Roy Exum
Back in the day, I’d hardly ever talk to Bear Bryant that he didn’t ask about Lookout Mountain’s Hugh Morrow and, when the legendary Alabama coach repeatedly remembered Hugh as “one of the best athletes I ever saw,” that was a profound endorsement.
Hugh, whose funeral will be on Tuesday at the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church, will be warmly remembered but in Tuscaloosa they still talk about the fact he lettered in football, basketball and baseball in a storied career at Alabama. He played offense, defense and kicked on the undefeated 1946 team that drubbed Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl and, in the Vanderbilt game that year, he kicked nine point-afters in that 71-0 debacle.
“I was the quarterback but, in the old Notre Dame box formation, that was really a blocking back. I’d line up behind the center but then shift to my left or right. Coach (Frank) Thomas was a little fellow like me when he played the same position for Knute Rockne so it seemed it was the place for little guys,” he once laughed.
What was ironic was that Hugh almost signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs until they found out he was just 16 at the time. In his later years he “shot his age” at the Lookout Mountain golf course more often than not. What a grand gentleman Hugh Morrow was!
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The town of Hazel Green, Ala., is still shaken after one of the state’s top athletes took his life at the age of 16. Julian Jones, a handsome 6-5, 230-pound defensive end, was the son of former Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones and already had offers from Mississippi State and South Carolina, among others.
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It has been almost a year since Minnesota football coach Jerry Kill has had a seizure due to epilepsy but the quiet-spoken man, whose team is now 5-1, has become something of an ambassador for those who struggle with the disease. His position has increased awareness for the three million Americans who suffer from epilepsy and what is frightening is that nearly 50,000 die from seizures every year.
"I'm not a freak, and neither are others who have epilepsy. We're normal people," he said on his radio show. "And I'm going to work my tail end off for the people that have the same situation I have."
Anytime the classy Kill meets someone with epilepsy, he hands them his card after he scribbles his cell phone number on the back. “Call me anytime!”
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Every week USA Today ranks all 128 major-college football teams and to show you the strength of the SEC West, consider the fact that this week Mississippi State is No. 1, Ole Miss is No. 3, Auburn is No. 7, Alabama is No. 8, Texas A&M is No. 26, LSU is No. 27, and Arkansas is No. 37.
In the East, Georgia is No. 11, Kentucky is No. 34, Missouri is No. 42, South Carolina is No. 47, Florida is No. 48, Tennessee is No. 55, and Vanderbilt is No. 113.
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According to StubHub on Monday, the cheapest ticket to this year’s Egg Bowl game between Miss. State and Ole Miss on Nov. 29 was $294.99 and that’s standing room only. The cheapest actual seat was $345.01, located in the north end zone, Section 102, row 26.
Ole Miss, with its fans now in a frenzy, hosts Tennessee at 7 p.m. this Saturday and the Vols are a 17-point underdog. Non-premium seats on Monday for the UT game in Oxford ranged from $133.25 for standing room only to a 50-yard line seat in Section E for $621.18.
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The 2015 Ford Mustang, which comes with three times the power it first did when it was introduced 50 years ago, has a unique feature where the driver can flip it into “burnout” mode, which locks the front wheels but lets the back ones spin so they’ll billow smoke that the winners of NASCAR races do. I bet that will impress some teenaged girl’s daddy.
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A group of scientists have named a newly-discovered snail found in Taiwan after the global human rights movement for same-sex marriage. The snail is called, “Aegista diversifamilia,” which means “diverse human families.” Now you know.
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The other day they dedicated a new library in Mooretown, N.J., and skillfully carved in the stone was the Latin phrase, “Nos Secundus Coniecto Omnia” which what was thought to mean, "we confirm all things twice." But, according to the scholarly, it really means "we second-guess all."
Moorestown architect Rick Ragan says he'll pay a stone cutter to change the phrase to "We encourage all," and town mayor Chris Chiacchio told a news reporter that a mistake is only a mistake if you do not have the courage to correct it.
royexum@aol.com