Game 8 Articles

In 1969 I corresponded with my close friend and former teammate, Tommy Belch, while he honorably and bravely served our country in Vietnam. In one of my letters endeavoring to remember better times, I sent him the article about our victory over Ellerbe. I wrote the following "Even with a broken hand Belch replaces Sherrill and scores another TD." Tommy was our starting wingback and I was his backup. One day during practice prior to the Ellerbe game I stepped on his hand, badly bruising it. As a result I made my only offensive start of the year. Late in the game Tommy subbed for me when I took a nasty shot to the nose (it is still crooked). A few plays later he ran for a TD. Hence the handwritten comment! In Tommy’s next letter to me, he returned the article with his own comments, “The Sherrill Brothers do it again as usual.” I had also added a second comment, “Remember Braze falling down with a TD pass.” This was a reference to our All-Conference end E.B. who lost his footing on the way to the end zone after hauling in one of his 44 receptions that season. I might add the field was in terrible condition. As you can imagine, this article is very special to me.