I remember when I was a Senior, we beat Clarendon 12-7 on a last ditch effort by Barry Swift. He tossed a 40 yard bomb to little Shane Mitchum right front of the endzone and he fell backwards in the endzone to take the lead. We went on to the playoffs after a 9-1 season. Lost in the first round to the eventual State Champ Rison who beat Barton 2-0 in a rain soaked mudfest.
From the 1931 HGHS annual (the very first annual published...)
Holly Grove-Hughes (very 1st football game HG ever played)
For the first time in the history of Holly Grove High School a football team was sent out to do battle – and how! It was really a hard fought game, neither side threatening very much until the latter part of the game when we took that ol’ pigskin over for a touchdown and victory! We failed to make the extra point but we were plenty satisfied with 6-0.
Lions84 - Could somebody see if they could get the scores for this historic series between Clarendon and HG from 1954 till HG dropped footall in I believe 1986?
- I plan on doing a lot of newspaper research for this project (I currently live in Nashville, TN but my husband and I anticipate returning to Little Rock by the end of next month - I'll have access to old newspapers on microfilm there). Hopefully as I do this research, I can uncover information like the requested football scores. When I find them I will definitely post them on here! But if anyone else has any old newspaper clippings about anything Holly Grove related, I'd love to hear about it!
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 13:33, 2006-03-20
Do you have memories of the uniforms and helmets you wore? What color were your uniforms and helmets? Were the helmets hard or soft? Do you think the high school football is very different today than it was when you played?
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 20:22, 2006-04-10
"Elaine was notorious for having guys older than 21 playing for them. My sophomore year, Elaine had two big backs, named Wheeler & Whalen. Wheeler was said to have lettered 6 years, and was about 220 pounds. He was a triple threat back - he could run, pass and kick the ball. Whalen weighed 235 pounds and was a weight-lifter. Whalen played fullback on offense and defensive tackle on defense. I played guard and weighed 135 pounds. When Whalen came across on a pass rush, I was supposed to block him. I got him down just one time - he stepped in my stomach and I rolled up like a possum and he fell down. Old Wheeler took off on a left end sweep and had run over everybody except our safety man, Sam Norman Connell. Sam weighed about 120 punds. When Wheeler stif-armed him, Sam jumped on Wheeler's back. Wheeler kept going until Sam slid down his body until he could grab his legs. That saved a touchdown on that drive, but Elaine whipped us good before the night was over." -Bob Lambert
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 09:06, 2005-11-15
"Only 4 games stand out in my memory. Of course the Clarendon game because it was the first time HG had beaten them in 20 years, the Lonoke game because Coach Gordon told us before the game "I know they are better than we are but their coach told me they would try to hold the score down." We beat them. The Marvel game because on of the mothers of a marvel player stuck her lit cigarette to the arm of one of our players because we won the game, and last the Elaine game. It had rained the day before and their field was muddy and had frozen and the tips of the frozen mud were tearing the skin off our arms and legs. It was a miserable night and every one was cold and hurting. They had a 28 year old player on their team but we won the game...I was a 129 pound sub." -Frank Hess
"In his second year as coach at Holly Grove, C.R. "Sonny" Gordon led the Panthers to be the first team to beat the Clarendon Lions football team – Nov., 1941. By the fall of 1942, most of the boys in high school had joined the Armed Services. Coach Gordon looked up and said that we might not have enough players to field a football team. But J.B. Sain (an outstanding athlete and leader) went to every class in Junior High and Senior High and encouraged all of the boys to join the team. We had 13 players! When the players showed up for practice, Coach Gordon gave each player a burlap "croaker" sack and he took us to the sawmill. Each boy filled up his sack and it was sewed up. When we practiced football, Coach Gordon would place each sawdust-filled sack where the offensive players would be. As we ran our plays, we would block the towsacks. Over time, a few more boys came to school, but we "wore out" those sawdust-filled towsacks for two years." "It was an unspoken rule that Coach Gordon expected every boy to come out to practice for all sports and take part in the gym class, also." -Bob Lambert
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 17:28, 2005-08-15
Football season is quickly approaching. Does anyone have any good football stories they could share (either as a player or as a spectator)? My dad mentioned the other day that when Holly Grove played Barton, Holly Grove usually won. They even had a football play called the "Barton Special". Does anyone remembert this or have any stories about it you could share?
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 09:05, 2005-11-15
As we grew up, David Lambert and I gravitated toward football, basketball, and track. We both played sports from the time we were old enough to bounce the ball or kick the ball. We were "gym rats", hanging around until we were the last two to leave the football field or basketball court. We were given the opportunity to play peewee football, then junior high and senior high ball. But we were also given the chance to be waterboys for the Senior High football team. Outfitted with solid white uniforms with "waterboy" on the front and "Holly Grove Panthers" on the back, we thought that was as good as it gets! Riding in the back of the team bus sitting lots of times on the top of sacks and uniforms to and from away games, we had but one duty - Get That Water Bucket and Pail Out to the Team when they called time out! A regular bucket, one-half or three quarters of the way filled with water and a single dipper. David and I on either side, holding on to it and running onto the field. Being out there in the middle of the huddle, listening to the players talk, smelling the sweat and grass around them made you feel like being in the game! One late Oct. or early Nov. night, we were playing Parkin in their town on their field. It was cold that night, and I recall the entire team had heavy, black coats to wear on the sidelines when the players were not in the game. Parkin was a tough team to play and this night was no different. We were behind and not playing well that evening. David and I wore as much as possible under our waterboy uniforms as we could manage. We had moved our water bucket we thought far enough down to be "out of the way" from anyone tripping over it. At some point, one or more of our players missed a block or allowed the Parkin team to run over us more than normal. In an instance, an enraged Coach Gordon, mad at the failure of our players to perform, ran down the sidelines a little ways, spotted our water bucket sitting there and with a perfect step, kicked our water bucket to oblivion! Remaining water splashed all over the sidelines with a perfect hole protruding from the side. David and I watched in astonishment, shock, awe, and fear for our future! We didn't go onto the field the remainder of the night. The trip back to HG was lonesome, foreboding, and fraught with anxiety. Upon arrival back at home, I proceeded to go to Mom and Dad's room and sat down in a chair looking lost. Dad said, "What's the matter, son?" I told Dad and Mom that Coach had kicked a large hole in our water bucket and David and I were out of business of being waterboys! Dad chuckled and said "Son, the school can buy another water bucket." I said, "Really?" I was in such shock, I had given no thought as to the school buying another water bucket! Coach bought another bucket and we were once again employed as waterboys for the Holly Grove Panthers!
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 09:05, 2005-11-15
Did you play football? If so, when? What are your favorite or most memorable times? Were home games well attended? What are your memories of homecoming and annual Thanksgiving Day games?
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 17:33, 2005-08-15
