9/7/26
By Don Henderson Malakoff Grad of 1957
Along about this time of year, at the end of August or the beginning of September, I begin thinking about football. Especially the Malakoff football team of 1956. That was my senior year. During the summer of 1955 (my junior year) we met with our coach, E.B. Bishop, to talk about the upcoming Malakoff football season. It has been too long for me to remember exactly what took place at the meeting, but I do remember the anticipation of a good season was forthcoming. I was a junior and maybe I would see limited action. One of the main starters, Royce Shelton, lived a short distance down the hill from me and Eddie Nokes, another expected starter lived next door. Both were all district, the year before, Royce a running back and Eddie a linesman. We all had more or less grown up together. Of course, yours truly, did not go out for football until last year (My Soph year), but my experience had come from those “tackle with no pads” across the street in Dodson’s pasture. Both Eddie and Royce would weigh in at 165-175 lbs. and I, soaking wet, 115 lbs. I am telling you all this to lead up to our 1956 season. Sometime in early August, Royce would have Eddie and I run to Walnut creek, approximately a mile south of Royce’s house. Royce insisted (and Eddie and I usually did what he suggested) that we wear our brogans (work boots) to run in. Of course I ways finished the run last, but I was getting in shape, along with Royce and Eddie. While we were doing this training, little we know that Coach Bishop was going to be replaced by Coach Loggins. When we did hear of the change it was a great surprise to the entire team. As it turned out, we had some personal adjusting to do, but soon found, though different, coach Loggins was a good coach. To be honest, none of us really knew why Coach Bishop was replaced.https://howtotalktexun.com/salute-to-bill-logginsformer-malakoffcoachteacher/ Speculation was all we had. One reason I heard was that Coach Bishop cussed the boys, but I never heard him do that. My own speculation had to do with our game with Dawson, where Coach Loggins was coaching. I don’t remember the score, but what I do remember is that Dawson had held Royce down. Well, here’s the truth. Often we had football in the Noke’s front yard and while playing there, Royce hurt is foot/ankle on a water faucet that was in Eddie’s front yard. This slowed Royce for the game against Dawson and he was maybe 50% of his normal. It appeared that Dawson had stopped him, but the truth was his injury stopped him. The 1955 team lost one district game and that was to Ferris. It was a heart-breaking game and not a dry eye in the locker room after the game. The Tigers went on to finish strong, but no district championship as was expected.
Link to YouTube Salute to Donald Jordan and ’55 football
DEAR OLD MALAKOFF HIGH
GRAND OLD MALAKOFF HIGH
CHAMPION SCHOOL OF ALL THE REST
LOYAL JUST TO YOU
FAITHFUL AND TRUE BLUE
WE ALWAYS WILL UPHOLD YOU AS THE
BEST SCHOOL OF TIGER FAME
WINNERS OF THE GAME
FIGHT ON IN TO VICTORY AND WHEN YOU’VE WON IT THEN
THREE CHEERS FOR DEAR OLD MALAKOFF HIGH
THE ’55 FOOTBALL TEAM
Front Row:
Humphries, Robertson, McMurtray, Robertson, Carroll,
Smith, Washam, Haney, Garcia, Williams, Johnson.
Middle Row:
Coach Farmer, Bankston, Nokes, Surls, Henderson, Miller,
Womack, Holt, Rogers, Spivey, Wood, Coach Loggins.
Back Row:
Rogers, Johnson, Garcia, Hardy, Derden, Jordan, Shelton,
Brown, Andrews.
| * The 1955 RECORD THE LOSS THAT REALLY HURT* Ferris 14, Malakoff 12 The 1955 RECORD THE LOSS THAT REALLY HURT* Ferris 14, Malakoff 12 DATE TEAM US THEM Sept 9 Fairfield 0 6 Sept 16 Kerens 24 7 Sept 23 Lindale 0 19 Sept 30 Arp 32 13 Oct 7 Dawson 20 0 Oct 14 Open Date _____ ____ Oct 21 Kemp 37 6 Oct 28* Ferris 12 14 Nov 4 Crandall 46 0 Nov 11 Eustace 41 7 Nov 18 Mabank 49 0 |
When we were seniors and our football team had lost Royce
and Donald and all of those good players from the 1956
team. Eddie, Bo and I were the only ones left from all of the
others that would have been in our class.(In elementary
school we had: Bobrow Gunnels, Jax Baird, Fred Jenkins
and several more) Kenneth Carter was drafted to play, but
he had to learn a new rule every time the lined up because
they didn’t play football in Cross Roads, where he had been
a basketball player.. The Athens sports reporter (Bill
Speake) interviewed Coach Loggins, asking what he thought
about the upcoming football season. When the answer hit
the news that morning we read his answer, ” I’ll sure be glad
when basketball season gets here!!” Now reflecting back,
after doing some coaching in high school myself, I can
understand his answer, but at the time our team was
furious. Hoss Cope talked us into a cute scenario that
proved to get us in trouble with Coach Loggins. Hoss
suggested that every time we got a chance we should
“dribble” the football. So, that day as we lined up to run out
for passes, we would grab the football with one hand and
dribble it. Coach Loggins soon took the wind out of our sails
when we had to run wind sprints for about 30 minutes. No
more dribbles. That week we had our first game of the
season scheduled and Mabank was a heavy favorite. We
were determined to beat Mabank and prove Coach wrong.
(By the way Coach Farmer also helped punish us for our
indiscretions). Coach Loggins and Coach Farmer devised a
plan that had Eddie at fullback and Bo Johnson at halfback.
The day after the game the headlines in the Athens paper
read, “NOKES NO JOKE!!” That night Eddie threw a
touchdown pass to Bo and kicked about a 50 yard quick
kick, along with rushing for good yardage. We won 13-12
and it was a miracle. This was the last time Eddie ever
played fullback or in the backfield. I suppose Coach saw
that Eddie weighing 175 running behind me a hefty
125(stretching it) was not going to get it. We finished the
season 4-6 and by today’s standards we would have placed
3rd. Good enough for a playoff spot.
For years I had searched for the Article in the Athens
Review by Bill Speake entitled “Nokes No Joke”
Ken Carroll, sent me a package with all of his old clippings
in hopes that I might find a use for them. I browsed through
the materials and …..Bing-go!! There it was: the article that I
had sought for than 50 years!! Bill Speake’s story about our
’56 game!! I was so excited!! Thinking back, to beat Mabank
was more than a miracle, it made the season for me. Eddie
was outstanding!! He never played this position again as a
Malakoff Tiger and I’m not sure why. I have several theories.
I figure Coach Loggins and Coach Farmer thought that
using a 175 lbs player as a running back when he was
bigger than most linesmen (Me, listed at 125…..(Lie)) looked
kind of weird. The other reason, I don’t think Eddie liked the
lime-light. He liked being a linesman, where he was not so
recognized. That one game was indeed ……A MIRACLE!!
| THIS IS THE ARTICLE I WAS LOOKING FOR AND AFTER MANY YEARS KEN CARROLL SENT IT TO ME AND HERE IT IS!! https://www.blakehart.com/sitebuilder/images/NokesNoJokePage1-1110×2268.jpg |
So, we beat Mabank 13-12 and Dawson 20-12, Brownsboro 20-6, Edgewood 20-6, good enough for 3rd place in district, in 2026 we would have made the playoffs, but not back then. Considering the starters we lost, I believe we did great.
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