Jimmy, very good to hear from you again. I still am having to "put up" with your ornery ole brother, Gerald Byron, more than I want to. I hope you saw his blog.
These stories have been great for all concerned and they have spread even further than our expectations. Your words, "the values Coach insisted we learn and hold dear have guided me well", are so very true for all of us. I can think of many incidences in my life of coming to a crossroads and saying to myself, "what would Billy Portis or Coach Ward have done in this situation" and then taking the road less traveled to get to a goal. I think the values we learned from Coach paved the way to make our decision making a lot easier. I have been an " exercise nut" for many years but remember when my playing days at HHS and UT were over and thinking "thank goodness" I don't have to exercise anymore, then waking up one day and realizing, Coach Ward would be disappointed in my decision. He definitely changed my life with the lessons that he taught.
On a lighter note. I have a little story on our good friend and ambassador Johnny Radford. I only hope that his sweet little wife Trudy does not "get wind" of this story. Seems that the Mustang bus was rolling through Nashville on the way to Donaldson for the bowl game and Coach had warned the team not to be hanging out the windows and hollering at the female persuasion. Well, it seems that young Mr. Radford either did not hear this warning or elected to ignore it being over come with passion once sighting some of the Nashville beauties. Word has it that the quarterback was out the window to his waist, hollering at the cuties, when Coach came down the isle and grabbed him by the waist and started pulling him back in the bus. Johnny kept swatting at his hands thinking it was none other than a teammate. Well when Coach had had enough of this he jerked him back in and the look on Johnny's face as my brother Tommy says "was priceless". Would give a $100 bill to have seen that look.
JK, again so good to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words for Coach Welch and Ms. Johnnie(who are still going strong by the way). He added a great dimension to the teams he helped coached. He was about as tough as Coach Ward. The two of them together were awesome.
Little Paul and Bobby have expresed their gratitude several times for our efforts but I have explained to them that this has been a two way street for all of us.
Go Mustangs
Scotty Portis (Mustang 1955-58)
Scotty,first off a big thank you to you and your son for putting this together and thank you to Johnny Radford for forwarding it to me. I spent a lot of yesterday going through the stories and all the memories. It's hard to single out one or two but I have a few that stand out. I played on the varsity 65,66,67 and junior high the three years before that. I was fortunate to get to see some really good ballplayers and to be on some great teams. A few of my memories are:The football car. It's amazing in today's frame of reference that Coach would allow a high school kid to be responsible to drive a school owned vehicle to take people home but if not for that old car some of us might not have had the opportunity to play ball. In that old 55 Chevy the Jackson highway, Browning highway, and Lexington highway gangs all came together. In today's speak I'm sure that you could say that giving responsibility builds character and trust but for those of us who drove it as I did my senior year it was much more primal. If we screwed up Coach would kill us. No questions asked. But as a scrawny seventh grader it was a prime time to get to ride home with the "big guys"."Between the dummies" has been referenced to but I remember those today very clearly both the one on ones and the two on ones. I remember counting down the lines to see who you were going against and if your match was Johnnie Compton, the Wallace brothers, the Hall brothers, or many others your heart would be pounding. I also remember the feeling you had if you stuck your head in and at least got off a decent lick on one of the big guys Coach would holler out " way to go little man" or something to that effect and suddenly despite the fact that your shoulder was numb and your vision was fuzzy it was all worth it.Coach wasn't too big on trick plays so we didn't have too many but in 1966 we put one in. We would break the huddle and Lender Pearson ( I think) would be in the backfield and upon Tim's signal Lender would break and run toward the sideline like he was trying to get off the field, (too many men) Coach Ward on the sideline yelling at him and waving him over. At the last moment Lender would turn down field and the plan would be to pass him the ball while he was on the dead run. I can't remember if we ever ran it in a game or if we did if it worked but I remember running it over and over in practice and Coach Ward laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. Beat the hell out of running 32 belly over and over again.Last in case anyone ever doubted whether Coach Ward cared for his players should have been on the bus in 1966 when we went up to play Portland in The Bowl game that was the first overnight trip in recent school history. On the way up Coach came down the aisle and gave everyone two or three bucks. You see we were on our on for breakfast the next morning and he wanted to make sure everyone was covered. That simple act has stayed with me over the years as I am sure there might have been a few that wouldn't have gotten breakfast otherwise. That and who will ever forget our return to Huntingdon the next day. Thank you for the opportunity to share a few memories. The values Coach insisted we learn and hold dear have guided me well. All the best to the Ward family. Also I want to thank Coach Welch. He and Mrs. Welch had a lot of positive influence on us kids. Too bad we never get that many chances to say thank you.Regards,JK
Jim KirkseySchlumberger Carbon Servicesc/o Illinois Geological SurveyChampaign,Illinois713-614-1847 cell
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
"Is My Neck Broke Coach"
Johnny, two great stories. I always liked Barry Mac and still get a bang out of him even today when I see him. I related this story to his sister this AM while in the line to vote. She got a huge laugh out of it also.
