PICAYUNE, Miss., March 10, 2010 — You must realize that when we follow Nat Lovell’s reminiscenses that we are looking back on the misty corridors of memory and that Lovell could have some things in error. That’s not to take anything away from his efforts, and just think if he had not put these things down on paper, how unfortunate we would be and how short on facts, or on any insight, we would be. No matter how dim, these tales that he put down, gives us the best glympse we have of how football began in Picayune in the early 1920s.
Here’s the schedule and scores he gives for the 1923 season. He gives the dates of the games for 1923:
- Sept. 21 Picayune 19 Perkinston 6
- Sept. 29 Picayune 0 Laurel 26
- Oct. 5 Picayune 0 Pascagoula 12
- Oct. 13 Picayune 19 Jones Co. AHS 2
- Oct. 19 Picayune 31 Leake Co. AHS 0
- Oct. 26 Picayune 38 Verrina High 0
- Nov. 2 Picayune 26 Gulfport 0
- Nov. 10 Picayune 13 Hattiesburg 12
- Nov. 30 Picayune 0 Pike Co. AHS 12
So, in 1923, Picayune’s second year they won six games, and lost three, playing nine games that second year. In the team’s first year, 1922, they played eight games, won six and lost two. Not bad for the first two years.
In 1923, only in their second year, Picayune played for the South State championship against Pike Co. AHS at Summit. I believe that school is now known as Southwest Jr. College. It was like Pearl River College and many other junior colleges, who began as an agricultural high school and then morphed into a junior college as Mississippi began setting up a junior college system in the early part of the 20th Century. The south state was played on a neutral field at Columbia, and the winner would go against the north state champions. Picayune lost that game 12-0.
Here is the first-team line-up in the Picayune-Summit contest: RE Bill Dyle, LE Nat Lovell, RG Carl Megehee, LG Bill Anderson, RT Mitch Salloum, LT Jim Megehee, C “Nub” Anderson, QB Alton Johnston, RH Jack Read, LH Billy Stevens and FB Dobie Holden. The south state contest was played on Nov. 30. There were two subs on the sidelines that game, says Lovell: Louis Megehee, who would begin a sterling kicking career in 1925, and along with Holden be named to the first-team all-state team, and Albert Casanova. Lovell says that LG Bill “Wash” Anderson played so hard that at the end of the game he had to be bodily carried off the field. Summit outweighed Picayune 20 lbs. per man on average. Lovell says the heavier Pike Co. Aggies “just wore us down” as the game progressed.
Although Picayune had a six-three won-loss record, they made it into the south state contest. One wonders what happened to Laurel, who trounced Picayune 26-0 the same year.
Lovell tells an interesting story about the 1923 Picayune-Hattiesburg clash, a game they played and won 13-12, right before they played Pike Co. and lost 12-0 for the south state championship. Lovell says Hattiesburg which in 1923 had a big, strong team came to Picayune “loaded for bear.” The game was played on Nov. 10. Lovell says Hattiesburg had five players who later started for Miss. State, Ole Miss and Tulane: Hubby and Gerald Walker, brothers, later played at State, Hardy who went to Tulane and a fullback Batton later played halfback at Ole Miss. Batton, proving how good he was, ran back the opening kickoff 90 yards for a TD. However, Hattiesburg could not generate an offense because of the tough Picayune defense. Hattiesburg generated only one first down during the first half. In the third quarter Hattiesburg scored again, but on both TDs missed the extra point, giving them a score of 12. Picayune QB Ap Johnson and RH Jack Read scored Picayune’s two touchdowns and RE Bill Dyle made one of the extra points for Picayune to squeak out a 13-12 win over Hattiesburg. Here is the starting line-ups for both Picayune and Hattiesburg for that 1923 contest, complements of Lovell’s sister, Lettie, who clipped the story at the time from the “Picayune Item.” The “Item” volumns only go back to 1925. A fire destroyed the earlier volumns.
