Picks Club History

1982

The Picks Club began when six junior high friends (Cougar in Big D, M. Doyle, E. Woltjen, A. Inglish, M. Barnes and R. Clawson) decided to test their NCAA football prognostication skills. The goal was to predict the winner of five games each week, and each player's efforts were tracked against some of the college football writers in the local newspaper.

While not exactly an original idea, the Picks Club soon caught the attention of BlueK. He brought along two friends -- R. Smith and L. Smith (no relation)-- as well as the idea to expand to 10 games per week.

The records for this season are incomplete, but we do have something. Cougar in Big D won 42 of 56 games and had a 4 game lead over M Doyle and BlueK. We'll update the standings if the rest of the records are found.

UPDATE: Aug 23, 2016
Some records have been found, showing Cougar in Big D leading by 4 games over M Doyle and BlueK. It is not yet known, however, if these were the end-of-the-season records.

1983

Four members made picks on 10 games each week during 1983. Joining Cougar in Big D were BlueK, J. Reyes, and E. Perry. After 10 weeks of picks, the contest ended with BlueK in first place. He had a record of 68-32, and was closely followed by Cougar in Big D (66-34), J. Reyes (65-35), and E. Perry (64-36). There were no playoffs in 1983, so BlueK won the first recorded Picks Club championship.

1984

The 1984 Picks Club began with 12 members - triple the number of members in the previous year. Two divisions were created, with six players in each. The top 4 contestants in each division went to the playoffs, where each player started at 0-0.

BlueK won Division 1 by 3 games over D. Greer with a 71-29 record. Division 2 was even closer with Cougar in Big D finishing one game ahead of G. Hughes (66-34 to 65-35).

But winning the playoffs is what it's all about, and D. Greer finished with a 39-19 record (67.2%), five games ahead of both BlueK and Cougar in Big D.

1985

Fourteen players made picks in 1985, seven in each of two divisions. Cougar in Big D and BlueK repeated as division champions, but this time, BlueK was the one involved in a tight race. He won Division 1 by one game over J. Talbot. (66-34 to 65-35).

Cougar in Big D set a new record for winning percentage (77%) which would stand until 1988. He finished four games ahead of The Pickmeister, who had 73 wins. This season, for some forgotten reason, there were no playoffs and Cougar in Big D was declared the overall Champion.

1986

The Picks Club picked up even more steam in 1986, with 20 members divided into 4 divisions. Six players won at least 70% of their games. It must have been a relatively easy season that year.

R. Strong (74%) finished first in Division 1, one game ahead of C. Hansen (73%). In Division 2, J. Gurney and D. Talbot tied for first with a 71-29 record. Q. Lewis (63%) won Division 3 by two games (61%) over B. Winder. Division 4 also had two regular season champions, Cougar in Big D and D. Birch, who won 63% of their games.

The closest-ever playoffs were in 1986 as C. Hansen tied D. Talbot for the Championship with 36-14 records (72%), which was the highest playoff percentage ever until 1999 when Waterboy passed them up (76%).

1987

Twenty-seven players participated in 1987, and six won at least 70% of their games - D. Talbot did it for the second consecutive year.

Again, there were four divisions, and many close races. Cougar in Big D won Division 1 by 2 games over D. Birch, 68% - 66%. D. Jarvis won Division 2, also by two games, over J. Edwards (73% - 71%). Edwards had 16 more wins in 1987 than in his last showing in 1985. In Division 3, A. Brighton (71%) won over two second-place finishers, M. Allen and M. Cannon (69% each). And for the second-straight year, at least one division had two co-champions. This time, it was in Division 4, where D. Talbot tied The Pickmeister with 72 wins.

Also for the second straight year, there were co-champions during the playoffs as M. Allen and M. Cannon tied at 28-11 (71.8%). They narrowly missed setting a new playoff record for winning percentage by just one game.

Though 1987 was a great year, the best was still to come.

1988 - Picks Club Becomes Official

During the summer of 1988, Cougar in Big D arranged for official school recognition as the School Sports Club. It was a lot of work - an official Constitution had to be written and leaders had to be appointed. In addition, an official Picks Club logo was created, and sweatshirts and tee shirts were silk-screened. Now all that was missing was a faculty advisor. As an official club, the Picks Club could now operate on school property, but not without an advisor. The teacher who became the advisor was a little reluctant at first, but then offered to help when he understood that no money would be exchanged.

Twenty-five members participated in the college football picks, again including several basketball players, student government, and even a popular teacher (not our advisor, however). We thought we reached the pinnacle of success -- especially when the school newspaper printed a feature on "the best new school club."

J. Talbot (77-23), R. Strong (78-22), K. Bacon (74-26), and R. Westover (76-24) finished as division champions. Talbot finished 5 games ahead of second-place C. Hansen (72-28), which is the biggest margin in Picks Club history. Strong's 78 wins set a new record for best winning percentage during the regular season, which stood until 2001 when 92 Coog won 119 of 165 games. Q. Lewis finished 4 games behind Strong in Division 2. K. Bacon ended Cougar in Big D's string of 4 consecutive Division championships, winning by one game. Lastly, Division 4 champion R. Westover finished one game ahead of A. Brighton. Almost one-half of the players this year (12 of 25) won at least 70% of their games.

The playoffs were run a little differently that year. Instead of awarding the championship to the player with the best playoff record, players competed "head to head" with the winners advancing to the next round. Each round had 4 games to pick, and the player who made the most correct predictions during each round advanced to the next round. Number 4 seed A. Brighton defeated #3 seed R. Westover in the Championship round. Brighton finished with a 13-3 playoff record.

1989-98

After the 1988-89 NCAA basketball season, it seemed the days of the Picks Club were over, as many members of the Picks Club went off to college or elsewhere. A few ideas were kicked around, like sending picks by mail, making long distance phone calls, and even sending picks by fax machine, but these ideas never materialized because of the great expense. Eventually, it seemed the Picks would go the way of the dodo.

During the mid 1990s, the idea finally came up to produce an email Picks Club -- so that friends like Pickmeister, Tromboneman, Cougar in Big D, BlueK, and others scattered across the country would be able to send in their picks. The idea was not much more than just a dream, and when Cougar in Big D moved to Dallas, TX, it seemed it would never be a reality.

1999 and Beyond

Things finally fell into place well enough during the summer of 1999 to create the online version of the Picks Club. We finally arrived into the technology age, and it only took us 17 years. At first, we were hosted on a free hosting service, at picksclub.homepages.com. In 2001, picksclub.com was launched.

Until the 1999 NCAA football season, the Picks Club was completely on paper. Standings, games, and news were either typed or written by hand, and all records were kept in a notebook. Perhaps someday that original notebook will be on display at the Smithsonian. Just kidding.

Now it has become electronic, with picks being sent in via the Internet, and everything being tracked by computer. Eventually, new features will be added that will greatly enhance the Picks Club experience. Today, there are four divisions, but maybe someday, there may be several divisions or even multiple leagues. Now that the Picks Club has completed ten seasons online, it seems all is possible.

Thanks for playing, and above all, I hope you have fun.
Cougar in Big D