I remember listening to the Donaldson game on the radio with my dad that nite and was of course very disappointed that the Mustangs lost but cheered each time my cousin Randy Clement (safety) made a tackle (he propably had to make more than he should have if Donaldson was running that toss sweep "to perfection"). Randy was tough as he was a "pseudo" member of the notorious "Jackson Highway Gang". He lived in town but Tommy and I would get him and his brother Johnny to come out to play football, basketball, and baseball with us.
Johnny, again my hat is off to you the "#1 Mustang fan of all time". I guess we can tell the story that came out the other day when our wives got together. Trudy, Johnny's wife jumped on me and said I was causing her husband to spend too much time on the computer and my wife, Kathy, echoed the same sentiments. They said that they might just kick us out and we could room together and then spend as much time as we wanted to on the computer. I asked Johnny if he could cook and, of course, the answer was "NO" and he said do you cook and dito. So we decided to appease them so we could stay where we were.
Thanks, JR.
Scotty Portis (Mustang 1955-58)
Subject: Coach Ward
Scotty.... Thanks again for passing the e-mails to me. It's great to read the stories and the memories so many of his students and former players had of Coach. One thing I think of when asked about Coach Ward was getting everybody to work together. He would tear you down on Monday and have you thinking you couldn't beat Yuma on Friday night but after Thursday he would flip it around and you could beat the Packers. By Friday night in pregame he could get you so excited and fired up you were ready to actually play the Packers and knew you would beat them too. Ha...
I've got a couple of Coach Ward stories I'd like to share with everyone. My Junior year in the spring we were running our offense on Thursday before a spring game in Waverly the next day. We were going toward the south endzone and we ran sprint out pass right. I was the QB and "lofted" a pass to Barry Murphy in the southwest corner toward the visitor's concession stand. If you remember the wire around the field between the poles then you may also remember the poles were painted white about 6' from the ground. Barry was running full tilt and hit the light pole and the chance meeting knocked him cold for about 2-3 minutes and he lay motionless on the ground. The entire team ran down to check on Murf and Coach Ward and Coach Welch were straddling him. Finally Barry moved a little and looked up to Coach from his back and asked, "Is my neck broke Coach"? I thought Coach would bust a gut laughing so hard. Up to that time Barry was a complete idiot and somehow this meeting with the light pole actually made him sane and he was able to sing tenor in the choir.. Ha
My Junior year in 1967 we were invited to play Nashville Donelson High School in the Hendersonville Lake Bowl. We finished the regular season 8-2 and had a good team but not as strong as the 1966 team with Priest, Carter,Compton,Wallace and Barnett and all the other great players. Donelson finished the season behind Nashville Stratford High School and Stratford played in the Clinic Bowl that year. We were in the dressing room before the game and Coach Ward started his pregame speech and actually started crying. He told us he hoped he hadn't put us in a game where we were overmatched. I honestly feel the speech was heartfelt and he meant every word he told us. Donelson had an all state halfback named Kenny Johnson who was a tough running back. They ran the toss sweep to perfection a lot that night and late in the 4th quarter he pulled up on the sweep and tossed a halfback pass for a TD and they "got off the hook" and beat us 14-6. Looking back now I think too we were overmatched but that night we "felt" we could beat those guys and played like it too.
In closing I'd like to say all of Coach Wards "boys" loved him and wanted to win every game for him. He will be missed greatly.
Johnny Radford
Mustang (1966-1968)
I remember listening to the Donaldson game on the radio with my dad that nite and was of course very disappointed that the Mustangs lost but cheered each time my cousin Randy Clement (safety) made a tackle (he propably had to make more than he should have if Donaldson was running that toss sweep "to perfection"). Randy was tough as he was a "pseudo" member of the notorious "Jackson Highway Gang". He lived in town but Tommy and I would get him and his brother Johnny to come out to play football, basketball, and baseball with us.
