The Sign

Several years ago I received word that my old home town, Athens, Texas, was planning to put my name on the field house at the football stadium.  I had played football there in the late fifties when we had some successful teams.

         At their invitation I went back for a dedication ceremony at the first game of the following season.  Prior to the start of the game the Athens coach unveiled the sign with my name on it at the field house and presented me with a plaque from the Booster Club. (I later proudly displayed the plaque on my office wall until someone pointed out that “Booster” had been misspelled.) The coach made a nice speech, I said a few words and the crowd responded with a respectful round of applause.

         After the presentation I was asked to give the Athens team a pep talk in what was now the Duke Carlisle Field House. I emphasized to the boys how important it was to have pep and they appeared very motivated.

         In the years following the unveiling I took many people to see the Duke Carlisle Field House sign. Because I live in Mississippi that was not an easy thing to do, but I often traveled to Dallas and would tell whoever was riding with me that it would not be much out of the way to just “swing by” Athens. Obviously, that ruse would work only once, but I was able to round up a surprising number of passengers. In addition, when I was in Dallas I would tell friends there that I had heard there was an outstanding new restaurant in Athens that we should “run down” and try. Even after people quit riding with me I would tell everyone I ran into that if they were ever in that part of the state they would be foolish not to go by and take a look at it.

         Then a couple of years ago I got word that a new field house was being built. I was anxious to see how the sign would fit in with the new structure so I talked (actually paid) my brother to go with me to take a look. We were surprised to discover that the field house was almost totally glass. I told my brother that it might be difficult to combine the Duke Carlisle wooden sign with all of that glass so they would probably have to display it off to the side. He looked skeptical as if he might be thinking that the sign would look goofy propped up next to that beautiful glass building.

         Sure enough, I began to hear from my classmates living in Athens that the sign had disappeared. Finally, I heard from my friend, Jimmy Kittles, that he had cornered one of the school board members and asked if the sign would be going back up. Jimmy said the board member had nervously walked away, but yelled over his shoulder that “maybe something could be done.” However having once been the County Attorney Jimmy quickly arrived at a verdict of unlikely.

         I was pretty disappointed, but received little sympathy from my loved ones. My brother said, “Damn, you’ve taken everyone you know to see it and told hundreds others about it. I’d say you’ve gotten your money’s worth.”

         My wife was somewhat gentler; she said, “It was a very nice honor and ten years was a long time to get to enjoy it.”

         I told her, “You’re right, but it seems a shame for it to just be thrown away. Maybe, I could…..”

         She said, “Don’t even think about it.”

Me and Athens High School head coach Jim Wommack after the dedication ceremony. Such a great memory for me. Go Hornets!