The All-Century Team
The 1927 Clinton High School Tornadoes/Dragons, who went 8-2 and featured All-Century Team member Clarence Brummitt. Back row from left, Principal A.H. Graybeal, Everett Goins, Edward Daniels, Earl Goins, Cecil Miller, L.B. Harnell, Jessie Turner, Clarence Johnson, Ulys Goins, Coach Frank Alexander. Middle row from left, Clarence Brummett, Jim McGhee, John Daniels, Raymond Taylor, Otho Brown, Irving Closs, Frank Malgrave, Charlie Taylor. In front from left, Jim Williams, Vaughn Disney, Bob Overton, Roy Underwood, Whit Ring, Ernest Harmon, and Clift Wise.
What are the criteria?
Consider the differences in a team from 1923 and 1950, then 2022.
You could start a list of the changes in the rules of the game, the play of the game, the level of competition, the format (conferences and districts and regions) of how teams competed, and numerous other aspects. And what makes a player worthy of “All-Century” status?
And what about life after Clinton High School football? Should that be taken into consideration?
The Courier News asked for, and received, our readers’ input.
Some were easy. As one person who submitted a list said, “It’s pretty easy once you get into the late 1980s, because everyone still remembers those players. But what about the guys from the 1920s?”
And do you pick an “All-Century Team” by position? Does that mean just 11 guys on defense and 11 guys on offense, plus a couple of “specialists?” — kickers, kick returners, and such?
The Courier News found a common thread, however. We call it the “Legend Status.” The following are players who, somewhere along the line, someone said, “I’ve heard stories about …”
The Courier News Clinton High School All-Century Team:
Carl Manning
Clarence Davis
Eugene McDonald
Bill Alger Fox
Tom Kincaid
Leo Daugherty
Jiggs Seivers
Pelham Andrews (played football and basketball both, and was highly touted in both sports)
Kenneth Goans
Chester Prosise
Raymond Seivers
Bill Smith
Glenn Lynch
Dudley Hoskins (1923)
Clarence. Brummitt
Warren “Wink” McGhee (played at CHS and went to Tennessee Weslyan and was on the National Junior College championship team and received a scholarship to Florida; 1930s)
Carroll Reece Miller (1939)
Richard Harris
Don Weston
Lawrence Goins
Virgil Raines, (1949, a lineman, went to Tennessee Tech and was named an All-American)
Jerry Daniels (1949, also went to Tennessee Tech and was signed by the San Francisco 49ers)
Bill Driskell (also in 1949. “He was fantastic.”)
Herman Stewart (sometime in the early 1950s)
Glen “Spooky” Jones (“so fast and hit so hard” and he was a great punter, averaging about 50 yards a punt)
Sam Davis
David Jennings
Duane Sanders
Earl Wilson
Leon Miller
Ray Beaty
Don Lowe and Bill Rains (in 1948, made up an unstoppable backfield)
Jerry Shattuck (in 1956, who was All-East Tennessee pick)
Jackie Pemberton (led an undefeated team)
Mark Cardwell (was the quarterback of the 1962 team that went undefeated and he received a scholarhsip to Duke)
Carl Setzer (was a linebacker and went to North Carolina)
Roger Ridenour
Bruce Creekmore (went to Vanderbilt University)
Tim Borum (1970s, a tackle who went to Auburn)
David Fitts (“He was unbelievable. He was on one of the Clinton teams that beat Oak Ridge.”)
Charles McRae (who was on the 1992 Dragon team that was runner-up in state in 1992 and went on to play for the University of Tennessee, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League)
Larry Seivers (another CHS alumnus who played at the University of Tennessee and was drafted by the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks)
Tyler Thackerson
Darian Stone
Weston Hazelhurst
Connor Moody
Joshuah Keith