Johnny, again my hat is off to you the "#1 Mustang fan of all time". I guess we can tell the story that came out the other day when our wives got together. Trudy, Johnny's wife jumped on me and said I was causing her husband to spend too much time on the computer and my wife, Kathy, echoed the same sentiments. They said that they might just kick us out and we could room together and then spend as much time as we wanted to on the computer. I asked Johnny if he could cook and, of course, the answer was "NO" and he said do you cook and dito. So we decided to appease them so we could stay where we were.
Thanks, JR.
Scotty Portis (Mustang 1955-58)
Subject: Coach Ward
Scotty.... Thanks again for passing the e-mails to me. It's great to read the stories and the memories so many of his students and former players had of Coach. One thing I think of when asked about Coach Ward was getting everybody to work together. He would tear you down on Monday and have you thinking you couldn't beat Yuma on Friday night but after Thursday he would flip it around and you could beat the Packers. By Friday night in pregame he could get you so excited and fired up you were ready to actually play the Packers and knew you would beat them too. Ha...
I've got a couple of Coach Ward stories I'd like to share with everyone. My Junior year in the spring we were running our offense on Thursday before a spring game in Waverly the next day. We were going toward the south endzone and we ran sprint out pass right. I was the QB and "lofted" a pass to Barry Murphy in the southwest corner toward the visitor's concession stand. If you remember the wire around the field between the poles then you may also remember the poles were painted white about 6' from the ground. Barry was running full tilt and hit the light pole and the chance meeting knocked him cold for about 2-3 minutes and he lay motionless on the ground. The entire team ran down to check on Murf and Coach Ward and Coach Welch were straddling him. Finally Barry moved a little and looked up to Coach from his back and asked, "Is my neck broke Coach"? I thought Coach would bust a gut laughing so hard. Up to that time Barry was a complete idiot and somehow this meeting with the light pole actually made him sane and he was able to sing tenor in the choir.. Ha
My Junior year in 1967 we were invited to play Nashville Donelson High School in the Hendersonville Lake Bowl. We finished the regular season 8-2 and had a good team but not as strong as the 1966 team with Priest, Carter,Compton,Wallace and Barnett and all the other great players. Donelson finished the season behind Nashville Stratford High School and Stratford played in the Clinic Bowl that year. We were in the dressing room before the game and Coach Ward started his pregame speech and actually started crying. He told us he hoped he hadn't put us in a game where we were overmatched. I honestly feel the speech was heartfelt and he meant every word he told us. Donelson had an all state halfback named Kenny Johnson who was a tough running back. They ran the toss sweep to perfection a lot that night and late in the 4th quarter he pulled up on the sweep and tossed a halfback pass for a TD and they "got off the hook" and beat us 14-6. Looking back now I think too we were overmatched but that night we "felt" we could beat those guys and played like it too.
In closing I'd like to say all of Coach Wards "boys" loved him and wanted to win every game for him. He will be missed greatly.
Johnny Radford
Mustang (1966-1968)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
"A Diehard Respect" for Coach
Here is an exchange that I do not believe has been published yet. If I repeat, so sorry.
Scotty Portis
Coach Ward Blog
Group, certainly not trying to embarrass Wallace Pinkley or his daughter, Lydia, but I think the exchange below not only typifies the, as yet unearthed, literary abilities of many (abilities they nor their families knew existed until now), and has shown family members and friends a side of many individuals that they did not know. I know Lydia Pinkley Jackson, a very sweet and beautiful young lady, that I watched grow up, and here she is looking at a side of her dad that she had never seen before.
I think that Coach Ward's death has inspired a lot of us.And look at the influence that Coach Ward had over the above situation. Sure, Wallace had great athletic talents (Johnny Pitts did you ever get a solid lick in on Wade when he was running the ball----NO, and I didn't either), but his Coach was interested enough to hustle him all over the country side to make sure that the "next level" got a look at his talents. It was a win, win situation-Sewanee got a great football and baseball player, Wallace got a great education (in fact we both applied to Wharton School of Finance and Commerence at the University of Pennsylvania, after undergraduate school, Wallace got in and I did not). He is now retired from a very successful insurance career in Florida and still a great Mustang fan. Coach Ward got no monetary value for this-only the satisfaction of a job well done.
