Family history

   About two weeks ago my first cousin on mommas's  side sent out a facebook notice with a letter his Dad my Uncle James sent from Germany during the Big war with some thoughts on fascism. He tried to suggest our grandfather, a Lincoln Republican born in 1881 woulda been antifa. I cant go that far but I get his point. Pat is the most radical of all of us, been a member of the sanctuary for thirty years now with several trips to central America from his station in New Mexiso. His sister's has a daughter who is ordained Baptist Preacher and my sister led a church group from Greenville SC to take the civil rights tour in Selma and Montgomery over last weekend. I crossed the Selma bridge with John Lewis and Ethel Kennedy in 2012 and went back to see Obama and Bush 43 in 2015. since Furman have been a fan of Will Campbell and Marshall Frady.

   Some classmates from Gaffney SC think I am a communist, but they didnt elect me most intellectual for nothing.

   Joke on me.

    That said some families are in earnest over the Holidays to share history. I may publish cousin Pat letter of his father soon.

   Fox side is interesting too, but they are not as thoughtfull in the aggregate as the Jordan sides Grandfather Jordan ran as Lincoln Republican 110 years in for school superintendent and was soundly defeated. His wife Aurrie Lula Vanzant three brothers were all medical doctors.

    My grandfather WD Shorty Fox had brother 20 year's younger than him who became a vice President of Reynolds aluminum. My oldest cousin Harold Brannon Simmons rose high with Sears and Roebuck and cousin Timm Wood married the niece of the long time treasurer of South Carolina Grady Patterson. His brother in law spoke at the funeral of the founder of Chic Fil A, Truett Cathy who I put in the bigger picture of the Baptist tradition in a recent blog.

   Roger Milliken Jr was great friend the summer of 1979 as was Brett Morgen January of 1992. He got a six minute standing ovation at Cannes Film festival three years ago for his documentary on David Bowie. 

   Late jan 1992 on back porch was Morgen and Karen Krattinger who became a tour manager fr the rollng stones, as Brett docked in 2012 with Crossfire Hurricane.

   Whcih brings me to bill Wyman in Muscle Shoals Alabama in the early seventies. As they were leaving the Holiday Inn this young woman custodian asked Wyman if his group was one of the rock groups that had been coming through a lot in those days . He siad Yes: Martha and the Vandellas

   Which brings me to one of Billy Graham's better anecdotes. This one about the mule who ran in the Kentucky derby. Mule and rider were askes why subject themselves to that kind of humiliation where they said they just wanted to be in good company.

   But not as good as Stewart Newman on Charles Stanley  the President of the Southern Baptist Convention in the eighties. Word got out that he went out to walk his Duck and got his head all cut up by an outboard motor

Collinsville Panthers owned the Dekalb county basketball tourney in the nineties

 A 1 A school halfway between Birmingham and Chattanooga was the best basketball team in North Alabama in the nineties. They won the county tourney four years in a row and were in the finall two more years. Starting in the fall of 93 with Billy Wayne Clanton they estableished some glory years as the Dutton brothers Mark and Chuckie then Solomon Stanton and Luke Griggs and Delvin George came along. Neal Thrash of Fyffe Alabama was their coach who sidelined in teaching Shakespeare.. 

    What follows was first dictated so it has some flaws but the substance is strong and will be revised and edited. The upshot of it all is the School should honor these players and teams thirty years out, and the county tourney should feature them mid January during the break of the semifinals which historically is a Friday night

      They won the tournament for those six years and they were the semifinals The last couple of years of that decade prominent during that era was Billy Wayne Clinton, Mark Dutton and his brother Chucky, Solomon Stanton and Luke Griggs other notables off the bench Mark Morgan, who went to Duke university academically,Of course Delvin Delvin George, who was a great player himself, but was tempted every time he crossed the half court strike to think he was Kobe Bryant, and would throw it throw it up in room them out more often than a pass,  He became a standout baseball player at Tuskegee where his sister before him was a Homecoming Queen.   Solomon Stanton had great COURT  presence probably the best player of that era and the glue that held evrything together. . He  was a beautiful player with the shot and drive toward the basket he would give the ball up. He was probably the best of all, though he and Dutton for sure could’ve probably played small college basketball and even football along with his brother Chucky two of the fastest white guys the brothers in the county at the time

   Mark Dutton was in telligience in the Iraq war and became fluent in Farsi.  

