. Lucas Glover, who qualified for the playoffs by winning last Wyndham Championship, was part of a massive tie at 4-under 66. The top 70 players from the season-long FedEx Cup points race earned berths into the playoffs, and only the top 50 in the standings after this tourna- ment will advance to next BMW Championship.

There is no 36-hole cut at the FedEx St. Jude Championship for the first time. Spieth, the 2015 FedEx Cup Eagle lifts Spieth into first-round lead in Memphis Field Level Media SEE SPIETH, 9A The Dallas Cowboys track and record everything Dallas Cowboys related, but not this one, perhaps because this par- ticular detail is too small. How short is the shortest player in Cowboys history? not sure. not officially made the 53-man roster, but if he does the Cowboys are pretty sure that Christopher Vaughn II will likely be the least-tall player in franchise history.

Chris Vaughn is better known as Deuce, or the young man who looks like Dak Prescott brought his 5th-grade brother to work day. (No, Dak his daddy). Vaughn is the rookie from Kansas State who was drafted in the sixth round. The best highlights from training camp in Oxnard, Calif. thus far are that of the 5-foot-5 Vaughn running under the cleats of his team- mates.

Not literally. Just looks like it. Vaughn makes the 5-foot-9 KaVontae Turpin look like Shaq. At least according to one of former teammates at Kansas State, once you see past the height you will see he can play. But every single teammate of Vaughn has had to go through this learning process.

Current Kansas State quarter- back Will Howard came to KSU in the same freshman class as Vaughn, in 2020. They were part of that 2020 mess of a COVID year. just remember the first time I met him; he a super-high Howard said. Probably no pun intended. Howard talked about his former KSU teammate last month, during Big 12 Media Days in Arlington.

remember the coaches were talking like, this guy is going to be a Howard said. then I remember meeting him, and looking down at him to shake his hand. And I was, like, this guy is ti- Tiny mean. Tiny is accu- rate. The average American male is 5-foot-9.

The average NFL player is about 6-foot-2. then I watched him run routes. He ran some of the most unbelievable routes I have ever Howard said. was in and out of cuts, un- believable. Catching passes out of the backfield just as good, if not better, than getting a Howard played with Vaughn for three seasons; in three years in Manhattan, Vaughn ran for 3,604 yards and averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

He also caught 116 passes for 1,280 yards. There are countless Insta- gram reels of Vaughn doing his roadrunner routine all over college fields. There are no such reels of what he did in practice. years ago, it was during fall camp, and he put a spin move on one of our guys that just embarrassed Howard said. what he would do, he just embarrasses people.

He can stop on a dime, cut, and go. He was unreal. never got to the point where I impressed by it. I can count on one hand the number of times a player made a 1-on-1 tackle against him. Very, very few times we saw that happen.

I take it for granted, but be more sur- prised if he make a guy miss than if he did. If it was 1-on-1 in space, I knew he was making that guy Despite all of the stats and highlights, hard not to focus on the 5-foot-5. You just see many 5- foot-5 players in the NFL. You just see that many 5- foot-5 players in pro sports. It can happen.

hap- pen often. To get around the height, their skills must be the stuff of JAYNE KAMIN-ONCEA USA TODAY Sports This photo of Dallas Cowboys running back Deuce Vaughn (42) at training camp gives you an idea of how tall the Kansas State alum is compared to his new teammates. Cowboys rookie running back on track to make team history BY MAC ENGEL SEE COWBOYS, 8A The Guinness World Record video board at Texas Motor Speedway is under construction to be bigger and brighter. The new-and-improved big screen on the backstretch will be larger than the old board, increasing from 20,660 square feet to 22,692 square feet. The new board will also have more pixels, totaling over 8.2 million.

the saying goes, thing is bigger in so only fitting for Big Hoss to get said Speedway Motor- sports President and CEO Mar- cus Smith. Even with a larger screen, the new board lose any video quality. It will have a high- er resolution than the old board and be brighter. Smith said the new board is part of the First commit- ment to provide the best amen- ities at our sports entertainment The old board was certified by Guinness World Records on April 6, 2014. original Big Hoss TV was groundbreaking and world- record-achieving when it was installed in said Mark Faber, Texas Motor executive vice president and general manager.

with the advances in technol- ogy the last nine years, it was time to figuratively take the old TV out to the GoVision, an Argyle-based company, is in charge of in- stalling the new Big Hoss TV, which will offer fans an en- hanced viewing experience in time for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 NASCAR Playoff weekend on Sept. 23-24. has been a valua- ble partner over the Faber said. certainly ap- preciate their efforts in install- ing the new screen in time for our NASCAR Playoff week- The large-scale LED display company specializes in rentable displays and fixed installations like Big Hoss. is proud to provide this great upgrade to Big Hoss said Founder and Chairman Chris Curtis.

new technology will re- turn to its rightful place among the best, brightest and biggest screens in the The new board will also ben- efit the fans for other events at TMS, such as INDYCAR, Good- Guys, Gift of Lights, concerts and track rental events. Micah Pearce: JUAN GUAJARDO Star-Telegram The new Hoss is located on the backstretch of Texas Motor Speedway. It will be installed in time for Playoff weekend in September. Texas Motor big video board is getting bigger BY MICAH PEARCE.