With all eyes on AHS football this year, I thought it might be good to look back at some of Alto’s other winning teams.

An article in the November 17 1960 Alto Herald compared two of the teams thought to be the best in the school’s history up until that time – the 1937 team coached by Ted Moore and the 1960 team coached by his son, Terry Ted.

The 1937 team faced some obstacles that the later team never knew. For one thing, they didn’t have a football field. They played their games in Wright’s pasture, which I think was somewhere near the intersection of Highway 21 and Sand Flat Road. All games had to be played in the afternoon because the field was not lighted. Also the squad was what a sports writer might call “lacking in depth”. They had only 14 players. So much for offensive and defensive teams.

The article maintains that these are the two best teams Alto had ever fielded and goes on to compare the individual players:

“Buster Houston who quarterbacked the 1937 Jackets was a fine passer and a hard runner ……….. Dickie McGaughey who is this year’s quarterback takes no back seat in the passing and running department and plays defense as well.”

Two small fast halfbacks from 1937, Thurman Capps and Ben Brittain, weighing about 130 pounds each, were compared to “pocket-size speed merchant left halfback Mike Trevathan” and right halfback Billy Burt who was larger but even faster. “The blazing speed of Burt ……. has enabled him to score 136 points this season.”

Clyde Weaver, fullback in 1960 “continues the tradition of hard-running Alto fullbacks.” The 1937 fullback, Tom Ed Cosper, team captain, was one of Alto’s best.

“Ends on the 1937 team were Edward Bynum and Nick Pope, both of whom performed well” 1960 ends were Ray Todd and Ronnie Smith. “Todd and Smith are pass-snaggers”

Tackles Steve McCarty and Jim Bice probably outweighed their 1937 counterparts, Ralph Rozelle and Dean Bullock. “Both tackles are receiving their third letters”

Other linemen in 1937 were guards Elbert (Cooter) Smith and Edwin Boyd and center Ivren Hughes. Coach Moore described 1960 guards Charles Davis and James Allen and center Travis Smith as the “tough triplets”.

Another member of the 1937 team was William Parker who was an uncle of 1960’s Steve McCarty. Other members of the 1960 team were Robert Earl Cummings who handled the punting; Ronnie Arnold who did the kick-offs ; James Rice and Harrison Black who filled in where needed; and Ray Johnson, a sophomore, served as back-up quarterback.

The 1937 team had a record of 9-2 while the 1960 boys were undefeated in regular play. However, both lost their bi-district playoff games.

There were several other fine football teams over the years, notably in 1942, 1947 and 1955. This story reports that the 1955 team won their bi-district game, but unfortunately we can not follow up on that team because the November 1955 Heralds are missing.