Tidbits - January 19, 2023
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- Category: Archives
- Published on Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:54
- Written by Ralph Shealy
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TIDBITS by RALPH SHEALY
RABUNIZED
Saluda football players, coaches and fans while watching the National Championship game last Monday may have said, “I’ve seen this episode before.”
What Georgia did to TCU was eerily similar to what another team from Georgia, Rabun County, did Saluda on September 17, 2021, a date that will live in infamy.
Like Georgia and TCU, Rabun County and Saluda were highly rated, the Wildcats 2nd in 2A in Georgia and Saluda 3rd in 2A in S.C.
Some say TCU shouldn’t have been in the title game. Well, Rabun County definitely was not supposed to be in Saluda. Saluda was supposed to play Ninety Six, a team they were highly favored to defeat, but the 96 Wildcats cancelled due to Covid and the Saluda-Rabun County matchup was quickly thrown together.
The game got massive coverage, because Rabun County quarterback Gunner Stockton was the 5th rated high school quarterback in the United States of America. Stockton originally committed to Carolina, but withdrew his commitment after Will Muschamp was fired, and went to Georgia, instead, as did Muschamp.
Saluda averaged 49 points per game coming in, TCU averaged 41.5. Saluda got beat 63-7, TCU got beat 65-7.
In both cases, two good teams could not stop the bleeding once it started.
Let’s not forget, TCU beat Number 2 ranked Michigan 51-45 in the semifinals. Saluda won a state championship two years earlier.
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett accounted for six touchdowns against TCU, while Stockton accounted for five against Saluda.
I was hoping Gunner could get on the field against TCU, but he is being redshirted and didn’t play a down this year for the Bulldogs.
Perhaps, the Gamecocks will see him next year.
Isn’t it amazing how the body works? On New Year’s Eve, I fell asleep during the Georgia-Ohio State nail-biter, and the striking of midnight.
Last Monday, I tried to make myself go to sleep during the awful game, and couldn’t. I watched the whole thing.
A lot has been made of Georgia quarterback Bennett’s age, 25. To most of us, that is very young, but for a college player, that is very old.
How old? Bennett is older than 3-year pro Justin Herbert, 3-year pro Jalen Hurts, 2-year pro Mac Jones, 3-year pro Tua Tagovailoa, 2-year pro Trevor Lawrence and 2-year pro Justin Fields.
Bennett’s age will hurt him when draft time comes around, because by the time he’s ready to start he’ll be retirement age..
Still, his performance is admirable He has led his ream to back-to-back national championships.
Another star is his cap is how he started out in college football. Fifteen different quarterbacks have won a national championship since 2005. Seven were five star recruits, four were four or there star, 11 were first round picks, four were number one picks. The lowest ranked quarterback was 18th. The lowest overall player was 511.
Then along comes Stetson. He was a two star walk-on. He was ranked as the 104th quarterback and 2569th overall high school player.
He got the last laugh!
Here’s another amazing fact. A Georgia high school quarterback has started the last eight national championship games: Deshaun Watson 2015-2106, Jake Fromm 2017, Trevor Lawrence 2018-1019, Justin Fields 2020, Stetson Bennett 2021-2022.
Another quarterback related meme I saw confused me at first. It was titled South Carolina quarterbacks at Notre Dame.
On one side was the great Tony Rice from Woodruff who led Lou Holtz’ Irish to the national championship. The other featured outstanding Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman who transferred to Notre Dame through the portal.
I never heard Hartman was from this state, so I looked him up. He’s from Charlotte. Then in the corner of the page, I noticed where he played high school ball ... Oceanside Collegiate, Gray’s little brother, in Charleston. I don’t think he commuted every day.
LONGEVITY
There is an article on the front page of today’s paper about life longevity, and points out Saluda County is tied for nineth for the longest longevity in South Carolina.
I can believe it.
Mrs. Virginia Goff died last week at the age of 101. She was a sweet lady that I’m glad I got to know.
My Aunt Christine Crouch “Teenie” Shealy was 102 when she passed away in November 2022, and Mrs Viola Goff was 101 when she died in October.
John Harmon died earlier in the year at the age of 102.
I often wonder if Mrs. Virginia, Aunt Teenie, Mrs. Viola and Mr. John were ever together at the same time when they were teenagers. They were all county natives, so it’s possible. You know none of them could imagine then they would all live a century.
When Aunt Teenie’s daughter Judy died in October at the age of 80, I know people reading her obituary were taken aback when they saw Judy was survived by her mother!
I’ve lost count of how many Saluda County 100-year-olds I’ve known.
Of course, the leader of the pack was Mrs. Lois Addy, who lived to be 109.
Mrs. Addy was an artist and she would often paint a bird on a postcard and mail it. I treasure the one she sent me. It is signed “Lois Addy, 107½!”
When Mrs. Addy died the New York times ran a story on her, pointing out she was once Sen. Strom Thurmond’s baby sitter. Sen.Thurmond was quoted in the article. He was 99 at the time. His Edgefield ranks 2nd in longevity!