1968 Grundy Football

[Lance 228]

I put up some pics from the 1968 Grundy Football team on my facebook page...if any of you hardcore Grundy folks want to see them the link is here:

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070912&id=1006095924&l=82ec03d9df

 

Best part...there is a pic of Bull Bevins in there...lol....and a goat mascot? who knew?

[blueinbama 259]

Great pics Lance. I graduated in 1969 (RHS) and enjoyed looking at the pictures. I don’t remember any of the players, but I do remember the goat!

[Lance 228]

An article about the 1970 Wave team (many of these same guys) and the goat of course...by Mr. Larry Fields.

 

Cornfields

Remembering the Grundy Golden Wave Football Team of 1970

 

(Author’s Note: This is the first of a two-part story about a remarkable football team and an even more remarkable group of young men.)

 

Why would I want to write about a team that only had a 4-4-2 record? Consider this – eight players and one manager received college scholarships from that team. Are you kidding me??!

 

Over the past several weeks I have spent several hours talking to players and coaches of this remarkable, (some would say ‘hard luck’) team. Plus, I was an assistant coach that year . . . so, I had a ringside seat.

 

This week, I just want to whet your appetite with some pictures and also write about a few personal remembrances, including some comments from Coach Blake Compton . . . and a few of his players.

 

“I kinda got thrown to the wolves when I came to the high school in 1968”, Coach Compton said.

 

“We’d won 14 games in a row at the Junior High, and came to the high school and played a Triple-A schedule . . . still, though, we were competitive. I think we lost about eight ball games by one or two points.”

 

“We didn’t win a lot of games, but one game stands out in my mind. Virginia High had a highly touted team that year, and we beat them 32-0, and held them to minus 13 yards rushing.

 

Ivan Dales remembers tackling their top back, Wayne Stophel. (I have the Lions Club program from that game, and Ivan’s memory is right on!)

 

“I dropped him for a loss, and then grabbed his feet as I was getting up . . . and turned him for a somersault!”

 

“Coach Compton asked me if I was trying to pin him when I came to the sideline”, Ivan laughed.

 

“You do tend to remember the wins”, Coach Compton continued.

 

“We were down to Richlands 14-0 at Richlands with under two minutes to go, and came back and won”. (I was there, and it is still the most dramatic come from behind win I ever witnessed . . . and I’ll have more to say about that win next week.)

 

“But just like in life, victories don’t last”, Coach Compton said.

 

“If I’d won a few more games like that, I might still be coaching”, Coach Compton laughed . . . but I would ‘t have had any money –Coaches don’t make much money. As it was, I did go on and have a successful career as President and CEO of Grundy National Bank. But even there, victories didn’t last . . . we had to re-group every year on December 31st.”

 

“I went out for football in the 8tgh grade (1967) when Coach Compton started coaching at the Junior High”, Donald Ratliff told me recently.

 

“On about the second day of practice, Coach pulled me aside and said, ‘Donnie, you’re going to get killed out here with these bigger kids, but I do have something else in mind for you’.”

 

“Coach Compton sent me to a trainer’s camp at East Tennessee State University, where I learned how to tape ankles . . . and when I came back I was his trainer for five years. Upon graduation in 1971, I attended Carson-Newman College, along with Gary Prater and Darrell Vance who were very good players on a team that went to the National Championship game in 1972. (Donald now holds a prestigious job with Alpha Natural Resources . . . and was recently voted Wise County Citizen of the Year.

 

“I helped Coach Compton at the Junior High”, Robert “Bull” Bevins told me . . .

 

“And when we came to the Senior High, we decided we needed a mascot to help boost morale. So, Coach Compton, Coach Joe Dixon, and myself traveled to Abingdon to get a goat. We went to a farm and this fellow told us ‘you’ll gave to catch it in my barn!’.”

 

“I will never forget Joe Dixon tackling that goat up against a barn wall!” Bull laughed.

