Forget Joe Namath; Sumter had Jimmy Eaves

This article was published in The Item, my hometown newspaper, on Sunday and I posted it here for two reasons...1) I'm awfully proud of my dad! and 2) I wanted to be able to save the article indefinitely.

I hope that by posting the credit to the author that I won't be forced to take it down for any reason. It's not copyright infringement when you give full credit to the author, right?

Since this team went undefeated plus won the state championship, no other team in Sumter has beat their record. And my dad was that confident quarterback wearing number 12...

Love you, Dad!

Forget Joe Namath; Sumter had Jimmy Eaves
By GRAHAM OSTEEN, Editor-At-Large, The Item

It’s 1969, and the New York Jets shock the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III, a game now considered the first “official” Super Bowl. The controversial “Broadway Joe” Namath guaranteed a win before the game, and sports fans still talk about it today.

There’s another 40-year anniversary this year that Sumter sports fans remember even more fondly. It also features a confident quarterback who, like Namath, wore No. 12.

Here’s a blast from the past to get your mind off the lousy economy.

What do these people have in common? Bo Boyle; Jimmy Eaves; Tommy George; Bill Gummerson; Glynn Hammock; Jordy Johnson; James McPhail; Bill Newton; John Pressley; Bobby Rickard; Pete Rickard; Jeff Sanford; Chuck Scales; David Tisdale; Stanley Welch; Wyatt Windham; Ricky Bryant; Alan Charpentier; Leighton Cubbage; Alan Grubbs; Mike Gulledge; Curtis Hammock; Dennis Jamison; Blaise Lareau; Chip Masincupp; Gary Martin; Mickey Marinko; Warren Moise; Ned Parker; Bruce Pullen; Seaman Richardson; Kim Seals; Phil Strange; Barry Seivers; Frank Smalls; C.A. Wilson; Richard White; Coach Bill Noonan; Coach Bob Cherry; Coach Eddie Weldon; Coach Buddy Sharp; Coach Gwyn Brooks and Head Coach Steve Satterfield.

They were the juniors, seniors and coaching staff of the Edmunds High School Gamecocks, and they went 12-0 to win the 1969 South Carolina 4A State Championship, defeating Gaffney 22-15 at “Carolina Stadium” in Columbia.

On the opening play, quarterback Jimmy Eaves (No. 12) hit his speedy, 117-pound flanker Seaman Richardson for an 82-yard touchdown.

I was rooting around in some old boxes the other day, and came across the actual program for the Sumter Booster Club’s Annual Football Banquet honoring the team. The guest speaker was USC Coach Paul Dietzel.

I also found press clippings from The Sumter Daily Item and a special section containing stories and pictures of every game that season. It featured work by Hubert Osteen Jr., Charles Paschal, Dale Miller and Wilber Jeffcoat.

Forgive me for not listing all the sophomores and freshmen on the team. We can revisit that later this year. For the record, however, the Edmunds High School varsity cheerleaders were Bev Ballenger, Waverly Bradham, Ashley Chada, Beth Garris, Kay Herring, Bootie Jackson, Kelly Michalowski, Kathy Hodge, Kathy Northcutt, Susan Player, Betty Lee Thomas and Nancy Strickland. The junior varsity cheerleaders were Katie Allen, Kay Delorme, Sherri Carland, Ann Garrard, Cindy Holliday and my favorite, Susan Hunter.

I was 8 years old, and our neighborhood gang served as the unofficial water boys of the team. Coach Satterfield, his staff and all the players were like gods to us, and we’d arrive at practice on our bikes to do absolutely anything that was asked. The payoff was full access, from the field to the locker rooms, and rides on the team bus to the games at Memorial Stadium every Friday night. That was heady stuff, and our parents couldn’t have had a clue about the colorful education we were getting. Everyone was so caught up in the Gamecocks’ championship run that nothing mattered in this town except football.

I can still remember the smell when you’d enter from the old Purdy Street practice field, up the stairs, past the locker rooms and into that great gym with the purple gamecock on center court. I also remember writing down words and expressions that were carved into the lockers and the metal blocking sleds, and seeing the horror on my mother’s face when I asked her what certain things meant while she was putting on lipstick in the bathroom and getting ready to go out.

“Hubert,” she screamed. “You better get in here.” I’m certain it put a damper on their evening, but I was an inquisitive child.

The next year Edmunds High School became Sumter High School, and Freddie Solomon arrived from the all-black Lincoln High School. “Fabulous Freddie” pulled Sumter together in a totally different way, and the fully integrated excellence of sports in Sumter began to take root for good.