David Claybourn: Sports Views: More about the Mason family of Greenville

May 28—Though the years I've written about Greenville Athletic Hall of Fame members John Mason Sr. and his sons Nate and Junior.

Mason Sr. was a standout athlete at Carver High School in Greenville in the 1950s before playing professional baseball. His former Carver football coach Clell Davidson once told me the story of John returning a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown but it was called back because the Golden Tigers were offsides. So John returned the second kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown that counted.

John Mason Sr. played minor league baseball from 1959 to 1972, batting .277, slugging 60 homers and 59 triples and driving in 617 runs in 1,484 games. He also stole 148 bases.

The baseball diamond at Greenville High School is named for John Mason, Sr.

Nate Mason quarterbacked the Greenville Lions to a 9-1 football record in 1978 and then was a starting quarterback and backup in college for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was also a standout basketball player for the Lions and later returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach with the Lions.

Junior Mason played quarterback and safety in football for the Greenville Lions in 1978-79, plus was a stellar centerfielder for the Lions in baseball. He played college baseball at Nebraska and for several seasons in the minor leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

There's two more of John Mason's sons that I haven't written about. They played for the Lions before I arrived in Greenville in 1979. John Nellius Mason shared some information about those two brothers in an email which I greatly appreciated receiving.

John N. wrote about his older brother John "Button" Mason, who was a wide receiver and placekicker for the Greenville Lions in 1971-72.

John N. earned seven letters in football, basketball and baseball from 1974-76, earning all-district honors in football and baseball. He had a 6-1 record as a pitcher during the 1975 season.

He wrote that he briefly went to SMU to play football but transferred to Eastfield College, where he played baseball for two seasons. John N. also competed in athletics for a couple of seasons at Jarvis Christian College.

John N's son Patrick Mason was an assistant coach for the Greenville Lions several years ago and was a standout athlete in high school at Lakeview Centennial.

Junior's son Ja'Juan Mason earned honorable mention all-Lone Star Conference honors as a wide receiver this past fall at Midwestern State. He also played high school football at Allen.

John N. also reports that his late grandfather Eldridge "Sonny Boy" Mason was also a standout athlete in the 1920s and 30s. — I've been writing for the past eight years about a pitcher from Mount Pleasant named Michael Kopech. When he was a sophomore in high school he once struck out 10 Greenville Lions in a baseball game.

Kopech hit 98 mph on about 40 radar guns when he pitched for Mount Pleasant against Patrick Mahomes in a 2014 high school game. Mahomes' fastball hit 95 while firing a no-hitter and striking out 16 in a 2-1 victory for Whitehouse over Mount Pleasant. Mahomes is now one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kopech, a first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, gained national attention in 2016 when his fastball hit 105 in a minor league game. He also clocked 110 mph on the gun with a pitch with a smaller ball in a workout session.

Kopech's career has been a rollercoaster ride as he served a 50-game suspension in 2015 after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

He also broke his right hand in spring training and missed some action in 2016 following an altercation with his roommate.

The Red Sox traded Kopech to the Chicago White Sox and then he settled down to become a dominate pitcher in the minor leagues. After earning a promotion to the big leagues with the White Sox Kopech hurt his arm in a 2018 game and had Tommy John surgery. Kopech missed the 2019 season while rehabbing the arm and sat out the COVID-plagued 2020 season.

Kopech showed signs of brilliance with his return from surgery in 2021 and now has become one of the best pitchers in baseball. He recently retired 30 straight New York Yankees over a span of three games and is ranked No. 2 in MLB with a 1.29 earned run average. Kopech's fastball is back up to about 100 but he says he's now a pitcher and not just a thrower. His fastball has excellent movement on it so it's hard to hit. He also has good command of a curveball, slider and changeup.

I'm going to keep my eye on Kopech, that's for sure. I expect he'll get selected for the all-star game.

David Claybourn is sports editor of the Herald-Banner.