Again, we should all be proud that people like Paul Ward exist, people who have pushed us to the next level-some of us kicking and screaming but at least to the next level. Dan Morris a sports reporter for the Jackson Sun stated in his column after Coach Ward's death, "A diehard respect usually follows the great coaches to their grave. Such was the case for Paul Ward".
I know that many of you former Mustangs players and fans (welcome Clark Smothers, Sharon Bennett, Seth Bennett, and Steven Nolen) are just bursting to tell a story, so get going, now is the time. The story can be about any phase of Coach Ward's life; whether it is about a teammate, a team, a season,or even a single play (Jimmy Jewel Lumpkin running for a touchdown down the sideline with Coach Ward stride-for-stride yelling, "now go, now go"), Mustangs 24-Rebels 20. Scotty Portis Mustang (1955-1958)
PS Again, Lydia thanks for your innocent remarks concerning your dad. They are heartfelt and heart warming. Like she says-" there is probably a book in there" Charles Rhodes can you help?PSS Anyone who has not received all of the blogs (there are many and growing) let me (port1184@bellsouth.net) or Johnny Radford (jtrad@charter.net) know and we will get the rest to you. The very first ones were from Gary Hall and Johnny Pitts about 5-6 weeks ago (Nov 27th).
From: "Lydia Jackson" <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com>To: "'Scott Portis'" <port1184@bellsouth.net>Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 12:59
Fwd: Coach Ward
Hi Scotty, Yes, Dad has some impressive 'stats'! I've enjoyed reading about your youth. I guess retirement has given my Dad time to reflect. I hope you all keep up the writing. There is probably a book in there.
Lydia
From: Scott Portis Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:16 PM
To: ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
Re: Fwd: Coach Ward
Lydia, your dad was a hoss playing and lettering in 3 sports (football, baseball, and basketball) all 4 years of high school plus his real glory days at Sewanee.
Scott Portis
From: <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
To: <pinkleye@aol.com Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:06 AM
Fwd: Coach Ward
Mom, is Dad really writing this stuff??? Where does it come from? It makes me cry that he is so eloquent and has such fond memories of his glory days.
Lydia
Family
Coach Ward gave a lot to our community as he was also our baseball and basketball coach along with P. E. I may have been on his first winning team in 1956. From there he became the legend of West Tenn Football. Of course I taught Tim Priest all the tricks as we played side yard ball. He went on to be an All American at U. T. Pardon if U get this twice.
Dad
Guys
Great memories. I absolutely agree with the sentiments of the budding correspondents; Scott, John, Fred, Gary and Tim. Coach Ward pulled me out of study hall one morning our freshman year after summer practice was already over, and told me he had convinced my mother that I should be on the field that afternoon all 115 lbs. It was a tough year (0-9-1), but it prepared me for the next 7 years. I'll always be grateful for his encouragement as John Williams, Euell Bouldin, and Coach Ward again rather late my senior year drove me to Sewanee to meet Coach Majors (dad of Johnny Majors,UT Vol All-American tailback and Head Coach) about late entry to Sewanee. Coach Ward gave a film to Coach Majors, and I squeezed in. Late registration had already closed, and I had to rush to Memphis to take an SAT test. It was so late I had to live at Coach Major's house the first semester. Quite a family. Coach Majors had many of the traits that Coach Ward had; discipline, down to earth wisdom, consistent, excellence, encouragers, leaders.
Fred's story reminded me; Coach Ward leaned down on his knees belly laughing when he looked at my front tooth that was just broken in half one afternoon at practice. After that I had a 2 bar face mask. It was the same laugh when I spun the wrong way one day as a freshman and Kenny Walker flattened me over the zero hole. It was like a freight train; I remember Kenny as being taller and faster than Warren Blankenship. I do remember well the Halloween sprints. When I finally literally got my second wind I thought we could just keep going, but I don't believe I was the one of those who did an Indian war cry. Hope to hear more. Go Mustangs and keep the legend alive. Wallace
Scotty Portis
Coach Ward Blog
Group, certainly not trying to embarrass Wallace Pinkley or his daughter, Lydia, but I think the exchange below not only typifies the, as yet unearthed, literary abilities of many (abilities they nor their families knew existed until now), and has shown family members and friends a side of many individuals that they did not know. I know Lydia Pinkley Jackson, a very sweet and beautiful young lady, that I watched grow up, and here she is looking at a side of her dad that she had never seen before.
