Game for the ages on the 100th anniversary at CHS

In 70 years of watching high school football and viewing it from every corner of the state, plus attending several state championship games, I have never been in an atmosphere like the one Friday night for the game between Corbin and Frederick Douglass.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

It was electric! And the many thousands of fans that attended the game got their money’s worth. Most of the time a defensive game is dull. Not this one. Every play had you on the edge of your seat.

Speaking of fans, that was the biggest crowd ever at Campbell Field. I don’t have an exact count, but the best guess is over 7,500. The stands were filled early and fans were standing all around the field.

The excitement was because the number one (Frederick Douglass) and the number two (Corbin) teams were battling, plus it was a historic night as Corbin was celebrating 100 years of football.

This newspaper published a special 100 year football history magazine which we are making available free this week to all new subscribers and to regular subscribers who do not have it. All you have to do is come by our office at 215 north Main St. in Corbin to pick it up.

I was involved in the planning and activities. Thanks to Dave Cox, Superintendent of Corbin Independent School, he asked me to serve on a committee. Mr. Cox did a marvelous job of leading to what became a perfect night of celebration.

As for me, I did a halftime recap of the 100 years of football which was on the new video scoreboard. Thanks to Danielle Hardin and her student staff at CHS who did a splendid job of editing the video.

Then I was asked by Derick Eubanks, of WCTT radio station to announce the game along with Ronnie Bowling and Jeff Barnett. I don’t know if this would have happened if my friend Julio Cima had not insisted I announce one more time.

It had been 32 years since I had announced a game. I can tell you that there is a lot of difference between announcing between the ages of 21 to 51 and 84 years.

It was difficult because I don’t have the breath support, having had lung surgery, and my eye sight is not what it used to be. But Ronnie and Jeff bailed me out. Thanks guys!

For some reason I kept calling Frederick Douglass “Franklin Douglass.” I take a pass on that because of age. I’ll have to live with that in my last hurrah.

I must thank Coach “Cotton” Adams for the generous remarks he made about me at halftime. That made all the work I have done on the event very worthwhile.

Sad to say, but that is it for me. In the radio booth I realized that age does have its limits.  I’ve had many years of wonderful experiences and the Redhound victory capped it off Friday night.