Dinah Grace
Abbeville, Alabama
This is Mother's 8th Grade year.
Elvis Presley had catapulted to national stardom!
Abbeville's star athlete, Dave Edwards, went on to play 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys!
more on Dave Edwards
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And then not quite two years later
3 comments:
Allen, these pictures bring back a lot of memories. My senior year we went to Abbeville to play them in basketball. Abbeville had recently won the conference tournament. Gary Fleming, Dudley Hall and Joe Espy all played for Abbeville. Gary and Dudley went on to play football at Samford. They were big framed tough guys. Joe Espy (not the same as Bobby Joe) was younger but started as their point guard. He now is famous lawyer in Montgomery. Our jv team beat them, our B team beat them and then we (varsity) beat them. It was a very rough game. Marilyn rode back and forth some with Gary and Dudley while at Samford.
Buddy Riley (brother of former AU kicker, John Riley) died about 2 weeks ago. He and I were at AU the same time. Also Lester Killebrew.
I also remember Coach Jordan said that Dave Edwards had as good pair of legs as anyone he had ever seen. Mike Helms also was a good player for AU.
I have trouble remembering anything these days…but have much appreciation for the friendship with Dave during high school and our time at Auburn. He would stop by our house on Forrest Street and pick me up to go to the Hangout in PCB….several times in the summers of 1958 and 1959. He once had an old Studebaker convertible as I recall and whoever wasn’t driving didn’t have to stop to use the rest room on the way down…just stand up and aim backwards…We could get there in about 80 minutes at speeds I wouldn’t dare try now. Many times we would go for the weekend if we had a place to stay, but sometimes just for the evening..getting back home by 2 or 3 AM and ready for work the next day.
He was a year ahead of me and during my freshman year at Auburn was my roommate along with Sam Mitchell from Florence at Graves Center cottages. Zeke Smith’s brother Carl from Uniontown, Sammy Miller from Jasper, FL and Don Irvin from Birmingham were in the other side of the same cottage. We always reported for football on August 1, and had the campus to ourselves until school started. Dave was a handsome guy and all the girls liked him…our friend from Abbeville, Thad? Webster owned the Plainsman nightclub on the Loachapoka highway and always made sure we had enough nourishment and not thirsty after a long day of football practice….
Coach Lorendo liked Dave and taught him a lot about how to play defensive end…along with Coach Eaves on the offensive side. He always credited those two for his success at Auburn and of course became a great outside linebacker for many years at Dallas. His dad’s nickname.. MudRock…who worked for Alabama Power in Abbeville many years… stuck with Dave at Auburn. He loved Abbeville and Henry County…and all the people who impacted his life growing up. 1/30/17
Thanks for sharing, Allen…..those were some “good ole days”. I had much respect for Dave Edwards, & had privilege of playing with him in high school. I remember his dad, Mudrock, really well. He was one of many avid fans and followers of all the sports played in B’ville at the time.
I also had very much respect for one, Sam Brannon of Headland. Sam was a year ahead of me, but I well remember several times being knocked aside by Sam when he came bruising thru that line!!! If Abbeville and Headland could have been a combined team during that era------ohhhhh boy!!!!!
Thanks again.
RE
(1/30/17)
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