I think that Coach Ward's death has inspired a lot of us.And look at the influence that Coach Ward had over the above situation. Sure, Wallace had great athletic talents (Johnny Pitts did you ever get a solid lick in on Wade when he was running the ball----NO, and I didn't either), but his Coach was interested enough to hustle him all over the country side to make sure that the "next level" got a look at his talents. It was a win, win situation-Sewanee got a great football and baseball player, Wallace got a great education (in fact we both applied to Wharton School of Finance and Commerence at the University of Pennsylvania, after undergraduate school, Wallace got in and I did not). He is now retired from a very successful insurance career in Florida and still a great Mustang fan. Coach Ward got no monetary value for this-only the satisfaction of a job well done.
Again, we should all be proud that people like Paul Ward exist, people who have pushed us to the next level-some of us kicking and screaming but at least to the next level. Dan Morris a sports reporter for the Jackson Sun stated in his column after Coach Ward's death, "A diehard respect usually follows the great coaches to their grave. Such was the case for Paul Ward".
I know that many of you former Mustangs players and fans (welcome Clark Smothers, Sharon Bennett, Seth Bennett, and Steven Nolen) are just bursting to tell a story, so get going, now is the time. The story can be about any phase of Coach Ward's life; whether it is about a teammate, a team, a season,or even a single play (Jimmy Jewel Lumpkin running for a touchdown down the sideline with Coach Ward stride-for-stride yelling, "now go, now go"), Mustangs 24-Rebels 20. Scotty Portis Mustang (1955-1958)
PS Again, Lydia thanks for your innocent remarks concerning your dad. They are heartfelt and heart warming. Like she says-" there is probably a book in there" Charles Rhodes can you help?PSS Anyone who has not received all of the blogs (there are many and growing) let me (port1184@bellsouth.net) or Johnny Radford (jtrad@charter.net) know and we will get the rest to you. The very first ones were from Gary Hall and Johnny Pitts about 5-6 weeks ago (Nov 27th).
From: "Lydia Jackson" <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com>To: "'Scott Portis'" <port1184@bellsouth.net>Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 12:59
Fwd: Coach Ward
Hi Scotty, Yes, Dad has some impressive 'stats'! I've enjoyed reading about your youth. I guess retirement has given my Dad time to reflect. I hope you all keep up the writing. There is probably a book in there.
Lydia
From: Scott Portis Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:16 PM
To: ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
Re: Fwd: Coach Ward
Lydia, your dad was a hoss playing and lettering in 3 sports (football, baseball, and basketball) all 4 years of high school plus his real glory days at Sewanee.
Scott Portis
From: <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
To: <pinkleye@aol.com Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:06 AM
Fwd: Coach Ward
Mom, is Dad really writing this stuff??? Where does it come from? It makes me cry that he is so eloquent and has such fond memories of his glory days.
Lydia
Family
Coach Ward gave a lot to our community as he was also our baseball and basketball coach along with P. E. I may have been on his first winning team in 1956. From there he became the legend of West Tenn Football. Of course I taught Tim Priest all the tricks as we played side yard ball. He went on to be an All American at U. T. Pardon if U get this twice.
Dad
Guys
Great memories. I absolutely agree with the sentiments of the budding correspondents; Scott, John, Fred, Gary and Tim. Coach Ward pulled me out of study hall one morning our freshman year after summer practice was already over, and told me he had convinced my mother that I should be on the field that afternoon all 115 lbs. It was a tough year (0-9-1), but it prepared me for the next 7 years. I'll always be grateful for his encouragement as John Williams, Euell Bouldin, and Coach Ward again rather late my senior year drove me to Sewanee to meet Coach Majors (dad of Johnny Majors,UT Vol All-American tailback and Head Coach) about late entry to Sewanee. Coach Ward gave a film to Coach Majors, and I squeezed in. Late registration had already closed, and I had to rush to Memphis to take an SAT test. It was so late I had to live at Coach Major's house the first semester. Quite a family. Coach Majors had many of the traits that Coach Ward had; discipline, down to earth wisdom, consistent, excellence, encouragers, leaders.