 

“We brought it back to Grundy and gave it the name, ‘Pollux’, which means ‘God of the waves’ in Greek Mythology. (More about ‘Pollux’ next week)

 

Prior to the 1970 season, it was decided by the coaching staff to stage a professional wrestling event on the football field to raise money for the football program, and Coach Compton asked me to announce the action. This was when the only bleachers and press box were on the ‘hill side’ of Nelson Memorial Field.

 

There was a big crowd out to watch the show, and I remember the headline event was Gene and Jan Madrid.

 

Things were going pretty good until one of the wrestlers pulled something from his trunks, and flung it in his opponent’s eyes. I remember Joe Dixon was sitting right beside of me in the press box, and he turned to me and said . . .

 

“Tell them it looked like a good move to you, Larry.”

 

“It looked like a good move to me folks!” I blabbered without thinking . . . and immediately a riot broke out. Some of the fans began to climb into the ring and go after the guilty wrestler, the referee, whoever was close, and some started throwing things at the press box, and for the next thirty minutes we took turns looking out to describe to the others what we saw . . .

 

“Those wrestlers are out in the middle of the field trying to get away from the fans!” Joe yelled, looking out, and quickly ducking down again.

 

We knew for sure that wrestling was over, but the fighting continued for some time, until County Deputies arrived and restored order . . . It was later still when we deemed it safe to leave the press box.

 

Counting Donald Ratliff, I think there were eight members of that 1970 team that received college scholarships.

 

I’ve talked with many of them recently, and hope to have more comments from them next week.

 

Dewey Davis, who was captain of the 1970 team remembers they called themselves, ‘Compton’s Raiders’.

 

“Coach Compton was like a father to me Dewey said. (A sentiment echoed by Darrell Vance, who started three years as a defensive back for Carson-Newman, and was a football and wrestling coach at Morristown West in Tennessee for over 20 years.

 

“I had a scholarship to Carson-Newman but received an injury early in my Freshman year that caused me to give up the game I dearly loved. I then just directed my energies to another love: Forestry”, Dewey said.

 

“I remember one day Coach Compton told me to hit him as we were winding up practice”, Dewey said. “I told him I didn’t want to hurt him since he didn’t have on any pads.

 

“Either you hit me or just go on in the locker room and hang it up”, Coach chuckled.

 

“So, I got down in my stance and we squared off . . . KA –BAM!”

 

“I’ve played a lot of football but I’ve never been hit that hard”, Dewey winced in remembrance. (Coach Compton was a standout guard for East Tennessee State.)

 

Dewey also remembers playing with Judge Pat Johnson in 1968. Pat stands about 6’ 9” and was probably the tallest player ever to play for Grundy.

 

“Pat was a Senior and I was a Sophomore, and I remember that we got assigned to take the tackling dummies down to the field (where Grundy Hospital now stands). --And we’d sometimes have to run the cows out of the field as we did so – then practice without stepping in something!”

 

“I went to see Pat not long ago and I told him I sure missed him my Junior year because I didn’t have anyone to stand beside of . . . and Block off the Sun! Pat cackled at that and lifted me up and swung me around.

 

Charlie Hale started all four years at center for the University of Virginia, where one year he centered for the former Governor of Virginia, George Allen.

 

Junior Coleman, who was voted Mr. Football by the student body that year, received a scholarship to the University of Kentucky but came home after his freshman year. Junior gained over a thousand yards that year, and was part of a one-two punch with another stand-out back, Gary Prater, in the backfield. Either one was a threat to score every time they touched the ball.

 

Ten years later, in 1980, Junior’s nephew, who was also named Junior, led the Golden Wave to an 8-3 record, and a trip to the Playoffs, while amassing over 1600 yards. Ironically, my nephew, Ricky Blankenship, also gained over a thousand yards that year. The second Junior Coleman played college ball at Montana, where he also excelled.

 

One reporter remarked after one of Junior’s freshman games that he was the best player on the field, on both offense and defense.

 

One personal remembrance of the John Battle game in 1970 . . . It was played at John Battle, and I remember they had a good team, and a great quarterback named David Halstead, who received a scholarship to Virginia Tech.

