HOUSTON Everyone knows Texas is football country. According to one survey, Houston has more players in the NFL than any other city, except Miami.
But now the Bayou City has made it to the big time in another arena music.
New York s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Houston Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony all have trombone players from Houston.
What s more, all three of those players Weston Sprott, Tim Higgins and Brad White -- went to Klein High School, home of the Bearcats.
Sprott plays in New York, Higgins in San Francisco and White in Houston.
It s like three starting point guards in the NBA, all coming from the same high school, said White.
I think it s extraordinary and it s rare, because Klein High School is not a performing arts high school, Sprott added.
Yet the school has produced three young men who play the same instrument for three world-class symphonies.
Sometimes I like to think of it as like juggling chainsaws in front of an audience, it takes so much concentration. It s really draining just trying to keep everything focused, said Higgins.
Randy Vaughn was the band director at Klein, and he says the three musicians were extraordinary, even then.
I think I said to you the other day it would be like three Vince Youngs on a high school football team, said Vaughn.
The three musicians all started playing trombone around age 11, now they perform up to 200 concerts a year. It is grueling and joyful.
Higgins remembers his very first performance with the San Francisco Symphony.
I remember just being very nervous and getting done with it, and thinking, I can t believe I did that, and I am here right now, this is an unbelievable experience, said Higgins.
Weston Sprott says it is pretty hard to believe.
For all of us, we have been playing these instruments for so long and working so hard to make these kind of moments happen, and when it does happen, it s pretty surreal, said Sprott.
But it is real, and for youngsters in Houston, it illustrates how hard work can pay off.
Sprott, Higgins and White have made their parents, their hometown and their school proud.
