I haven’t written anything in a long while but what I am writing this morning is so near and dear to my heart.

You have to know how my Dad was to really appreciate this article.

As I grew up it was football continually in our home. My dad lived, breathed, and shared football. If he was in the house that is pretty much what we watched with a little of Porter Wagner, Dolly Parton, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and of course Bonanza on Sunday nights.

My brother was groomed and trained from a toddler to love football and my sister and I loved it as much but knew it was not our destiny.

This past week I received a phone call that has given me more excitement than I have had in a long while!

On Friday night, September the 6th, my brother will be inducted into the Livingston Academy Football Hall of Fame here in our little town of Livingston, Tennessee.

You may think, “So, what makes that so special?”

Of course my brother played football in high school because that was a given. Having the Dad we had it was no other way. My brother didn’t get to play that much but Dad was always there watching, not only at games but also during the practices. Dad would sit mostly in his car on the hill overlooking the field and watch and later give his take on what my brother could do to improve his game. During my brother’s junior year he only started 2 games as the man that played in front of him was a senior and got to start most every game.

As Robert entered into his senior year, Dad was still going to practices and feeling like this would be Robert’s year to shine.

My husband was in the Air Force and we were stationed in Georgia but had come home that month of August 1974 to spend some much needed relaxation. Mark had saved up his vacation days and our plan was to be home for about a month. Both our families lived on the same road and were neighbors so we spent lots of time back and forth visiting every day.

On August 29th Mark and I were traveling to a nearby town with Mark’s family and as we crossed the Livingston square we saw my Dad walking across the street. We casually paused a minute and I asked where was he going. He answered, “Over to the store to get me a sandwich and a Cokey Cola” and then he laughed. By 6 o’clock that night my Dad was dead.

My Mom had recently gotten a job at the local hospital and she was at work there that night answering the switchboard. I was still out and about and Mark and I had taken Mark’s little sister to the Dairy Queen as this was Thursday and we were to leave Sunday morning and head back to Georgia. My dad had come home from work and sat down in his recliner and appeared to be asleep. My sister was 15 but was in the kitchen cooking supper for the family. My brother was at football practice but was soon to arrive home.

As my brother arrived and my sister got all the food ready she said loudly that supper was ready and began putting the food on the table. My brother came but my Dad didn’t. He had died there in his chair. When they both realized that something was wrong they called Mom at work. She had my brother pull Dad onto the floor and begin mouth to mouth and CPR on him following her instructions. My Mom somehow got in touch with Mark’s Dad and asked if he could go over to our house and help my brother and sister. An ambulance was also on it’s way. My dad had been dead for a good while and it was just too late.

Meanwhile I was waiting in the car at the Dairy Queen and Mark and his little sister were up at the window ordering our food.

All of a sudden someone was banging on my side of the car on the window glass and it was Mark’s dad and tears were streaming down his face. I don’t really remember what was said to me but somehow I knew the ambulance I had heard just a few seconds before was bringing in my Dad and I needed to go to the hospital. The rest of the night is kind of blurred but I do remember Mark handing me a full cup of milk as he and his sister reached the car about the same time that Mark’s dad was speaking to me and I dropped that whole cup of milk and it went all over our car. I was screaming by then.

Dad died on Thursday August 29th and the Sunday that we were supposed to go back to Georgia was my Dad’s funeral. I remember we had 2 nights of visitation at the funeral home before the funeral on Sunday. My dad was Circuit Court Clerk of Overton County at the time and was very well known and liked. People came from far and wide to his viewing.

The first night of Dad’s viewing was Friday night and there was a football game that night, a very important district game. My brother had asked if he could leave for just a bit and play in his game and come back and Mom said, “No, absolutely not!” as she felt like that would be very disrespectful. Robert honored her wishes and didn’t play that game. His team won that night and later on I remember seeing all of these well-dressed clean cut football players enter the funeral home and with them they carried the game ball and presented it to my brother. It was a very touching moment!

From that point on my brother played the game of football in memory of my Dad and to this day holds the record at Livingston Academy for the most interceptions in one season. That record was made 45 years ago and has been tied a couple of times but no one has ever broken it. It was an awesome team and an awesome season!

My sister is flying in from Texas just to be here for this honor in my brother’s life. When dad died my brother was only 17 and my sister was 15. Can you only imagine what those 2 kids went through that night? My sister made an RN because of that night and how helpless she felt as to not knowing what to do.

The upcoming Friday night of September 6th is coming back full circle for our family and I am sure that my Dad is up there in heaven smiling from ear to ear at the achievements of my brother, not only for being a great football player but most of all for being a really good man!

With tears in my eyes now as I write I can only say, “GO HOGEYE”