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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Marie Wilson Hering read my column last week mentioning CHS Principal A. B. Connor.
She reported that he was her principal and when he left her he went to Polk County where he was

elected county school superintendent.

Three We Won’t Forget

March 30,1993

Team captain Dorsey Hill led Columbia High School to one of its greatest football victories
on Thanksgiving Day, 1934, a win over Morristown, Tennessee.

That high school game was so important that the results were carried to a nationwide
audience over Cincinnati radio station WCKY. Dorsey - a great blocking back — was so good the

University of Georgia sent its head football coach to Lake City to recruit him.
But one day soon after the football season had ended, Dorsey was playing tennis and

accidentally got a small scratch on his arm. There were no antibiotics back then and the scratch
became infected. Dorsey got weaker as the infection worsened. However, Dorsey — even in his

weakened condition — had won a leading role in his senior play and he was determined to play his
role. The school placed a cot on the stage behind the curtains so Dorsey could rest when he was not

on the stage performing. So, Dorsey Hill, weak and ailing - but determined - fulfilled his dream of
performing in his senior play.

Still, his condition worsened so he was admitted to Lake Shore Hospital — then located on
East Duval Street — for more intensive care by Dr. Bates and Dr. Harkness. Dorsey was so sick he

missed his high school graduation ceremony so his principal, Jerome Eastham, and his coach
Hobart Hooser, conducted a private graduation ceremony in the hospital room so he could receive

his high school diploma from his beloved CHS. Shortly thereafter, Dorsey Hill, the great CHS
athlete and student leader, beloved by all who knew him - with a future that promised excitement

and greatness - died at the tender age of 18.
Bill Bradshaw (CHS, 1942) was just 16 years old when he graduated from Columbia High

School and enrolled at the University of Florida. Smallish in physical stature but uncommonly
brilliant as a student, Bill’s high school and college teachers felt that he had a promising future in

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