Fred's story reminded me; Coach Ward leaned down on his knees belly laughing when he looked at my front tooth that was just broken in half one afternoon at practice. After that I had a 2 bar face mask. It was the same laugh when I spun the wrong way one day as a freshman and Kenny Walker flattened me over the zero hole. It was like a freight train; I remember Kenny as being taller and faster than Warren Blankenship. I do remember well the Halloween sprints. When I finally literally got my second wind I thought we could just keep going, but I don't believe I was the one of those who did an Indian war cry. Hope to hear more. Go Mustangs and keep the legend alive. Wallace
Being Saved-Bright Lights and Stars
Gerald Byron, two great stories. Coach would have loved them. He wore his "funny bone" on his sleeve and it did not take much to set it off. He loved tumbling and I do not know why. Maybe some one in the group can enlighten us.
The story about my sister is probably true, no one in our neighborhood provoked her (I can feel your pain). Did you see my story of the nite she went into the Lexington dressing room and popped the head of the girl who had been guarding her (and holding her) during the BB game. As I said earlier, she probably could have made the football team. Again Gerald great stories of our Coach and great remembrances of times gone by.
Scotty Portis
Scotty: Johnny Radford forward me all of the emails: I read them this afternoon as Susan drove us to mountains. Great memories!!!! I would like to add a couple if you would be kind enough to share with the group:
Like Charles Rhodes, I was a 98 pound weakling (literally) during high school and so my high school extracurricular activity was relegated to beating the bass drum. (Unfortunately, as Mr. Tate quickly learned, I did not have an ounce of rhythm flowing through my veins’ still don’t.) But I vividly remember P.E. under Coach Ward. I particularly remember the tumbling which Coach Ward loved but which I grew to dread. My Waterloo was the two man tumble when one person laid on the floor with his head between other person ankles and his feet were around the neck of the one standing. The one standing – me – was suppose to roll forward. Being athletically challenged, my roll was more like a swan dive forward until the top of my head contacted the gym floor just beyond the mat. I must have been “saved” at the moment that I hit the floor because I definitely saw a bright light and many stars. When I could open my eyes, there was Coach Ward beside me bent over in laughter! Dodge ball was a different exercise but, for me, had the same result. I always ended up on the other side from Ace Forbess, William Lee Smothers and Steve Neal and would get creamed by one of them, either in the head or family jewels, by a volley ball traveling at least 75 mph. While rolling in the floor, I would inevitably look up to see Coach Ward bent over in laughter.
Coach Ward’s laughter was not malicious, however. As others have so eloquently expressed, he cared deeply about his charges and no one was prouder of my Vandy scholarship than Coach Ward. In retrospect, how could one keep from laughing at some of our antics; I laughed out loud several times today. We were, indeed, fortunate to have persons like Coach Ward, Mr. Pudor, Mr. Tate, Miss Anna Pearl, and others, care for us, mentor us and love us.
In closing, I want to vouch for the fact that your beloved sister, Betty Ann, had a mean streak. On Halloween of our senior year, two groups came together in Mayor Watson’s front yard. My group was armed to the hilt with water balloons which we launched toward Betty Ann’s group. My enthusiasm was cut short when a 6 ounce Coke bottle came whizzing by my ear – Betty Ann had won that round.
Thanks again for getting this started.
Gerald
The story about my sister is probably true, no one in our neighborhood provoked her (I can feel your pain). Did you see my story of the nite she went into the Lexington dressing room and popped the head of the girl who had been guarding her (and holding her) during the BB game. As I said earlier, she probably could have made the football team. Again Gerald great stories of our Coach and great remembrances of times gone by.
Scotty Portis
Scotty: Johnny Radford forward me all of the emails: I read them this afternoon as Susan drove us to mountains. Great memories!!!! I would like to add a couple if you would be kind enough to share with the group:
Like Charles Rhodes, I was a 98 pound weakling (literally) during high school and so my high school extracurricular activity was relegated to beating the bass drum. (Unfortunately, as Mr. Tate quickly learned, I did not have an ounce of rhythm flowing through my veins’ still don’t.) But I vividly remember P.E. under Coach Ward. I particularly remember the tumbling which Coach Ward loved but which I grew to dread. My Waterloo was the two man tumble when one person laid on the floor with his head between other person ankles and his feet were around the neck of the one standing. The one standing – me – was suppose to roll forward. Being athletically challenged, my roll was more like a swan dive forward until the top of my head contacted the gym floor just beyond the mat. I must have been “saved” at the moment that I hit the floor because I definitely saw a bright light and many stars. When I could open my eyes, there was Coach Ward beside me bent over in laughter! Dodge ball was a different exercise but, for me, had the same result. I always ended up on the other side from Ace Forbess, William Lee Smothers and Steve Neal and would get creamed by one of them, either in the head or family jewels, by a volley ball traveling at least 75 mph. While rolling in the floor, I would inevitably look up to see Coach Ward bent over in laughter.
