Like the author of “The 7 Secrets of the Silver Shoes,” the book signing
that took place Tuesday afternoon at the Museum of the Gulf Coast was both
unique and memorable.

Though Joe Washington — Little Joe to folks in Southeast Texas — wrote
the book by himself, it was a a three-man family tag team signing. Big Joe, the head coach at Port Arthur’s Lincoln High School from 1965-95, and younger brother Ken, the quarterback about to be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, flanked the author with marking pens in hand.

If you have read the book, you would know why Little Joe wanted it that
way.

It’s heavy on Washington family values and common sense instilled during his formative days in Port Arthur. Those values and family influences helped make him a huge success on and off the football field, and he wanted his dad and brother sharing the spotlight.

“Without them, I wouldn’t be the person I grew up to be and there certainly
would be no book,” he said. “It is the first time our signatures will be
together on the same page.”

Consequently, the steady stream of fans, friends, former teammates, ex-Lincoln coaches and admirers got the full-press Washington treatment.
Signatures, conversation and, for many, photos with all three, were the order
of the day.

For various reasons, the signing was a long-time coming. “Silver Shoes” was
originally published in late 2015 and is actually no longer in print. But Washington’s friends at the University of Oklahoma helped round up several
boxes for the homecoming.

Any copies not purchased Tuesday will be on sale at the Museum of the Gulf
Coast.

“I am so glad we were able to get this done,” said Little Joe, with a look of pure joy on his face. “I wish we’d been able to do it sooner, but better late than never. It has been so much fun. Seeing guys I played with, the guys who coached with my dad and so many friends has been wonderful.”

“I guess I am at an age (64) where something like this means so much more.”

Nostalgia was thick, as the undisputed most celebrated and decorated family
of Port Arthur high school football shared handshakes and hugs. Among the
most notable faces in the crowd were James Gamble, Lee Leopold and Dick Williams, all members of Big Joe’s staff when Little Joe played in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

It was the biggest Port Arthur reunion for the Washingtons since Little Joe
was the honoree of the 2002 Port Arthur News Homecoming Roast. On that
occasion, big names from the sports world like former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer, NBA Hall of Famer Julius Erving and NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris came to town to salute Little Joe for his sensational football career.

The book was originally intended to be authored by a ghost writer. But, after talking into a tape recorder for several hours, then reading how his remarks came across in print, Little Joe decided he had to take matters into his own hands.

“I took over and redid everything,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t realize how much work it would be. Every time I was on a two- or three-hour flight I
would be working on it. I wanted the book to come across to the reader almost like he was sitting in a room having a conversation with me.

“I didn’t want it to be all about football. I wanted it to reflect how I applied lessons in life we all know but don’t do all the time. I wanted to get across how we all need each other, how nobody gets to a place in life on their
own and I wanted to give examples from my life to show that.”

Big Joe, who now lives in Fort Worth and looked remarkably fit for a man
who will turn 89 this year, thought his son hit a home run. He did, however,
profess to one disappointment.

“I just wish his mother and his sister Pat would have been here to read it.”

Phyllis Washington died in 1997. Pat passed away in 2014.

“Being a dad, I was highly impresssed,” said Big Joe. “Even if I wasn’t his dad, I would have been impressed and thought it was a good book. It was
obvious he thought a lot of his family and wanted to pass along credit. It
was just a heartwarming book to read. I am so proud of him.”

Brother Ken, who lives outside Houston, also gave two thumbs up.

“What impressed me was that it wasn’t a book where a guy bragged about all
his football accomplishments,” he said. “He talked about the values he was
taught, how he placed them in his life and that how you move on from sports
to everyday life is a big deal. I don’t think enough young athletes understand
that.

“I liked that a lot of the book reflected things my mom taught us — that
this is how we do things, these are our thoughts, we don’t do this. Not that
a lot of important things didn’t come from my dad. But she was a big, big
influence and Joe got that across.”

Sam Monroe, president of the Port Arthur Historical Society, and the man
most responsible for the Museum of the Gulf Coast becoming reality, added a
football vision from Little Joe’s past. It came from being the color man on
Lincoln High School football broadcasts.

“Joe was the most exciting football player I had ever seen,” he recalled. “Lincoln played a lot of its games on Saturday night and the stands were
always packed. Whenever Ken would pitch the ball to Joe, everybody came to
their feet. They knew something special was about to happen and they did not want to miss it.

“The only other player as exciting as Joe that I’ve seen since was Jamaal Charles. Port Arthur is so blessed to have been able to witness two
players of that caliber.”

Little Joe, meanwhile, is headed back to Norman, Oklahoma, where he divides time between duties with the University of Oklahoma and his home in
Baltimore.

He made such an impact beyond football at OU that he’s the Executive Director of the Varsity O Association. In that role, he serves as a liaison to all of the schools former male and female athletes.

Read the book and you will have some idea why the Sooners can’t let him go.