A column earlier this month about Curtis King, a coach who worked at Augusta High School from 1944-73, led to numerous comments from King’s former players. That’s what happens when you write about teachers and coaches who influenced the lives of hundreds of people.

King never received national publicity, but other Arkansas high school football coaches have. In September 2009, Sports Illustrated devoted a story to Pulaski Academy head coach Kevin Kelley, whose teams don’t punt and usually go with the onside kick. A number of Arkansans remember the story on Kelley. But only those of a certain age will remember 1973 when the magazine focused not once but twice on an Arkansas high school coach. He was Robert E. “Swede” Lee, who led the high school Razorbacks at Texarkana to three consecutive state championships.

Here’s what Sports Illustrated had to say in its April 23, 1973, edition: “Texarkana straddles the Texas-Arkansas state line, and the football rivalry between the local high schools on either side of the line is fierce, although usually one-sided in the direction of Texas. In 1964, under Coach Robert E. ‘Swede’ Lee, the Arkansas high school beat Texas for the first time in 23 years. After Lee left to become an assistant at Texas A&M, the hard times returned. Now, Arkansas has hired Lee back from A&M, which cheered everybody until the school board said his salary would be $20,000. His predecessor made $12,200 and the proposed salary is higher than that of any other member of the faculty, including the school superintendent.”

The board’s vote to hire Lee was 7-1. The lone dissenter was Bill Warner, who told the magazine: “I don’t object to the man but to the salary. I think it is excessive. It will cost too much to bring our other people into line with it. The teachers are unhappy, and I think there are a lot of concerned citizens in the town, too.”

The national magazine concluded its story this way: “As they say in Texas, there are only three sports: football, spring football and recruiting.

Arkansas seems to have the same fever.”

The previous season had been marked by racial tension as black players boycotted the team. It was a turbulent time in southwest Arkansas. In my hometown of Arkadelphia, there was a riot at the high school in the spring of 1972 that closed the school for a few days and resulted in armed guards in the halls for the remainder of the school year. At Texarkana, a group of business leaders believed Lee could help quell racial tensions. Ten of them agreed to contribute $500 each to add an extra $5,000 to the $20,000 that the school board was paying Lee. That $5,000 would be billed as compensation fora television show aired on Texarkana’s KTAL.

Lee had played high school football for crosstown rival Texas High and then played for the University of Texas Longhorns. Longtime state Capitol lobbyist Earl Jones, who grew up at Texarkana, remembers obtaining tickets from Lee to attend the 1964 Arkansas-Texas football game at Austin.

“The tickets were right behind the Texas bench, and Swede warned us not to let on that we were rooting for Arkansas,” Jones says. “But when Ken Hatfield returned that punt for a touchdown, we couldn’t contain ourselves.”

Arkansas would go on to win several versions of the national championship that season. Back in Texarkana, Lee was leading his team to that momentous victory over its rival from the other side of the state line. Jones, whose father Earl Jones Sr. had moved to Texarkana from North Carolina in October 1947 to open the Belk-Jones Department Store, was among the businessmen who contributed money in 1973. Led by players such as Graylon Wyatt, Robert Williams, Mike Trammell and Earnest Cheatham, the 1973 squad completed the season with a 42-21 victory over Fort Smith Southside in the state championship game. Lee’s team recorded the first perfect season in school history with a 13-0 record.

Sports Illustrated came back in its Dec. 10, 1973, edition with this report: “Texarkana High School decided last spring to pay a $20,000 salary to lure Coach Swede Lee back from Texas A&M, where he was an assistant. Lee had been a big success at Texarkana before going off to A&M, but the high school’s football fortunes plummeted during his absence. A minority of citizens objected to the salary. … Now, however, the returns are in, and the opposition would have a rough time rousing any anti-Lee sentiment. The Arkansas high school had not defeated its state-line rival since Lee’s last previous year of tenure in 1964. This year it not only beat the Texas high school, it won 13 straight games and the Arkansas Class AAA championship. If that isn’t worth $20,000, what is?”

Texarkana captured the 1974 state championship with a 21-0 shutout of West Memphis and the 1975 state title with a 31-14 victory over Forrest City. After leaving coaching, Lee was the chief executive officer of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. He raised $100,000 in 1992 and entered the race for Congress as a Republican against Democratic Rep. Jim Chapman Jr. of Texas’ 1st District. After winning the GOP primary, Lee dropped out of the race, leaving Chapman unopposed.

Around Texarkana, Lee will never be best remembered as a chamber executive or a political candidate. He’ll always be remembered as the high school football coach who made it into Sports Illustrated twice in 1973.

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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities. He’s also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.

Editorial, Pages 15 on 01/22/2014