Coach Ward’s laughter was not malicious, however. As others have so eloquently expressed, he cared deeply about his charges and no one was prouder of my Vandy scholarship than Coach Ward. In retrospect, how could one keep from laughing at some of our antics; I laughed out loud several times today. We were, indeed, fortunate to have persons like Coach Ward, Mr. Pudor, Mr. Tate, Miss Anna Pearl, and others, care for us, mentor us and love us.
In closing, I want to vouch for the fact that your beloved sister, Betty Ann, had a mean streak. On Halloween of our senior year, two groups came together in Mayor Watson’s front yard. My group was armed to the hilt with water balloons which we launched toward Betty Ann’s group. My enthusiasm was cut short when a 6 ounce Coke bottle came whizzing by my ear – Betty Ann had won that round.
Thanks again for getting this started.
Gerald
Big Sam and Big Brown
Poor offensive and defensive lineman (and linebackers), the guys in the trenches seldom get the recognization that they deserve.
Such is the case with Sammy Lankford (alias Big Sam at 225#) and Walter Brown (alias Big Brown at 245#). These two guys as juniors were stalwarts on the 1957 team with the likes of seniors: Warren Blankenship, Ronnie Rice, Lance Kee, Freddie Holliday, William Marrison, Billy Yeager, Bobby McDonald, and Bendell Wilkes-Bobby Montgomery and Jerry Parrish were offensive and defensive backs.
To me this was one of the best defensive teams that Huntingdon ever fielded. This team was very fast defensively and with Blankenship as the anchor allowed only 55 points in 10 games, and many of the 55 were on the second team as Coach Ward got them into games early for much needed experience for the next years team.
The 1958 team was, of course, devastated by the loss of the many seniors. Big Sam and Big Brown were the saving grace for the 1958 team on the offensive and defensive lines. These two along with Moose Smith our fullback, turned defensive lineman (going both ways) and several eager juniors and sophomores filled out the line. Without Sam and Walter we would not have gone undefeated in 1958 (we would come back to the huddle and Big Brown would pound my helmet and say "did you see the block I laid down for you on that play"). I didn't see the block that often, all I remember is that there was no longer an opponent in front of me. So thanks to Big Sam and Big Brown, two Paul Ward well coached tackles, for paving the way for the many running and passing plays that made our machine run well. Boys, those were great times.
Scott Portis (Mustang Quarterback 1955-58)
Such is the case with Sammy Lankford (alias Big Sam at 225#) and Walter Brown (alias Big Brown at 245#). These two guys as juniors were stalwarts on the 1957 team with the likes of seniors: Warren Blankenship, Ronnie Rice, Lance Kee, Freddie Holliday, William Marrison, Billy Yeager, Bobby McDonald, and Bendell Wilkes-Bobby Montgomery and Jerry Parrish were offensive and defensive backs.
To me this was one of the best defensive teams that Huntingdon ever fielded. This team was very fast defensively and with Blankenship as the anchor allowed only 55 points in 10 games, and many of the 55 were on the second team as Coach Ward got them into games early for much needed experience for the next years team.
The 1958 team was, of course, devastated by the loss of the many seniors. Big Sam and Big Brown were the saving grace for the 1958 team on the offensive and defensive lines. These two along with Moose Smith our fullback, turned defensive lineman (going both ways) and several eager juniors and sophomores filled out the line. Without Sam and Walter we would not have gone undefeated in 1958 (we would come back to the huddle and Big Brown would pound my helmet and say "did you see the block I laid down for you on that play"). I didn't see the block that often, all I remember is that there was no longer an opponent in front of me. So thanks to Big Sam and Big Brown, two Paul Ward well coached tackles, for paving the way for the many running and passing plays that made our machine run well. Boys, those were great times.
Scott Portis (Mustang Quarterback 1955-58)
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