 

I talked to A.D. Witt, who is now a pharmacist in the Abingdon area, and he remembers “We had John Battle stopped on fourth down and four, late in the fourth quarter, when Halstead fumbled into the end zone, and a John Battle player fell on it for the go ahead touchdown. That shouldn’t have been allowed and would definitely be illegal today. That game should have been ours.”

 

I was keeping statistics on the sidelines, and I remember the anguish on the Grundy faces.

 

After the game, I asked if I could use a phone to call the game in to the paper, and I was put in an unoccupied office.

 

It took longer than I expected to get the calls completed, and when I came out of the office, probably 45 minutes later . . . everybody from both teams was gone. I remember the lonely tapping of my shoes in the silent corridor . . . and later the sidewalk, as I walked around the school. I had been left.

 

I remember sitting on the steps wondering what in the world I was going to do – and then to make matters worse I realized I was flat broke.

 

Getting up, and walking aimlessly down the street, I spied a single taxi parked on the corner. A bold plan came to mind. I knew the team would be eating a post-game meal at the Empire (A restaurant in Abingdon ,at the time, that was located near the tobacco warehouse). If I could just get there in time . . . I would surely have a ride home . . . Please!

 

Feeling foolish, but desperate, I spoke to the taxi driver, who had his window down . . .

 

“C –C-ould y-you . . . W – W-ould Y-You take me to Abingdon? I – I don’t have any M-Money, but S-S-Somebody will P-Pay you when W-W-e get there”, I stammered.( Here I was, a grown man, with years of experience traveling by thumb, and I was scared....Go figure!)

 

“Ok . . . Hop in Bud . . . But it will cost you ten bucks!” the taxi driver said. (All the way there I was thinking, what if the team’s not there? What if no one has any money? What if I have to ask him to take me on to Grundy? What if it cost a thousand bucks?...I suppose we all play the ‘What if Game’ from time to time.

 

When we arrived at the Empire ten minutes later, I was overjoyed. Like a knight in shining armor, , team physician, Dr. Robert Baxter, strode up to the taxi with a big smile, and didn’t hesitate when I asked if he could pay my fare. He didn’t even question that it was too much, just gave the driver the ten bucks . . . and me a big ol’ bear hug.( Dr. Baxter had a way of making every person he met, feel like they were 10 foot tall...kind of like Don Newberry did. Speaking of Don Newberry, Darrell Vance told me there was a picture on the wall at Carson Newman of Don Newberry, as a Little All-American. I didn’t know that.

 

More remembrances next week . . . along with comments from some of the players . . . in their own words.

[Lance 228]

and here is part #2 which was run last week...again by Mr. Larry Fields.

 

Remembering . . . Part 2

 

“I’d run through a brick wall for him”, Dewey Davis, who was captain of the 1970 team, said in reference to his coach, Blake Compton.

 

“When I lost my dad in a mining accident in 1964, Coach Compton soon became the father figure in my life”, Dewey said. –“Although I never forgot my father, Coach Compton and others on that team gave me the encouragement I needed.’

 

“I wore the number ‘64’ when I went out for football in 1966 as an eighth grader”, Dewey said, “In honor of my dad, and I was determined to honor him well and be the best football player I could possibly be.” (And considering Dewey’s size {5’8”}, I’d say he used every ounce of his potential at his right guard position, where he loved to trap and lead a sweep . . . football players will understand this terminology.

 

Dewey’s face radiated as he remembered those days in my living room recently. He remembers Coach Compton rewarding them by taking them to ETSU to watch a college game after their undefeated season at the Junior High in 1967. He remembers Coach Bull Bevins taking him home most evenings after practice, and also Coach Bull singing ‘Big Iron on His Hip‘(A Marty Robbins song) as they rode the bus home after a game.

 

“Boy! He could really belt it out”, Dewey said. “What a Crooner!”

 

And since Dewey played in the line, he also remembers Coach Frank Spraker when they came to the high school in 1968. We enjoyed remembering some of Coach Spraker’s astute observations:

 

“If we could find a place to set the jack, we could move the world.”

