Roy Exum
It is certainly not lost on me that tonight will mark my 50
th year of writing about high school football. It has been more fun than most people who are reading this have ever had and my memories still run deeper than any river. This was brilliantly magnified this week when CityScope magazine just presented its 2016 High School Football Collector’s edition. What an absolute joy it is and, in a way, I look at this year’s prize as almost a “God Thing,” something that falls in your path that is a true personal blessing.
I don’t know who put the thing together for publisher George Mullinix but he thanked four of my longtime friends for their help – Gary Davis, Stump Martin, Darrell Patterson, and Randy Smith – and that’s all the credence I need. The big feature in this fall’s edition is “New School versus Old School.” What the CityScope folks tried to do was to pick the greatest players in our community’s history before 1998 and the greatest since 1999.
I bet I have seen 95 percent of these people actually play. I can look at almost every player and remember a specific story or two. The “New School” guys, I’ll admit, I have mostly followed from a distance but the “Old School” guys I watched from the sidelines every single Friday night for over 30 years.
The crowd that picked the best from both eras did a phenomenal job. While my personal list should in no way detract from the magazine’s version, I will keep the worst exemptions to myself, other than to say to leave Central’s Bobby Hoppe off the “Old School” roster is nigh-sacrilege. (Shug Jordan, the legendary Auburn coach, told me Hoppe was the fiercest player he’d ever coached and, in high school, Bobby once dashed to the Pounder sidelines, grabbed Stan Farmer and said, “Hold these for me!” placing six broken teeth in Stan’s hand before running back into the game.)
In the magazine’s “Greatest Game Never Played,” the Old School team takes a fictional 35-31 over the New School boys and, while the account was written by some anonymous “Supreme Overlord,” the guy is clearly off his medicine. While today’s athletes are bigger and faster, the Old School players would beat the late comers 97-out-of-100 times if every player in the game was in their prime.
Are you kidding me! Reggie White, the Hannah brothers, Reggie Mathis, Eddie Brown, Dale Jones! Bobby Scott and Andy Kelly as quarterbacks, Cleveland’s Bob Johnson over center and Shazzon Bradley on the nose. (Auburn coach Pat Dye quite fittingly called the great UT player ‘Shazam!’) Please!
Add to the prof the coach of the “Olds” is the incomparable mastermind Red Etter, not to take anything away from the great coach of the New’s, Benny Monroe, and I suspect one of the first things Ole Red would have done is to figure some way to get Cleveland legend Steve Sloan on his team.
Don’t worry, Red was the slickest at getting the most out of his players. I honestly believe Coach Etter could have taken some Central all-stars like Dickie Phillips and Harry Phillips, Indian Cantrell, Ray Moss, his own sons Gene and Bobby … lord, they have whipped “New School” half to death and throw Ed “Racehorse” Nobles on there too.
Etter’s best team was at Baylor. The 1973 Red Raiders, with Bobby Worthington, Clay Gibson, Scott Price, Andy Rutledge and Mike Shuford starting in the same backfield, could have given any all-star group you want to pick a good game. Remember Gary Tucker at Brainerd, Jimmy Hennen at Notre Dame, and the others who went to the NFL? The best high school player who would have played on Sundays if it weren’t for a tragic misunderstanding? That would be Howard’s Charles Morgan by a mile. (He was the ABC Player of the Week for Tennessee against Alabama as a true freshman but hitch-hiked home the next day, refusing to ever return to Knoxville.)
