Ivey McMillan and Walter Landing recently relayed the history of the 1960 Jenkins County High School championship football team.

Members of the Jenkins County High School (JCHS) 1960 champion football team who attended the recent reunion of the Class of 1963 are, from left, first row: Rufus "Bubba" Small, Coach Larry Calhoun and Dorsey Boatright; second row: Marvin Wiggins, Ivey McMillan, Walter "Bear" Landing, Jack Clayton and Jimmy "Nick" Lewis; third row: Jimmy Acton, Walter Degenhardt, Odell Williams Jr., Billy Cates, Lee Bell, Wayne Gay, Addison "Sonny" Bell III and David Morgan. Not shown are Larry Evans and Thomas Wallace. Five of the 15 team members shown with their coach are also members of the JCHS Class of '63: Boatright, Cates, Clayton, McMillan and Williams. The remaining 10, as well as the two not shown, are also members of the JCHS 1960 Football Championship Team. Through the efforts of McMillan and Williams, they gathered with the JCHS Class of '63 to enjoy again their camaraderie and to honor their former coach. (Photo contributed) "To the best of our recollection, at the beginning of the season, this was the backfield: Graybill Daniel, quarterback; Walter Landing, left halfback; Larry Evans, fullback; and Joe Evans, right halfback. After the first couple of games, Evans went down with a knee injury. Rufus "Bubba" Small, a ninth grader, took over fullback. A few weeks later, Evans left school to get married, and Danny Toole moved in at right halfback. At the end of the regular season, Daniel was injured, with a kidney having to be removed, and Toole moved to quarterback, while Ivey McMillan moved to right halfback. We went into the playoffs, and all the way to state, with a junior back-up quarterback, a freshman fullback and a sophomore halfback. Walter "Bear" Landing was the only original member of the backfield."

"Larry Calhoun led his team to become South Georgia 2-B champs and became "Coach of the Year" by taking them all the way to the state championship game. They came away as first runner-up for the state championship that year."

This scruffy group of boys, who played with sheer heart and determination, accomplished what has never been accomplished since in the annals of JCHS football. It is no surprise that they were anxious to gather together to share again this very personal history with their coach, each other and their friends.