 Sadly, Luke Griggs became a traitor, and in his coaching days a decade later went to Plainview, where he coached the girls and he took his son with him who could’ve been a benefit the last few years for the Collinsville Panthers of Billy Wayne went to work with the Cherokee county electric company, where his family was prominent. He was a nephew of the former principal at Collinsville, high school Sammy Clanton, who was a basketball a stand out at sand rock high school in the 60s in the class of 67 . We’re in Collinsville was still significant in the finals off the bench with Russ Beeene,. In  circa 2004  he became a screenwriter did did  adaptation of the internationally known novelist, Ron rashes novel, One  foot in Eden who’s in the film adaptation at one point had Jeff Bridges himself attached and a few years earlier Alicia VIKANDER herself and Oscar winner, but The producers were working on a $40 million budget and can only erase 20. I talked to Russ almost every day, working on the first draft of that effort, other notables Brett Gifford, also in the tail end of that phenomenal set of teams silky, which is move to the basket And and also a pretty good baseball player so there were others.

   Stephen Justice was promising in 94 but got injured and gimped through the last of his senior year.  Those are the ones that come to mind at the moment the Dutton boys’s father I think won  state tournament in 74 and he was a big fan of Bill Russell. I thought one day he was gonna fight me in the parking lot of the piggly Wiggly because I dare to say that a healthy Bill Walton was a better all-around player than Bill Russell. He won’t buy it Michael Jordan or David Thompson anybody he was a Bill Russell guy hundred percent 

     There are  a couple of stories that Mark Dutton told me that I’ll try to work in to this blog on a revision, particularly, he said they beat halftime of a Plainview game who was a three a team in the late 90s the coach for Plainview kept his team on the court. Then at halftime and when Collinsville came back out, he told his boys look over there at your Daddy which I thought was a great story so Collins will beat the Plainview the bad ass Plainview true blue and then beat the favorite Sylvania in the finals so that was a great tournament story so it was just a great run and here’s to the hopes that Kyle has a good sense to celebrate this team. This coming winner of 20  26 have them all there and even better. I think they should be given a presentation during a halftime of a semi semifinal game of the DeKalb county Tournament which is often the third week of January one quick note about Coach trash who these boys love, Mark, who went to Duke and Mark got the one on one game with Shane Battier while he was there after the season and he didn’t score any points in a 15 one point Exercise but Marcus is senior year in Collinsville high school English teacher was out with a pregnancy and coach  Thrash in to teach Shakespeare and Mark says he was as good as teachers he ever had anywhere Collinsville or Duke so that says something for Coach THrash h even though I think Coach Willingham‘s ACT score might’ve been a little higher 27 which is phenomenal for a high school coach.  The wife of  Raymond  Weaver the football coach wife had perfect on math in 65 on ACT  so just a little side there to this up so here’s hoping there is a recognition of this great era and teams come back and get the recognition 30 years later that they deserve

              

Furman criminal trespass and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

  This will begin a series of blogs on my drama with Furman and its criminal trespass policy of which I am the latest victim. Until January of this year I was convinced Furman was a grand place even with the unfortunate decision on Baseball during covid. At Furman I was an Argonaut for two years, in the Band a year and the Furman singers for several months. The fall of 1973 with Dicky Wilson of New Jersey I was co emcee for the Furman Homecoming production the Furman Follies.  McAslister auditorium was packed out with Vince Perone present and Herman Lay of potato chips and Pepsi fame. We did a grand job.

