Page 113 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

A Real Daughter

January 18,1994

Mary Jane Bryant, age 83, is the only remaining Columbia County resident whose father
fought in the Civil War. Her father’s name was William Riley Ellis and he was bom February 13,

1847. He volunteered to join the Confederate Army in 1863, when he was just 16 years old, and he
stayed in the army until the war was over in 1865. Forty years later, when he was 58 years old,

William Riley Ellis married his 18-year-old girl friend. Mary Jane Bryant was one of the children
produced by the marriage. She is a longtime member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,

and because her father actually fought in the war, she has the distinction of being honorably titled
a “real daughter.”

THE COLDEST GAME... Probably the coldest weather a CHS football team ever played
in was a game in Live Oak back in November 1950. Oddly, the afternoon temperature was mild and
pleasant when our team left Lake City, but by the time the team reached the Live Oak field, the

temperature was plummeting. According to some who attended the game the temperature dropped

30-40 degrees in just a few hours. Then a stiff, frigid wind started blowing followed by freezing
rain. The playing conditions were brutal. Ted Johns recalls that his feet were so cold he thought he
had broken his toes when he kicked off. Stan Anders remembers that passing was impossible. “The

wind blew even the shortest passes 10-15 yards off target.” Gene Cox has played in, coached, and
watched more than 400 footballs games and he says that was the coldest he has ever been at a game.

Majorette June Hammons Joye remembers she was so cold she felt ill. Eddie Norris and Jack
Robinson say they never knew it could get so cold so fast. Many fans simply left the game and went

home. Some of those who stayed built bonfires around the field trying to stay warm. Bo Hendrick
remembers standing with his grandfather next to a 55-gallon drum in which someone had built a fire.

Despite the terrible weather, the two teams managed to play a fairly decent game which Live Oak
won 7-0, on a pass from Bill McCall to Earl Jefferson. The loss was especially bitter for the
Tigers. It knocked them out of the conference championship after a fine season. So, it was a long,

sad, cold ride home that night for CHS players and fans.

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