Agenda/Script for Special Ceremony (used)

REVISED – SEPT. 16, 2020

Agenda/Script for

A Celebration of a Championship Season:

1970 Forest Bearcat Football Team Honored

on 50th Anniversary of Winning Little Dixie Conference

Championship, 11-0 Record, First Integrated Squad

Time Frame for Day’s Activities:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2020

5 p.m. : Everyone invited to meet at Embrace Church (across from football stadium) for food and fellowship. Professional photographer and videographer will be there to “capture the moments.” We need to

purchase tickets to game ($6) while we meet at the church. (Note: We later learned that former Bearcat great Stanley Douglas purchased tickets for the 1970 Forest team/cheerleaders!)

6:45 p.m.: All depart to football stadium. We will sit in designated area

near South end zone. Those who can are asked to bring lawn chairs. Some chairs will be provided. Food and refreshments will be available

throughout the game.

7 p.m. : Kickoff for Forest/Florence game. (Yep, another former Little

Dixie Conference member!)

FOREST BAND WILL MARCH TO BEGIN HALFTIME ACTIVITIES.

Halftime: Team members, family representatives of deceased team members and cheerleaders walk toward midfield for presentation as Tommy Lee announces on PA system: “Ladies and Gentlemen: Here come the Bearcats…the 1970 Forest Bearcats, that is! This outstanding team won the Little Dixie Conference Championship en route to a perfect 11-0 Season. The 1970-71 School Year was also the first year of full integration…and this team proved what could be accomplished by working together despite numerous challenges throughout the season. The Bearcats were led by head coach Gary Risher and assistants James “Bo” Clark and Billy Ray Dill. And now, please direct your attention to midfield for a special presentation on the 50th Anniversary of a Remarkable Championship Season.”

Principal Allan Atkison: (Using microphone set up on the field). “It is my pleasure to participate in this ceremony and recognize the 1970 Forest High School Bearcats on an amazing season! I also want to say, Welcome Back to Your Alma Mater! As we all know, Once a Bearcat, Always a Bearcat! And now, State Representative Tom Miles of Forest has a special presentation to make.”

Rep. Tom Miles: “Thanks for including me in this special event for a special team. On behalf of the MS House of Representatives, I want to present this Resolution Honoring the 1970 Forest High Bearcats on their Championship and Undefeated Season. Copies will made available to team members and the local media. Congratulations!”

Principal Allan Atkison: “Thanks, Rep. Miles. And now a presentation from Forest Mayor Nancy Chambers.”

Mayor Nancy Chambers: “This is a very special occasion for me not only because it’s the 50th Anniversary of the Bearcats’ Championship Season, it is also the 50th Anniversary of my first year as a student teacher at Forest High School! Where did the time go! On behalf of the City of Forest, we present this resolution and congratulate you on your wonderful achievement and the manner in which everyone – blacks and whites – worked together as a team for a common goal – a championship season. I only wish my longtime friend and city council member, James C. “Bo” Clark, who served as an assistant coach, could be with us tonight….but I know he is looking down, smiling, and telling his guys one more time, “Hit Somebody!”

Principal Allan Atkison: “To make another presentation, is former Bearcat Drew Kenna, president of the Bank of Forest.”

Drew Kenna: “The Bank of Forest is pleased to present this enlarged photo of the 1970 Forest Bearcats – Little Dixie Conference Champions – to Coach Risher and team members. Congratulations on the 50th Anniversary of a Very Special Season!

Principal Allan Atkison: “It is now my pleasure to recognize and introduce the head coach of the 1970 Bearcat football team, Coach Gary Risher.”

Coach Risher: “I just want to say thank you to everyone in the Forest community who helped make our 1970 season the success that it was. I especially want to thank my assistant coaches, the late “Bo” Clark, and Billy Ray Dill, who is with us tonight, and of course an outstanding group of young men who worked very hard to accomplish a second-straight championship season. Thanks also to the cheerleaders, band director Doug Harvel and the All-Superior FHS Band. We were blessed with a lot of support and will always be very appreciative.”

Principal Allan Atkison: “And now representing the 1970 Bearcat squad is Lee Dukes. Lee was a senior wide receiver on the 1970 Bearcat squad and also served as Student Body Association President.”

Lee Dukes: “Thanks, Allan. And thanks to everyone for being here on this very special occasion. It is still hard to believe that it was 50 years ago when my teammates and I took the field in hopes of winning a second-straight Little Dixie Conference title for the Bearcat program. We were not expected to repeat as champions, for many reasons. We had a new head coach – Gary Risher; and new assistant coaches, James C. “Bo” Clark and Billy Ray Dill. And yes, it was the first year of integration and no one knew what to expect. But thanks to our coaches, we quickly molded as a team, and with the support of outstanding cheerleaders, an All-Superior Forest High School Band, the administration, faculty, staff and student body – plus tremendous support from the Forest community, we were successful! We had a great bunch of guys who worked very hard and had fun (except when running sprints and line drills!). We also admired our coaches and wanted to win for them. It was just a great experience…and we were very blessed! Sadly Coach Clark and several team members –

Billy Thompson, Dave Gibson, J. W. Clark, Elbon Johnston, Raymond Robinson, Tug Ledford and Howard Chambers, are no longer with us but are represented by family members tonight. Thank you all for being with us tonight. Please bow your heads in a moment of silence in memory of our deceased team members and coach. (Pause) Thanks very much. On behalf of the 1970 Bearcats, I want to present framed copies of the team and championship photos to the City of Forest and Forest High School. And now, there is only one thing left to do. Hit it, Cheerleaders!”

Cheerleaders: Perform “Two Bits, Four Bits, Six Bits a Dollar, All for the Bearcats, Stand Up and Holler!”

Forest Band (on field behind us during ceremony) plays “Anchors Aweigh” to end ceremony.

THIS WILL BE AN EVENING TO REMEMBER, FOR SURE!

THANKS TO ALL FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!

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