It is a rare day that dawns with me in full agreement with James Finkelstein. Last week, Jim wrote a fine piece on Albany author Bill Lightle. Bill has written two fine books and is a local literary luminary.
I met Bill back in his football days at Albany High. He was a good athlete and a warm and personable character. Bill came along at a time when there were still a lot of white football players at Albany High. They were usually outmanned and outgunned at most football games against Valdosta, Tift and Colquitt County, but they pulled some upsets and I was proud of them.
Finkelstein mentioned Jim’s book (Made or Broken) Football and Survival in the Georgia Woods. Those were insane days of football practice in the boondocks of Lee County. The football camp was called Graves Springs and was a certifiable dump and toxic waste site.
Albany High football players spent those agonizing days of summer football camp there every year. No one lived within a mile of the place in those days, but today the site is surrounded by sprouting Lee County subdivisions.
The charm of the place (charm?) were names scrawled on the walls from football players all the way back to the 1950s. This trailer park Delphic Oracle told the truth concerning a young man’s ability to perform under very hot, stressful and sometimes cruel conditions. The place was so bad that surviving it made you a pre-candidate for boot camp in most branches of the U.S. military.
It’s gone now, but the memories can be captured in Bill’s book. Go out and purchase a copy today.
