Ladies and gentlemen, depending on when you peruse this festive offering, Christmas will be almost here, or here, or even past. If you still have some last-minute shopping to do, I suggest we hop in the way-back machine (i.e., the good ol’ Studebaker) and cruise back 50 years to uptown Hillsboro.

Ladies and gentlemen, over the last couple of offerings, we examined the life and times of John Wayne Richards (1878-1957), who left nearly $43,000 after he died to Hillsboro City Schools, which used the money to improve recreational facilities and to build Richards Memorial Field. After first-year head football coach Bill Atsalis, just 27 years old when he was hired, led a young and largely inexperienced Hillsboro team in 1959 to a 2-7 record while playing home games in what was often dubbed “the dust bowl” behind the high school, work began to construct the new field.

Ladies and gentlemen, in last week’s offering, we talked about the life and times of Highland County native John Wayne Richards, who left Hillsboro City Schools more than $40,000 to build what is known as Richards Memorial Field – home of the Hillsboro Indians since the 1960s.

The estate of John Wayne Richards left $42,995.02 to Hillsboro City Schools for a John Richards Memorial and Athletic Fund. Other donations boosted it to $44,751.02. The bulk of the money was expended for improvement of recreational facilities, chiefly for the development of a new high school athletic field – later named Richards Memorial Field.

Ladies and gentlemen, after playing what first-year head football coach Bill Atsalis described as their best game of the season in a 28-0 loss against undefeated McClain, the 2-6 Hillsboro Indians would conclude their season the following Friday with against Franklin Heights.

Ladies and gentlemen, homecoming night in 1959 was a memorable one for the Hillsboro varsity football team as the Indians took down Pleasant View, 20-6. Roger Mullenix, who had been alternating as a quarterback and running back, had an outstanding night for the Tribe as he ran for touchdowns of 54, 8 and 28 yards as Hillsboro improved to 2-4 under first-year head coach Bill Atsalis.

Hillsboro opened the season Sept. 18, 1959 with a home game against “newcomer” to the schedule Paint Valley, followed by eight more games: at Logan, at Washington C.H., vs. Circleville, at New Boston, vs. Pleasant View, at Wilmington, vs. Greenfield McClain, then at Franklin Heights to round out the season on Nov. 13.

Ladies and gentlemen, in 1959, Bill Atsalis was hired for his first head football coaching job at Hillsboro High School at the age of 26. Not too terribly long before that season, Atsalis was playing football himself. In 1950, he was a freshman quarterback at Wilmington College.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we discussed last time, first-year Hillsboro High School head football coach Bill Atsalis didn’t have much of a Tribe when he opened summer camp in August of 1959 as just 17 players came out for the team.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t look now, but football season is upon us. As the 2021 season kickoff approaches, let’s take another trip back to the “old days” and see what football was like in Hillsboro more than 60 years ago. We’re driving the ol’ Studebaker back to the year 1959.

Ladies and gentlemen, Harriet Amelia (Hack) Fenner was, and still is, the only woman elected as a commissioner of Highland County. Her tenure as county commissioner began via an appointment by the Highland County Democratic Party Central Committee in August 1971.

Ladies and gentlemen, Benton Raymond “BR” Duckworth lived 106 years and was well-known as a longtime educator at the Greenfield Exempted Village School District, then embarked on a new career as a practitioner of modern, scientific farming and woodlands management.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the 1960s, Ed Bousman had a dream. This dream became a reality when Ed went to his congregation at the Lynchburg Church of Christ one Sunday morning with a challenge for them to go home and ask God for something impossible. Ed took his dream to God that day, asking for the impossible – a nationwide radio broadcast.

In 1876, Hillsboro was still Hillsborough, and when the Fourth of July rolled around, the town held a “feast of patriotism” that started early and lasted all day as 20,000 people celebrated the nation’s birthday. There were flags, banners and other decorations all around. There was a procession, oration, music and fireworks. It was, indeed, “a grand gala-day.”

In my lifetime, there has been one reunion I’ve attended more than any other (by far) – the Gossett Reunion in Pricetown, a reunion that dates back more than a century. The reunion is held the third Saturday in June by the descendants of James Worth Gossett (1847-1922) and Sarah Ann Roberts Gossett (1843-1932), who are my great-great-grandparents.