This photo and story is a little off-time-theme for the blog, but these rough and ready guys were a hot team. The players were our parents and grandparents, uncles, and cousins. The reason we chose to run this is to point out a couple of things we need an answer to. (1) Notice the misspelling of Baldwyn on the football and (2) were they were called "Bearcats" at that time? If not, when did that team name start?
Back row: L to R Earl McElroy, Jack Strange, Lloyd White, Milton Davis, Coach Fatty Langston, Forest Grisham, Taylor Smith, Frank Norman, Gene Davis
Front row: L to R Frank Estes, Talmadge Hendrix, Carl Houston, Sr., Judd Bishop, (???) Glover, Herman Magers, Mansel Lindley.
My dad was 18 at the time, so I suppose he was a senior.
OR (3) was this the high school team or were they playing for another entity? That is the old downtown school building, I believe, comparing the windows against the photo of that building burning which ran earlier on this blog (I have a better closeup of the building other than the one in that story).
How about that belt Judd Bishop is wearing!
Anyone know how long BHS has used the "Bearcat" designation?
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Photo and IDs courtesy of Cynthia Lindley Mink
I cleaned and cropped the original and made it into a nice black and white photo, but then chose to run it as it appears originally after age yellowing, showing the cluttered ground and graffiti on the building.
Great photos that Cynthia is coming up with. All that group would be about 100 years old right now and we knew many of them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was broadcasting the Bearcat football I was told that Judd Bishop was one great football player.
ReplyDeleteWallis
Good question! When DID the Bearcat name start?
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the misspelling of Baldwyn on the ball is a photographer's mistake. The developers could add things to a photo during processing. If you look closely, the words are flat, and do not follow the curvature of the ball, even to the point of the "B" being a little off the edge at the left side.
ReplyDeleteSurely the players could spell it correctly!
Carl, you are right. The ball did not have the writing on it. Engarge it and look closely and you can see that it was added later.
ReplyDeleteThe Bearcats go back to the 1940's as far as I know.
TMG
I remember Joe Murray talking about visiting Milton Davis, shown here, in New Mexico. Is he the father or grandfather of Jim Davis who has all the business interests in Baldwyn and Memphis?
ReplyDeleteJC
My Uncle Jack Strange was the timekeeper at BHS basketball games for many years. I believe he also did some umpiring and refereeing. Does anyone remember him?
ReplyDeleteCynthia, I remember Jack Strange. I think I remember him carrying chains at the football games also and remember that he was always there. He would drive to all the "away" football games and would often take some of the younger kids along with him. I remember riding with him several times to places like Kossuth for Bearcat football games. I hadn't thought of him for many years.
ReplyDeleteJoe C.
Cynthia--where did Jack Strange live in Baldwyn? My grandparents were good friends with them and I dont remember where they lived.
ReplyDeleteJohn Melvin
Joe, Uncle Jack died in 1968. If he wasn't working (engineer for MS hwy dept), or at a BHS sport function, he was at Sportsman's Lake at his cabin, fly fishing. He tried to teach me the art of casting, but it was hopeless. I prefer my fish straight from Magnolia House in Guntown.
ReplyDeleteMelvin, Uncle Jack lived across the street from Mr. Lon and Miss Carrie, in the white house where Ellen Mink lives now. As to why you never saw him at home, see my above answer to Joe.
ReplyDeleteGreat story Carl and thanks to Cynthia for the great photos!
ReplyDeleteBearcat football and any story associated with it is always welcome no matter how old it is or how far you go back. We Bearcat fans will always welcome the Cats on the field.
am I seeing things or is that someone in the window watching/
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if anyone was going to notice the "ghost" figure in the window.
ReplyDelete