AHS state championship of 1959 shaped lives of many

ALBANY, Ga. — As the Albany High class of 1960 gathered at the Exchange Club Fairgrounds Friday night, the members of AHS’s 1959 state football championship team were grayer and a bit heavier, but when the subject of that magical season was raised, their eyes became those of 18-year-olds.

Fifty years ago the Albany High Indians thumped north Georgia power Marietta 20-0 to win the state Class AAA football championship. The victory capped an unbeaten season for the Indians, the last in AHS history, and became a springboard to successful careers for many of the players.

“When I think about that team, I think about how it was all about team play,” Richard Creel, a guard on the team and now a partner at Structured Settlements in Bradenton, Fla., said. “We worked hard. we played hard and we had confidence that we were going to win every game. I look back at the Moultrie game (a 20-19 regular season-ending win), and we had three or four people hurt. They (Moultrie) scored a couple of cheap touchdowns and things were shaky. But George Hasty came through with a late interception, and we held on to win. No way we were going to lose that game.

“I tell you, that game helped me through the rest of my life. I know it’s helped other people.”

Tommy Ross, now a trial lawyer in Winston-Salem, N.C., was the quarterback of the team, and his eyes flash and his mouth kicks into another gear when recalling the ’59 Indians.

“We’d closed strong in ’58 and all of the guys on the team were talking about how we could go undefeated in ’59,” Ross said. “We personified the whole theory and definition of teamwork. What many people don’t know is that our second team was so good, it averaged almost as many minutes as the starters.

“Let me give you an example. I think it was the Benedictine game where Bud Lewis, who was 5-7 and all of 135 pounds, came in and threw three touchdown passes (in a 27-0 win). But we weren’t just offense. We also had a hell of a defense. We closed the 58 season with four straight shutouts, and had seven (out of 12 games) in 1959.

“We were a hell of a team.”

Graham Lowe was on the coaching staff of that team. He called himself a “gofer coach,” but the memories of that 1959 team are some of his fondest.

“We had a bunch of guys who liked to hit people,” Lowe recalled. “And we ran up against a lot of guys who didn’t like to get hit. Our halfbacks (Jerry) Doyle and (Marshall) Tanner and our fullback (Eddie) Ogletree gave out more pain than they took.

“Oh, and Ross ran like a rabbit because he didn’t like to get hit.”

Tanner, now a vice president for Bandag International, led the Indians with 1,106 yards and 16 touchdowns in 1959. He said that team, and the friendships created during that championship run, helped lay the foundation for his life.

“What that team taught me was what can be accomplished when young men work together towards a common goal,” Tanner, who now lives in Oxford, N.C., said. “The life lessons I gained from that season have followed me all of my life. To be a leader, you have to be a winner. And if you are a winner, young men will follow you anywhere.”

When the AHS Class of 1960 gathers for its 60th reunion in 2020, the boys will be grayer and a little bigger, but when they talk about 1959, it’s a safe bet their eyes will still flash.