 

“Come on men . . . let’s go down here and play with the ‘girls’.” (Coach Spraker called the backs this.)

 

“If you boys do ‘your’ job, any one of your mothers could carry the ball and score on every play.”

 

“On every play, there’s going to be eleven fights break out . . . we need to win at least six of them!”

 

“I remember one time we were lining up, and Coach Spraker told Charlie Hale, our center, that he had a size 2 and ½ shoe”, Dewey said. “When Charlie asked what he meant by that, Coach Spraker said, “two cowhides and a half-keg of nails!”

 

I thought it was neat that I was getting to help Coach Spraker. He was my line coach when I played for Grundy in 1959-60. And Dewey remembers that I was always making them do ‘monkey roll’ drills. I’d learned that from Coach Spraker eight years earlier . . . and it just involved three players at a time jumping over and under each other without touching each other. (Fun to do and watch . . . I thought.) Dewey said he told the boys that I’d soon have them climbing trees and eating bananas!

 

Bill Miller, who assisted me at the Junior High one year, along with Bobby Gibson and Teddy Osborne, remembers that Coach Spraker gave Teddy and himself ten bucks to go scout William Fleming of Roanoke one Friday night. “I think we gave a pretty good scouting report for ten bucks!” Bill laughed....”And we ended up tying them, which was really good we thought, since they were a AAA school.”

 

Dewey remembers a story involving both Coach Spraker and Dr. Baxter:

 

“We were playing Marion at Grundy and someone stepped on my foot”. “I came to the sidelines when my foot started feeling numb . . . Dr. Baxter checked it and said there were no broken bones and he put some red hot balm on it.”

 

“Coach Spraker asked Dr. Baxter if I was ready to go back in and Dr. Baxter said ‘he’s ready to play’!”.

 

“I went back in for about two plays and all of a sudden I felt like my foot was on fire. I came to the sideline and Dr. Baxter put my foot in a bucket of ice!” (“I wouldn’t recommend anyone trying this”, Dewey laughed.)

 

“That’s what helmets are for!” Coach Spraker told his son, Bobby, after the Richlands game in 1969 at Richlands. A fight had broken out after the Golden Wave scored three times in the last two minutes to defeat the Blues, and Bobby had been hit in the head with a bottle. (Dr. Baxter repaired the damage.)

 

During the last two minutes, Bobby Owens blocked two punts, and Bobby Cook threw three touchdown passes. It was kind of like a miracle if you were from Grundy . . . and a nightmare to the Richlands fans. (Hard to believe that these two long-time rivalries will not play again after this year.)

 

The 1970 game at Grundy with Richlands was also a memorable one. The only words to describe the weather would be ‘monsoon’ or ‘torrential’.

 

“I remember I was at the bottom of a pile once, and I thought for sure I was going to drown”, Darrell Vance said. –“The referees had to hold the ball to keep it from floating away!”

 

“But I sure enjoyed playing for Coach Compton”, Darrell said. He had a commanding presence, but I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice . . . and thanks Coach for all those evenings you took me home after practice! (Darrell played defensive back, and alternated with A.D. Witt at quarterback.)

 

Even though Grundy had a huge edge in statistics, the Wave had to settle for a 6-6 tie in 1970. (No sudden death overtime then.)

 

On the sideline that night, as he was for most games, was the Grundy mascot, the goat, Pollux, bleating his head off and clearly not liking the rain.

 

“Pollux was just like a big pet. Kind of like a dog, actually”, Doug Matney said.

 

“All of the kids liked to come up to it and pet it at the games . . . and it would just push up against you whether it was at a game or in our barn at the mouth of Elkins Branch”, Doug continued.

 

“I was dating Doug at the time”, Connie Looney Matney (Yep! they got hitched!) said, “And I can remember Pollux would chase us and we’d jump up on the chicken house to get away from him! He wouldn’t actually hurt you . . . he was just a big pet – and pesky.”

 

I don’t know if Pollux (God of the waves in Greek Mythology) actually helped Grundy win any football games or not, but it was a lovable creature. -- And I remember Bull Bevins had a big-eyed time with him. Bull would look Pollux in the eye, sing to him, and try to coax a win out of him.

