Tori Talbert


                                 SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY
                                        By Russell Hawkins


          Novelist Larry McMurtry said, “People don’t remember events, they remember moments.” This is very true in photo journalism, or more specifically sports photography. When you catch an instant in your viewfinder that changes the course of a game, or puts an exclamation point on a career, you have made time stand still.
Following are stories and pictures of just a few such moments.moments.  

 Tori Talbert
          Tori Talbert’s mother, Linda, met me at the beginning of the Boerne- New Braunfels Canyon game with some very important information. “If Tori scores 25 points tonight she will go over 3,000 points in her career.”  Tori averaged 31.5 points per game so one could conclude she would score 25 that night.  I was waiting with my camera when she went up for one of her patented under- the- basket lay-ups. With Lady Cougars all around her she bounced the ball off the glass for her 26th point of the game, taking her over the 3,000 point mark. Talbert finished the 2001 season with 1,101 points, scoring 3,229 in her overall career. She was the All-Time leading scorer in Greater San Antonio Area and selected as TABC first team All-State. I have taken hundreds of pictures of Tori Talbert over the years, but none will stand out as the one that really counted.   
          Talbert went on to a record breaking career at Texas State University. She could have played basketball for any university in the country. In an interview with me before leaving Boerne High School for San Marcos she said, “I chose Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University at San Marcos) because I want to be an impact player during my first year. I want to take my team to the NCAA Tournament. I want to be one of the best players in the nation.” 
          As a freshman at Texas State she was named Southland Conference Player of the Year, averaging 14.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. She led the team in both scoring and rebounding. As a sophomore she fulfilled her goal of taking the team to the NCAA Tournament.  She is now an assistant coach at Horn High School in Mesquite, Texas.