By Ray Collett

Hello Readers,
The Vol's football season is finally winding to a close. It has really been a long, long season. Hopefully Bruce Pearl, and Pat Summitt can rejuvenate our interest again until spring training starts again. Is Coach Tom Pemberton interested in the Vol's head coaching job? Guess I will have to ask him..
Kendall Morgan's memories that he sent me about Rockwood's 1947 team sure sparked some interested and an email from Jim Archey (Class of 1949) that I want to send out to you. Here is what Jim had to say..( all the way from Florida.)

RAY, I REALLY ENJOYED THE LAST NEWS LETTER AND THE MEMORIES THAT KENDALL MORGAN WROTE ABOUT IN DISCUSSING FOOTBALL IN THE LATE 40S AT ROCKWOOD. IF ANY OF YOUR READERS WANT ME TO MAIL THEM A COPY OF ANY OF THE NEWSPAPER WRITES UP ON ANY SPECIFIC FOOTBALL OR BASKETBALL GAME OR PICTURES TAKEN BY BILLINGS IN 48, 49, 50, I STILL HAVE THEM IN MY SPORTS BOOK. I EVEN HAVE WRITE UPS OF THE OLD TRI COUNTY BASEBALL TEAMS, THE NATIONAL GAURD SOFTBALL TEAM ETC..

THE NAMES AND FACES OF SO MANY PLAYERS, JOHHNY LAWSON, TOMMY ROBERTS, PAT EVANS, KEITH MORGAN, ROLLAND JOSEPH, ETC ARE JUST AS FRESH TODAY AS THEY WERE 60 YEARS AGO. I JUST WONDER HOW MANY OF THE 49 AND 50 PLAYERS ARE STILL LEFT. I KNOW THE MEMBERS OF THE 278TH RCT THAT LEFT ROCKWOOD IN 1950 IS GETTING SMALLER EACH YEAR.
KENDALL WAS TALKING ABOUT A ROUGH INCIDENT WHILE IN SERVICE, THE MOST EMBARRASSING ACCIDENT I HAD WAS WHEN I WAS PLAYING BASKETBALL FOR THE 351ST RCT IN ITALY IN A TOURNAMENT BEFORE A VERY LARGE CROWD, THE BALL WENT OUT OF BOUNDS AND INTO THE STANDS RIGHT BESIDE ME. I REACHED INTO THE STANDS, MY PANTS SPLIT ALL THE WAY IN TO AND ALL I COULD DO WAS GRAB A TOWEL AND HEAD FOR OUR DRESSING ROOM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOR. THE CROWD WAS ROARING LAUGHING AND MY TEAM MATES KIDDED ME THE REST OF THE SEASON ABOUT STARTING A NEW TREND IN UNIFORMS

RAY, THANKS FOR ALL THE NEWS ABOUT ROCKWOOD OVER THE YEARS. KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT JOB.

JIM ARCHEY
Thanks to you Jim for the email. As best as I can remember, you had a great career at Rockwood High also. Now you talk about a player, I was at Wal-Mart the other day and ran across my cousin who is a greeter there. Jim Warner, (Class of 1958). I grew up with Jim in the Clymersville area, and he was some-kind of athlete, especially in baseball. Jim was a good fielder with a great throwing arm. While he wasn't a power hitter, he would probably hit around. 280 or .300.., very consistent. What made Jim unique, was that he had only one arm, his left one.
It was really something to see him catch a fly ball, flip the ball in the air, stick his glove either between his knees or his right arm pit, catch the ball and make the throw.
Jim lost his right arm in an accident when he was around 5. During our school spring break, about all we did was play baseball from daylight until dark. And when we would "choose sides", with the Mondays, Colletts, Cofers, Wilkeys and others, Jim was one of the first ones picked. And not out of sympathy either. He was one of the best players in this area. In Junior High, Jim also played football, but baseball was his favorite sport. By the time Jim was grown, he was playing for Clymersville, "and Manager Clarence "Paddles" Wilkey, in the old Tri-County League, and doing a good job in the outfield. Although he wasn't a slugger, he got his share of hits and definitely was an asset to the Clymersville nine.
When baseball faded out, Jim switched to softball, playing on the Jaycee and Burlington Hosiery teams.
Jim retired from the hosiery mill and spends his "spare time" greeting shoppers at our local "Wally World." on the grocery side. Say "Hi" to him the next time you are there shopping....Until next week...Ray