- POS PICAYUNE HATTIESBURG
- LE Nat Lovell Hardy
- LT Jim Megehee Dunnigan
- LG Carl Megehee Hanna
- C “Nub” Anderson Gordon
- RT Mitch Salloum Conn
- RE Bill Dyle King
- QB Ap Johnson Hubby Walker
- LH Bill Stevens Gerald Walker
- RH Jack Read Bethea
- FB Dobie Holden Batton
- RG Bill Anderson Davis
You will notice that from the 1922 team line-up for Picayune Holden had been moved to fullback, Read had earned a spot as the right halfback, and Center “Nub” Anderson makes his appearance at center. (I have to put in a personal note here. My dad, Robert L. Farrell, played on the 1925 state championship team. I can verify this by newspaper accounts. He was small but very quick. He played second string center right behind “Nub.” He seldom got to play because “Nub” was so good and consistent at center. That’s what my father told me years ago. He died in 1992.) Also Bill Dyle took Holden’s place at end. Also on the 1923 team halfbacks Ovied Davis and Bock Baham are not mentioned. Read and Billy Stevens have taken over the halfback positions. Lovell does not say what happened, whether they graduated or got rolled. Also Mitch Salloum has joined the team at right tackle. Louis D. Megehee, whose uncle is RG Carl Megehee and cousin LT Jim Megehee is waiting in the shadows and will burst upon the scene with a spectacular year in 1925.
Lovell reproduces an “Item” story concerning the football banquet given the 1923 team by the Junior Class of the Home Science Dept., supervised by a Miss Ritch. This story is very interesting and of historical importance because it tells the seniors that the 1923 team lost, and names a few other Boosters of what were then called the Cubs. It was given on a Saturday, Dec. 8, 1923. Twenty players were present, so we see that there are a number of second string players whom we don’t know the names of. Besides Denson, the “Item” also names a Blackwell as being present, who was probably an assistant to Coach Denson. Also present were Supt. S.L. Stringer, an attorney named Tyler and Paul Rowland. A several course meal was served the attendees and between courses toasts and speeches were made. The toastmaster Mr. Tyler gave a speech comparing the game of football to the game of life. Next the captain of the team for the next year, 1924, was selected from Holden, Lovell and Read. Read was elected and replaced the 1923 captain RE Bill Dyle. The team voted Read the 1924 captain. Denson gave a review of the 1923 season. [It would be great to have a copy of that speech.] The newspaper reported that the 1923 team would loose two guards, LG Bill “Wash” Anderson and RG Carl “Fatty” Megehee, QB Ap Johnson, HB Billy Stevens and RE Bill Dyle. “It will be a hard matter to replace these varsity men, but somehow we expect to have a strong team next year (1924).” reported the “Item.” Unfortunately, Lovell did not have any info on the 1924 team in his book. He moved to Hattiesburg sometime in 1924 (although he says in one note 1925), and so we must look elsewhere for information on that 1924 team. (Maybe you have some information on it. If you do place a comment at bottom.)
Lovell has another interesting story about a game between Hattiesburg and Picayune, although he does not clarify exactly what year this happened in. It couldn’t have happened in 1922 since Hattiesburg did not play Picayune then according to Lovell’s 1922 schedule, and it did not happen in 1923 because Lovell says Picayune traveled to Hattiesburg to play this game while he says specifically that Hattiesburg traveled to Picayune for the the 1923 clash and Picayune beat Hattiesburg 13 to 12. In this game described below Hattiesburg beat Picayune 6 to 0. So, he must be talking about the 1924 season, and we will not know until we can research the 1924 season from some source as yet not found or known.
Here’s how it went: He put the story under a heading entitled “The Big Red Indian and Old Railroad Man.” Lovell says that both Picayune and Hattiesburg in the early 1920s were both “big railroad towns” and that during football season the rail workers carried roomers back and forth between the two cities. The rumor had been carried to Hattiesburg before the big game that Picayune had a “Big Red Indian” and a grown, fully-bearded “railroad man” working at the railroad who also played for the Cubs. The “Big Red Indian” was Bill Dyle and the “railroad man” was Nat Lovell himself because Nat worked for the railroad at the same time he attended school and played football. The Hattiesburg players named Dyle the “Big Red Indian” because of his dark complexion and called Lovell “the old railroad man.” Lovell said they were right about him because he was 22 years old. Lovell says the team went to Hattiesburg for the game on a special train and Hattiesburg officials placed them in the local YMCA until gametime. They arrived in Hattiesburg about noon. While the Picayune Cubs were getting dressed to go over to the stadium, four members of the Hattiesburg team bravely walked into the Cubs dressing room, said Lovell. They wanted to see “the big Red Indian” and the old “railroad man,” and insisted that those two could not play. They evidently were contesting Lovell age, but why they challenged Dyle, Lovell did not say, although it might have been because they considered him to be an Indian. Who knows? Lovell says the Hattiesburg players called Dyle and him “ringers.” The Hattiesburg players making the charge were Batton, the big fullback, Bethea, Dunnigan and Gerald Walker. When they asked to see the “ringers” Dyle spoke up and said, “I am the “Big Red Indian” and there sits the ‘old railroad man’,” pointing to Lovell. “We call him the Long Ranger,” added Dyle. Wrote Lovell, “I was in my shorts and they saw my skinny legs and the whole 120 lbs. of me. One of their players said, ‘Let’s go boys. I wish they were all like him’ (pointing to me)!” Hattiesburg beat Picayune 6-0. A Hattiesburg player named Ray Finch upset Picayune’s whole strategy, said Lovell, by consistently putting pressure on the Picayune QB, causing Picayune to have to adjust on offense, which they were used to doing. Finch would literally leap over the center and nab Picayune’s QB. Picayune changed to the shotgun offence. Lovell said the next time he saw Finch was at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, and Lovell added that when he moved to Hattiesburg in 1924-25 he became good friends with a lot of Hattiesburg players who played in that game, like B.C. McWhorter. “I played basketball and baseball with them on the Hattiesburg teams up there,” said Lovell. “They all became close friends.”
