Although in the “older days,” Forney was more synonymous sports-wise with high school football, we also had some “pretty salty” basketball teams and individual players. However, when I was a lad, the few games that I attended each year just had me marveling at those “old boys” and, everyonce-in-awhile, those “old girls.” And, I can remember going with Dad, as he delivered Southland Athletic uniforms to the athletic facilities at Forney High on Bois d’Arc, and watching the high school teams working out in the magnificent gymnasium that is still “around back” today—the scoreboard that said, “Class of 1945,” the wooden backboards, the windows that had heavy mesh over them because they still were all the ventilation there was, the stage off to the side, the “below-level” dressing rooms, the heavy wood bleachers, the “cut-in” concession stand, and I could go on for quite some time yet.
Dad arrived in Forney in 1947, and I still can vaguely remember some of the names he would mention when he later spoke of going to watch games at the then, not-so-old, gym—Frank Hickson, Jimmy Smith, Dennis Costello, Bill Skinner, Bonnie Shipley, Elvis Osborne, Billie Montgomery, Juanice Eudy, Margaret Taylor. Being new to Forney, Dad probably did not know all the families, but I imagine these I mentioned were some of the first families he was around.
To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://www.etypeservices.com/Forney%20MessengerID423/
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.