An outstanding athlete who was born in Gurley and attended Madison County High School...lettered in all sports as a junior high player. ..played all sports at Gurley in 1948-49, and was the high scorer on the county champion basketball team..captain of the football and basketball team his senior year...basketball team lost in the finals of the district tournament to Fyffe, the eventual state champion.. all-county and all-district... played on baseball team that went to the state tournament...offered a football scholarship by both Alabama and Georgia, but signed a baseball contract with the New York Giants instead...during the off-season, he was killed in an explosion at Thiokol Chemicals in 1953.