Willis Hackney, was one of the school’s biggest money givers. With permission here is the story as told in Dr. McLean’s history of the college.
“Mildred Ross remained best known for her interest in students and for her inability to drive an automobile safely. Clark mentioned Ross’s driving problems, suggesting that she hold her speed below sixty, and adding, “The only way Mildred knows when she is getting near town is that she is hitting more people.” One of the more humorous college legends involved Ross and Willis Hackney, who shared Ross’s love of Bulldog athletics. Ross was driving in Wilson’s downtown area near midmorning one day when, straying well across her side of the public street, she rammed Hackney’s automobile, smashing a fender. Getting out of their cars, the drivers approached each other as a small crowd began to gather on the sidewalk. Hackney immediately assumed a defensive position, extending his arms with hands in front, palms open and fingers spread. In a loud, serious voice, he blurted, “Mildred it’s my fault, all my fault. I knew you were coming to town this morning. I should have known better than to be down here.”
Category: H. WILSON
AIN’T IT FUNNY HOW TIME JUST DRIFTS AWAY
Once Barton agreed to renovate the gym properly (see enclosures) I agreed to fulfill a pledge to them, that I would help them raise money for the project. I have been gone from Wilson for 35 years. It soon dawned on me that the people who supported us (Atlantic Christian) back in the day, weren’t around any more. But I haven’t lost that much memory, or been unconcerned about old friends, or been that far away. And I’ve learned the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Looking for support “several years back” these are some I’d call: Buddy Bedgood, George Flowers, Zeke Cozart, T. Forbes, Milton Adams, Doug Hackney, Lee Gliarmis, Ralph El Ramey, Robert Lee Dunn,Sr., Herbert lashley, Jimmy Dempsey,
Turner Bunn, Vince Lowe, Russell Thompson, Mosely Hussey, Johnson
Moore,sr., Gordon Sauls, Tyson and Peggy Jennette, Jim Hemby, Matthew
Boykin, Bobby Sharpe, Bobby Kirkland, Ned Ligon, Harry Helmer, Dave Oettinger, Pete Grine, Bob Pope, Huitt Mattox. Herb Jeffries,
And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than words I could write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along
Lyle Lovett—Family Reserve
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HEARING AIDS
One of the local foursome tennis regulars couldn’t make it. A non-member filled in. My buddies, Larry Watson and Randy Campbell teamed together against the newcomer and partner. Larry is the poster child for knee replacement. And both done at the same time. Now he can run, but at the time of the match above, it was really sad. Anyway, at the conclusion of the match the newcomer shook hands with Randy and said “…nice match, Hugo.” Out of earshot, a puzzled Larry asked Randy, “…why did that guy call you HUGO?” Randy: “Every single lob over our heads you shout ‘YOU GO’. Figure it out!” On the first day of our tennis camp, at 7am breakfeast, I asked a disheveled 10 year old his name? HUH, he said. Again, “What is your name”? Again…huh? Coach: Son, WHAT IS YOUR NAME? More clearly this time: My name is Hunt. How many times do I have to tell you! My friend, “Country” Boykin recently took his new hearing aid out and put it in the golf cart. It bounced out and we ran over it. At a restaurant a month later I noticed him wearing it again. “Did you get a new hearing aid, or get that one fixed?” He said it was the same one. “I’m just wearing it for looks!”
RESUMES
One interesting case involved a soccer player from Jamaica, Tony Barriteau. Tony was a joy, and volunteered his time teaching the growing number of soccer kids in Wilson.
Greenfield School was the private school in Wilson, and it was typical of the schools built during integration, soccer; no football.
I got a call from George Bell, Greenfield’s headmaster. He wanted to know if I should hire an applicant named Barriteau, who’d listed my name as a reference.
“Why not?” I asked.
George hemmed and hawed until my silence forced him to say it.
“Well, he’s black, you know and our parents……..”
He was still stammering when I advised him “George, hire Tony.”
I’d forgotten it until a call from an excited Tony Barriteau. “Coach, I, I, I think
I did it right. I remembered all you said, I, I, I…”
“Tony, what happened.”
He explained that on his first day at Greenfield he was eating lunch with the faculty and staff. All of a sudden George Bell, choking on his lunch, turned blue and grabbed his throat. Tony had administered the “Heimlich Maneuver” perfectly, popping George’s lunch on the cafeteria floor.”
“Tony”, I said, “go get Mr. Bell on the phone. ” A few minutes later George Bell said “Hello”.
I couldn’t resist: “George, how do you feel about hiring Tony Barriteau?”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a white cat or a black cat, as long as it can catch mice,” Colin Powell at Elon University – 2005.
