Todd Groce, President of the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, recently sent along a note, saying that kids today have no connection to a farm anymore.
As Todd pointed out, following World War II, there was a gradual migration from farm to town. Until recently, many kids had grandparents from farm families.
That led to a red flag. How long will it be until there are no more country boys? I’m a country boy, and I love country boy stories. I’ll always appreciate the lyrics of Hank Williams Jr., who wrote, “A Country Boy Can Survive.” It was his signature song, which included the following lyrics:
“I can plow a field all day long,
“I can catch catfish from dusk to dawn,
“We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too,
“Ain’t too many things these old boys can’t do,
“We grow good ol’ tomatoes and homemade wine,
“And a country boy can survive.”
Many of the country-boy fables concern sports heroes, but Walmart icon Sam Walton was a country boy, as was Jerry West, the NBA icon from Cabin Creek, West Virginia. While Sam Walton was more middle class, he always portrayed himself as the pickup-truck–driving yokel from the sticks. He was a billionaire who accumulated his wealth the old-fashioned way—he earned it.
Andrew Carnegie and Warren Buffett came from humble beginnings, and Genghis Khan was a homeless outcast.
Most of us still enjoy the iconic sports fables. Like Ozark Ike, whom many will remember from the days when comic pages were popular in an era when the news was “hot off the press.”
People are attracted to “local boy makes good,” and that now includes the girls. Caitlin Clark is certainly not a country girl, but West Des Moines, Iowa, her hometown, is not a metropolis. However, it is more like a small Midwestern town where everybody holds her in the highest regard.
What about Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, the country boy from Vinegar Bend, Alabama, who enjoyed a 12-year Big League career, mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals, as a fast-balling lefthander who won a World Series ring with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960?
There is an old story about one of the great athletes in the history of the University of Georgia. Spurgeon Chandler, a farm boy from Carnesville, which is 39 miles from Athens, was recruited by Harry Mehre to play football and baseball at UGA.
Mehre told this yarn about stopping by a field in which “Spud” was plowing a mule. Mehre asked Spud for directions to Athens. Spud picked up the plow and pointed South, saying, “It’s that a way.” The colorful Mehre often told that story at banquets, concluding that watching this country boy point with the plow meant that he was a surefire prospect for the Bulldogs.
Spud became an accomplished two-sport star for UGA. He threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Vernon “Catfish” Smith in the dedicatory game between Georgia and Yale in 1929. He played halfback for the Bulldogs and also punted for his team.
Legend has it that when Georgia played NYU at Yankee Stadium in 1931 and upset the Violets 7-6, Spud went out and threw footballs through the goalposts to get used to the place because he expected to pitch there one day.
He had a spectacular career with the Yankees in his ten years in pinstripes. He was a country boy for sure but was fit for the big time and the big city. He won 109 games, with 43 losses, threw 26 shutouts, and has the highest winning percentage, .717, in baseball history among pitchers with 100-plus wins.
Having played during the war years has probably kept him out of the Hall of Fame. I once asked Ted Williams about that, and the great slugger emphatically stated that Spud should be elected. Sadly, it appears that will never come about.