Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1947
The 1947 Jefferson High School "Red and Blue " or "City School."
In the January 2 edition of the Jackson Herald Mr. J. L. McMullan, a member of the Jefferson Civic Improvement Club and an agriculture teacher at Jefferson High school, made the comment that ~ “Football, the All-American sport will come to Jefferson High school in the fall.” This was after final approval by the State High School Authorities Football committee.
Members of the city football committee were the chairman of the City Improvement Club; Southworth Bryan, Mr. McMullan representing Jefferson High school, and Britt Elrod, Clifford and Garnett Spratlin representing the City Improvement Club membership. They would seek donations for operating expense and uniforms, equipment, etc.
On March 6, Southworth Bryan, Chairman of the Jefferson football committee for the Community Civic Club ordered 35 football pants, 30 shoulder pads, 30 hip pads, shoes, jerseys and helmets for the football team. He stated he would add as needed during the season
Coach Snyder commented during the week of August 12 that the people of Jefferson would be proud of the look of the new football team uniforms. The new Jefferson coach was from Pennsylvania, where he had been a successful football and basketball coach for three years. He would teach General Science at Jefferson along with his all-team coaching duties. Alf Anderson, the Jefferson Mill recreation director and American Legion baseball coach would be his assistant.
The first game for the Jefferson team was against Gainesville in Gainesville on October 2. Admission was $ 0.25 for students and $ 0.50 for adults. The larger, more experienced Gainesville team won the game 39 - 0, but the Jefferson football era was now underway. An estimated 140 JHS fans traveled to Gainesville for the 3:00 p.m. game on a Thursday afternoon.
On October 9 Lavonia beat the locals 44 - 0.An October 16 battle with Commerce at Shankle Field resulted in a 31 - 0 loss. The Commerce-Jefferson gridiron rivalry was now officially underway.
The team received their new red jerseys with the blue on the shoulder pad area on October 24. They would wear the game jerseys for practice sessions also.
October 31 saw the first Jefferson home game. It was played on the large field next to JHS. Cornelia visited JHS and won 7 - 0 - Jefferson was able to stop Cornelia four times inside their 20 yard line - three times holding on downs.
November 7 JHS visited Toccoa. The Locals were defeated 40 - 0 on a cold, rainy night. Toccoa had a senior running back named Joe Watts, one of the better backs in Georgia. He was 6’0” and weighed 175 pounds. He scored four rushing touchdowns against the JHS team. Toccoa would play Winder later in the year in a state top 5 matchup and win 6-0 on a long Watts touchdown.
November 13 Jefferson met Commerce for the second time in a return home game. The local team aquitted themselves well before falling 13 - 0. Jefferson had 5 first downs to Commerce’s 5, rushed for 85 yards to Commerce’s 65. Herman Smallwood ran 50 yards for a Commerce score, while Carter Elliot scored their final TD on a three yard run.
On November 20 Jefferson met Stephens county in Eastonollee on a rainy Friday night. The city school team lost a hard fought 20-0 game that saw Jefferson lose four fumbles and have two passes intercepted. Stephens lost three fumbles in the miserable weather conditions. JHS was now 0 - 7 and had not scored all season.
On November 27 The JHS team traveled to Winder to meet a very good winder team. Winder jumped out front early in the first quarter and led by 13 - 0 at the end of the quarter. With C.B Lord and Paul Ferguson sharing the carries, the JHS team managed a 60-yard drive down to the winder 6- yard line as the quarter wound down. In an event that the Jackson Herald called “The greatest moment in JHS football", Paul Ferguson took a handoff into left guard and bulled into the end zone for the first ever JHS touchdown. The Herald reported that the team and fans engaged in as big a celebration as they would have if they had won the state championship.
The conversion attempt was no good by Manus, but Jefferson trailed at halftime by only 13 - 6. Winder held the Jefferson team scoreless the second half while winning the game 25 - 6.
Jefferson concluded their first season with an 0 - 8 record and high hopes for the future.
Tom Williams, the Jackson Herald beat sports writer, called the team the “Red and Blue” or the “City School” in all his newspaper coverage.The 1947 starting football team was; LE - Junior Lord, LT - H. O. Parks, LG - Bill Phillips, C - Eugene Toney, RG - Curtis Segars, RT - Roy Smith, RE - George Davis, QB - James Faulkner, LHB - C. B. Lord, RHB - L. G. Jackson, FB - Paul Ferguson.
The football cheerleaders were: Betty Roberts, Jean Ash, Bobbie Dozier, Jane Hendrix, Nelle Tolbert, Imogene Westmoreland, Billy Bard and Louis Toney.
The Jackson Herald sports writer Tom Williams first called the Jefferson team the Mud Turtles after a spring practice scrimmage against Buford in late April. Four of their games in 1947 had been in driving rains. The name would stick with the Jefferson team through the 1947 - 48 seasons.
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