Jerry Fischer shared with me the following thoughts written by Wray Lane, Century High School's first football coach. I couldn't say it better myself, so I'll just let Mr. Lane tell his story.
“SOME THOUGHTS FROM MY FIVE YEARS RESIDENCY IN CENTURY 1931-1936
While attending graduate school at Auburn U. in the summer of 1931, I met Mr. Thurston B. Shell, Principal of Century High School. After several interviews he offered me the position Science and Math teacher. I was also to be the coach of the first football team that Century H.S. had ever had. I accepted the offer rather reluctantly since I had very limited experience in sports.
I had taught school at Enterprise, Ala., the year prior to this and had roomed with the coach of this school (Fob James, the father of Fob Jr. the former governor of AL) Fob lived in Auburn and I went immediately to him for help. He graciously agreed and many afternoons he would take me to the football field and teach me the fundamentals of the game. He also installed enough confidence in me to make me believe I could handle the job.
I arrived in Century the first of Sept. 1931 and began my duties. I will not go into detail relative to our athletic teams since I believe Mr. Luman Mayo discussed this in his article. Any success we achieved in football I must confess came in spite of and not because of the coach.
I remained in my position at CHS for five years and during this time I became interested in a young lady, by the name of Sue Evelyn Hanshaw who was a teacher in the elementary school. We were married in June of 1936 and moved to the southern end of the county.
Mention has been made in former publications of the fact that Mr. Hauss ruled the town of Century with an iron hand. I learned that this was very true shortly after arriving in Century. I also found Mr. Hauss to be a very fair man.
The first week I was in Century I was very anxious to get football started and I informed Mr. Shell that I wanted to get goal posts erected on the playing field (This was adjacent to the Baptist Church.) Mr. Shell let me know immediately that I was not to disturb a blade of grass on Alger-Sullivan property without first conferring with Mr. Hauss. The next afternoon I made my way to the Company Office, and after a lengthy wait I was ushered into the inner sanctum to face Mr. Hauss. He was very cordial but very business like. He asked a number of questions relative to the dimensions of the posts and their location on the field. He then informed me that we had his permission to proceed with the project. Before the next day was over we noticed a team of horses pulling a wagon loaded with the timbers for the posts and two men to install them. I found on other occasions that Mr. Hauss was very cooperative if you made sure to let him know that you knew he was the boss.”
Mr. Lane had more to say about his experiences in Century. His thoughts will be continued in a later column.
The Alger Sullivan Historical Society Annual Meeting will be on Tuesday January 16, 2018 at 6 pm in the Leach House Museum. Join us for the meeting if you can, please.