This is the corner of Main Street and West Canal. The building you are looking at houses today Galiano's. It was originally constructed in 1907 and once housed Stovall's Drug Store and Ben Griffin's Rexall, complete with an authentic old-time soda fountain. Today the building is owned by David Hemeter. The upstairs is a penthouse. Right is the offices of the Picayune Item now offices for lawyers. The Item was house there for decades under the ownership of Jess Furr, Chance Cole and then beginning in 1962, Charlie Nutter. Nutter in 1968 moved it to North Curran where it remained until recently, relocating to 17 Richardson-Ozona Road. I was managing editor of the Item when it went daily in 1978. James Boone of Tuscaloosa, Ala., owned it then. Since then it has changed hands twice to big chain ownership. Before these buildings were here, the corner was just a waterhole and tie-up for horses of people who come to town from the country to do business here. There was a free-flowing artesian well on the site. Labron Megehee owned the first brick store building across the street where Stonewall's Barbecue place is now. It was a general merchandise store and post office, said Lovell. Right here and where Harrison Fiancial is now located, are ground zero for Picayune history.
This corner at East Canal and Harvey Avenue (U.S. Hwy 11) along with the Galiano's corner is the most historice sites in Picayune, probably outside of the Hermitage where Eliza Jane Pointevant Nicholson was reared. This is where Picayune actually began, historically ground zero. I am not sure about this but before the current building was there, A.P. "Bud" Megehee and his brother Labron Megehee owned a general merchandise store here. Later they moved over to the corner of Main Street and West Canal and built the first brick building in Picayune, a gerneral merchandise store where Stonewall's Barbecue is now located. It was also the post office. Then at the this spot, E.F. Tate founded the Bank of Picayune and constructed the building here, which, of course, has been remodeled. Bank of Picayune merged with Hancock Bank in the late 1970s after it failed. Right behind Harrison Financial today is the headquarters of First National Bank, founded in 1947 by S.G. Thigpen, Sr., and his business associates. Right where the First National is now located was the home of Mrs. Ann Megehee, who grazed her cows in her backyard right before and after Picayune was founded in 1904. Notice she was also a Megehee. Of course the property became so valuable that the family later sold it after she died. Her front yard was always full of colorful flowerbeds, old-timers recalled. Historical rumors are that S.G. and his friends started First National because they felt the officers of Bank of Picayune were too tight with their money and turned down a lot of loans they should have made. When my father, Robert Louis Farrell, returned to Picayune after the war, Bank of Picayune would not loan him any money to build his home at 202 Farrell Street, even though he had impeccable credit. He then went to "Grandpa" Thigpen and told him of his perdicament, and "Grandpa" told him, "Bob, you go out to the lumber yard and get whatever you need, and just pay what you can, but pay me a little something every month." Dad, did, and finished the house. I am sure this happened a lot, and by 1947 "Grandpa" and his business associates had opened First National.
This possibly the most historic block in Picayune, from the corner of Curran Avenue and East Canal, looking west. First National Bank, with a beaufiful French Quarter style facade, is right. Behind that facade are original storefronts of the old buildings that were there. It used to the site of the home of Mrs. Ann Megehee, who grazed her cows in her backyard, now First National's parking lot. Between First National and former Bank of Picayune for decades was the law offices of Stewart & Burks.
(More to come)
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