 

“Boy, were we ever mad when some Garden kids managed to steal Pollux one year”, Ernestine Looney said recently. (Ernestine works at the Mountaineer office.)

 

“Pollux had one horn painted blue and one horn painted gold . . . but, when we got it back, both horns were green”, Ernestine said. “We were all in an uproar over that!”

 

Whatever happened to Pollux, I don’t know. Either interest waned, or it got too big to handle, might be a good guess.

 

“I don’t believe Grundy has had a mascot since, but last Friday night at Grundy, Assistant coach Jack Compton introduced the players to a ‘Golden Boot’ to be given each week to the most outstanding defensive player.

 

“Virginia Tech has a maroon lunch pail”, Coach Compton said, “And we’ve got a Golden Boot!”

 

I don’t know who received the ‘golden boot’ last week, but it does seem like it would be better to do the ‘booting’ instead of getting a ‘butting’ from a goat! (Ha! I herd that!)

 

Let me now mention three games that stand out in my memory.

 

First, the first game of the 1968 season, Grundy played E.C. Glass of Lynchburg. Foney Mullins (who was a Sophomore that year, and is now Assistant Superintendent of Washington County Schools) caught a pass from quarterback A.D. Witt to tie the game at 6-6 . . . and that’s the way it ended. Unfortunately, Foney transferred right after his standout Sophomore year. Foney made All District, All Western Region, and Honorable Mention All-State. Couple Foney’s departure with the departure of two other standout players from the undefeated Junior High team, and you can see why previous glory proved elusive.

 

In 1969, I was coaching at the Junior High. It was a Saturday morning and we were playing our final game against Garden. We had beaten Garden earlier in the season and I thought we would have little trouble completing an undefeated dream season. But . . . those pesky Dragons pulled out the win when what would have been the winning touchdown . . . was called back for an offside penalty. {In our defense, we had played, and won, the previous Thursday night, . . . and we hadn’t had time to regroup . . . JUST SAYING!}

 

But it was also on this Saturday that the Golden Wave varsity played an undefeated Elkhorn City team.

 

“All week long, all we heard from the Kentucky teachers, teaching at Grundy, was how the Cougars were going to claw us up”, Dewey said.

 

“But we felt like a college team – getting to play on a Saturday evening was special”

 

“I remember on the opening kickoff, Joe Keene hustled downfield and covered the ball at the four yard line, and Junior Coleman took it in on the first play from scrimmage. The Elkhorn City coach was so mad he broke his clipboard over one player’s head!” Dewey laughed . . . “And we went on to win 36-0!”

 

The final game I want to mention was the Marion game in 1970. It was their homecoming and kind of looking bleak for the Wave until . . .

 

“Coach Compton had told me to cross them up if they got geared to stop the run”, quarterback A.D. Witt said. “And the perfect opportunity presented itself in the third quarter. It was third and inches, and Marion had everybody focused on Junior. I faked it to Junior and it looked like eleven guys tackled him . . . as I lofted the ball downfield to Gary Deel for about a 70 yard touchdown play . . . and the rout was on!”

 

“Football meant the world to me”, Dewey said.

 

“I remember when I received my first letter ‘G’ in the eighth grade . . . I didn’t have a penny in my pocket, but I wouldn’t have taken a hundred dollar bill for that letter. –“I was officially a member of the Grundy Golden Wave football team!”

 

I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause . . . and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious. (Vince Lombardi)

[Arthuritis 10]

Is there any truth to the rumor that Coach Compton mistook Pollux for an elk and shot him and ate him?

[cityofRaven 2,451]

My grandfather told me about that E.C. Glass game. Its almost mind blowing that both Richlands and Grundy used to have over a 1000 students and compete against the large Roanoke area schools. I also wished the rivaleries were still as intense to have fights and what not, sure not like it used to be.

[Lance 228]

Is there any truth to the rumor that Coach Compton mistook Pollux for an elk and shot him and ate him?

 

different coach compton.