In the hope the CityScope best will rekindle your memories in the delightful way it did mine, here is a list of the players they picked to suit up in the Best Game Never Played:
THE ‘NEW SCHOOL’ ROSTER
B.J. COLEMAN, Quarterback, McCallie, 2007
JACOB HUESMAN, Quarterback, Baylor, 2010
GERALD RIGGS JR., Running Back, Red Bank, 2002
PATRICK FLANAGAN, Running Back, Ooltewah, 2002
ADARIUS BOWMAN, Wide Receiver, Notre Dame, 2003
MIKE BOWMAN, Wide Receiver, Ridgeland, 2009
JOEL BRADFORD, Wide Receiver, McCallie, 2007
JACQUES McCLENDON, Offensive Line, Baylor, 2006
BARRETT GOUGER, Offensive Line, Baylor, 2012
JARED DUKE, Offensive Lineman, Water Valley, 2010
CHARLES WHITE, Athlete, East Ridge, 2002
WATTS DANTZLER, Offensive Line, Dalton, 2011
EVAN SWINDALL, Offensive Line, LaFayette, 2009
KAREEM ORR, Athlete, Notre Dame, 2015
NIGEL NICHOLAS, Defensive Line, Ridgeland, 2008
RAFAEL GAGLIANONE, Kicker, Baylor, 2014
MASON HARRIS, Defensive Line, Ridgeland, 2011
DEMONTE BOLDENN, Defensive Line, Tyner, 2004
GREG SMITH, Defensive Line, Tyner, 2004
EDDIE MOORE, Linebacker, South Pittsburg, 1999
JACQUES SMITH, Linebacker, Ooltewah, 2010
CHRIS JOHNSON, Linebacker, McCallie, 2004
JOSH BULLOCKS, Defensive Back, Hixson, 2001
DANIEL BULLOCKS, Defensive Back, Hixson, 2001
DAVID HELTON, Linebacker, Baylor, 2011
DEVIN BOWMAN, Defensive Back, Ridgeland, 2011
VONN BELL, Defensive Back, Ridgeland, 2013
DAMON DUVAL, Kicker, Central, 1999
COACH BENNY MONROE, McMinn County 1972-77, Cleveland 1979-1996, Ooltewah 2005-2009 – 259 Wins, 65 Losses
* * *
THE ‘OLD SCHOOL’ ROSTER
BOBBY SCOTT, Quarterback, Rossville, 1967
ANDY KELLY, Quarterback, Rhea County, 1987
RICKY LAKE, Running Back, Dalton, 1969
RICK BUFF, Running Back, Rossville, 1966
MIKE JONES, Wide Receiver, Riverside, 1978
BILL WEAVER, Wide Receiver, Chattanooga Valley, 1988
EDWIN LOVELADY, Wide Receiver, Brainerd, 1981
JOHN HANNAH, Offensive Lineman, Baylor, 1969
BOB JOHNSON, Center, Bradley Central, 1964
CHARLEY HANNAH, Offensive Lineman, Baylor, 1973
DAVID DOUGLAS, Offensive Lineman, Rhea County, 1981
BILL EMENDORFER, Offensive Lineman, Cleveland, 1969
SHAZZON BRADLEY, Athlete, McMinn County, 1988
TOOMY TAYLOR, Athlete, City High, 1981
JOHN BEKSVOORT, Kicker, Red Bank, 1991
TERRELL SANDS, Defensive Lineman, Howard, 1997
REGGIE WHITE, Defensive Lineman, Howard, 1980
TONY BROWN, Defensive Lineman, City High, 1998
DAVID ROLLER, Defensive Lineman, Rhea County, 1967
ED SMITH, Linebacker, McCallie, 1975
ERIC WESTMORELAND, Linebacker, Marion County, 1996
DALE JONES, Linebacker, Bradley Central, 1983
EDDIE BROWN, Defensive Back, Marion County, 1970
REGGIE MATHIS, Linebacker, Notre Dame, 1974
DONNIE ELDER, Defensive Back, Brainerd, 1981
JEFF SUTTLE, Defensive Back, LaFayette, 1980
JIMMY WEATHERFORD, Defensive Back, Dalton, 1965
JIM ARNOLD, Punter, Dalton, 1979.
COACH E.B. ‘RED’ ETTER, Central 1943-1970, Baylor 1971-1884 – RECORD 324 wins, 102 losses, 12 ties.
* * *
Trust me, brother … I saw them all play and every one of them was a joy to behold.
royexum@aol.com