    My friend Jim Pitts recently deceased longtime Chaplain at Furman ssaid I was worthy of Furman's e    uivalent of the order of the Palmetto for my piece in the Christian Century in the early nineties about Furman's dilemma with SC Baptists. Dr. Johns snet me a note of thanks. President David Shi for several years was a reader of this blog, teasuingly calling it "illustrious" at one point. With Shi and Sam Hodges FU 77 and Coug Cumming, son of Joe who hired Marshall Frady at Newswek in 75l we consider ourselves the Marshall Frady fan club of Furman

     But I sent to a gahtering of the Furman faculty in January in late January, the dean of students rudely and arrogantly called out behind me to get to the point reading a Lee Atwater, quoting an Atwater memo interrupted me. When the meting was over I approached Dr. Kolb of the Sociology department and he said you weren't supposed top be here. I replied I'm kinda glad I was , and he said I'm glad you were here too!!

   Five days later I was notifed by Furman security I was charged with criminal trespass and if back on campus wiothin the year could be charge with 200 dollar fine and possibility of jail. And If I made appeals to anybody at Furman could be charged with Harassment.

    I Think all of this is a fiasco, a ridiculous over reaction and friends and classmates will be appealing to the Furman Thrive Committee in hopes I will be allowed on campus for the three day 50 Homecoming celebration including Homecoming Saturday and the next day Basketball exhibition in Renovated Timmons against Alabama

       Again this begins a series of blogs the first now about Monday and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

        January 31, 2009. I was present at the 16th St., Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama.  on the October 6 of Monday  I went to the Berea Public Library but it was closed . Time to kill before Henry's BBQ i sucker punched myself and rode through the Furman campus. Never stopped but couple hundres yars outside the back fence near Dr. Huff's home I was pulled over by three Furman security including Lieutenant Johnson and Captian Smith   made it down to Henry’s on Wade Hampton for barbecue, but after that, I Visited the Judson bookstore on Main Street and read a few chapters of the new book by Butler Gallie 12 churches that have exemplified an era in Christian development since the time of Jesus. The 12th church is on the 11th church is the 16th St., Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama. I was there on January 31, 2009 and it was it was it was packed house I was standing under a window and when President Carter was speaking, he directed everybody’s attention to the window that I was standing beneath and he says look at that window. That’s the face of Christ that was blown out in the bombing of this church to kill the four little girls in 1963 To  my left two people down was Wayne Flynt, the Auburn professor the conscience of the state of Alabama and a few people down from him was the former governor Siegelman of Alabama 

   So  I was in good company that day Kate Campbell, the singer who open for Emmylou Harris in 2000 in Europe, sang some songs among us she is does a great cover of Kris Kristofferson‘s tribute to Martin Luther King and Gandhi my God they killed him and then later on the front steps, I talked to Marion right Edelman to great civil rights worker from Mississippi that was a great friend of Bobby Kennedy and set up a situation for her to come speak at limestone college in Gaffney, South Carolina my hometown a year later for the Martin Luther King weekend celebration.  She   spoke about a mile from my father‘s church when we were there in the in the 60s, so are the book doubles down on the murder of the girls it fails to mention the pastor there in the 30s whose son was at Union seminary with Dietrich Bon Hoffer. They were great friends in Bon Hoffer himself drove up old Highway 11 from New Orleans to upstate New York in 31 right in front of my mother’s home. She would’ve been seven years old eight years old at the time and and then later for 30 years, I live across the street from where I could see the highway that Bon Hoffer drove up so it’s a remarkable story 

   I didnt recognize anybody else from Furman in the audience that day but did have a great friend from Samfod, SGA Presidnet Todd Heifner who was acquainted then with Cherington Shucker now in development at Furman and member of the Thrive Committee

     More later so keep checking in the next three weeks as more unfolds