COLONELS FOOTBALL – In the Beginning

I moved to Egremont, Mississippi on January 1, 1959.  Little did I know at the time, the significance of this time period in the history of Sharkey and Issaquena Counties.  Prior to the summer of 1958, there existed at least three separate school districts in the two counties.  For budget and other reasons, it was decided that two schools districts should pool resources and combine into one larger district. The Anguilla District did not join in the process. Basically, Cary and Rolling Fork were becoming one. These schools had been fierce rivals for decades, or so I've been told.  Neither Rolling Fork nor Cary was a large school and the resulting consolidation was not large -- only larger.  The district’s new name was huge, though- Sharkey-Issaquena Line Consolidated School District. Whew!  What a mouthful! During my years there, the entire student body averaged about 700 students in 1st through 12th grades.

Rolling Fork and Cary high schools combined at the beginning of the school year in the fall of 1958.  The construction of the addition to the school that would house elementary school students had not been completed by the start of the school year and Cary elementary school students continued to go to school in Cary until Christmas.  On the first day of school in January, 1959, the Cary elementary school students began attending school in Rolling Fork.  The school had a new name -- Fielding L. Wright Attendance Center, I believe -- but to most of us, it was just Rolling Fork. 

My first day of school at Rolling Fork was the first day the two elementary schools had combined.  Every other first grader had gone to one of the two smaller schools for half a year.   I had lived in Yazoo City and went to school there for the first half of my first grade year until moving to Egremont.  I believe that I have the distinction as the only student who had not attended either of the separate schools, who was there as a first grader for the first day of the combined schools, and who continued for the entire Colonels era which ended when I graduated in May, 1970.

The combined schools needed a new nickname and "Colonels" was chosen.  Cary had been the Panthers and Rolling Fork had been the Bearcats.  A new era began in the South Delta and it revolved around high school football – Colonels Football -- for twelve years.  Rolling Fork High School was a football school.  The entire town, heck the entire community, comprised of most of Sharkey and Issaquena counties, lived and breathed Colonels Football during the 1960s.  It was nice to win in other sports, but it didn't really matter as long as the football team had a winning season. 

Thirty-three members made up the first squad that was led by Coaches Cain, Bishop and Sandifer. Seniors that first year included Joe Warbington, Rush Clements, and Baskin Perry.  Phillip Thomas, Jimmy Hathcock, and Roy Garcia were seniors in the fall of 1959. It was during the third year of the team that Coaches Dunaway and Mullins joined the staff. Larry Jenkins and Eddie Touchberry were Captains that year. Each year the team grew stronger and more athletes contributed to the winning spirit.

The football players and coaches were not the entire story.  Fans were important -- I was a fan in those years.   There was also the supporting cast which included the band, majorettes and cheerleaders.  To a shy little kid, the cheerleaders and majorettes were so glamorous.  Some of the cheerleaders that first year were Lynda Cain, Lisa Jordan and Dot Graft.  Edwina Davis, Fran Bilbo and Ebbie Freeney were on the squad in 1959.  Rebecca Moore was the Drum Majorette both years and other majorettes included Patsy Kiska, Verna Ruth Alexander and Barbara Scott

I remember going to home football games when I was in elementary school.  Football games were such fun for a little kid in those days.  The smells were glorious -- popcorn and hotdogs in the concession stand.  I remember standing in line waiting to get my treats while being mesmerized by the smells.  I think a bag of popcorn was 10 cents.  Hotdogs might have been 25 cents.  I loved being able to get hotdogs at a game.  It was the closest thing to "eating out" that I can remember from that age.  We would go to games and everyone was there.  And I mean everyone!  Friday night home games were where the action was.  Winners always fill the stands.  And, Colonels were winners.

We lost a game at home when I was in third grade.  I remember the sad feeling when the Colonels lost.  We lost two regular season games in 1960.  The second one was to Shaw on October 21.  No other games were lost on "Colonels Field" until October 6, 1967 when I was a sophomore.  When I say no other games were lost, I mean that during that period there was no high school, or junior varsity, or junior high games that were lost on "Our Field."   It simply didn't happen!  It wasn't allowed to happen.  We had that much pride in our football program that a loss on Our Field was unthinkable. 

I have a vivid memory when I was in ninth grade and on the junior high team. We were playing Yazoo City on Our Field. Seniors on the Colonels team were telling us that we could not lose -- it wasn't allowed.  I remember Terry Smithhart and Jimmy Wade threatening us with all kinds of horrors if we lost on Our Field. Yazoo City was a good team. It was a much bigger school, and they had more boys from which to choose.  These boys we were up against weren’t just the run of the mill kind. They continued to play together throughout high school just as we did, and when they were seniors they were undefeated.  In 1969, these Yazoo City boys would be the number one football team in the State of Mississippi.  We had to play them on Our Field when they were ninth graders, just like us.  It would be no easy task to beat them.  However, we had tradition on our side.  We had pride!  We had Coach Cain! And, Colonels were winners.

The afternoon of the game, the bleachers had more fans than I had ever seen for a junior high football game.  The entire varsity team was on the sidelines with us . . .  standing behind us . . . supporting us.  Or . . . maybe they were there to inflict those unmentionable horrors if we lost.  It had to be one or the other.  The tension and excitement were high. The pressure was on. We played the game, and we won. What a relief! It wasn't an easy victory, but there was no doubt which team was better that day. 

Our family started going to away games when my brother, Bobby, was on the team.   We would go to Leland, Indianola, Cleveland and other towns in the Delta Valley Conference.  Occasionally there would be a non-conference game.  The Colonels played Greenville when Bobby was a junior and senior and lost both games.  But both were at Greenville and did not blemish the record on Our Field.  A few other games were lost -- but never at home.  On Friday nights of away games, Rolling Fork and the surrounding area was deserted -- a ghost town.  The visitor bleachers of the other schools were never large enough to hold all of our fans who traveled to the game.  The band had first priority for seats and then parents and other grownups.  We kids would line the fence to watch.  We could move up and down the field with the team and have a field level view.  It was such fun to cheer for the winning team.  On those few games we lost, we felt shock at the outcome.  We were not supposed to lose. Colonels were winners.

 I remember going to some games when it was so cold I was afraid of getting frostbite-- well, I would have been if I had known what frostbite was. Most of the time, the game would end in a victory for the Colonels and we would begin the happy ride home.  The only time there would be a traffic jam in the Mississippi Delta was on Friday nights after football games.   There would be a line of cars as far as you could see heading home.  The headlights seemed as plentiful as the stars in the sky. I would often go to sleep in the car and wake up in bed on Saturday morning, not knowing how I got from the car to my bed.

We had become a football powerhouse because of Coach Cain.  When boys got to 7th grade, their P.E. was with Coach Cain. There we learned football skills throughout the fall.  We would put on our ill-fitting football uniforms and go out to practice, learning the same plays and formations that the high school team used.  It was amazing how much we could do in less than an hour of P.E. class.  We had to get undressed, put on our uniforms, go outside to practice, come back in, take off the uniforms, and maybe, if we hurried,  had time for a shower, or maybe not.  We had to dress back into our school clothes and get to the next class. 

We learned so much during that year that when we got to 8th grade, we were ready to play on the junior high team.  We learned from Coach Cain that Colonels are winners, and that winning was expected of us.  We learned that a small school can play big schools and win, but it takes hard work and pride in the job you are doing every day.  Working hard in practice makes the games seem easy.  We learned valuable lessons from playing football as Rolling Fork Colonels.   I am a better person today because of life’s lessons learned on the practice fields as a Colonel.  We were Colonels; we were winners.

(by: Kenneth Burns)