This photograph of Walton High School’s first football team was taken on the grounds of Palmer College in 1921. The linemen were (from left) Walter Donnelley, Theo Griffith, Fuller Warren, Ralph “Bud” McBroom, Cletus Fuqua, Clyde McKenzie, and Earnest Walker. The backs were Ralph Spiers, Buell Ogburn, Bert McCall, and Hubie “Nugget” Raburn. The substitutes were standing: Maurice Boriens, Joe Tappan, Lewis Steele, Walker Lee Austin, and Arlin Bell.
Fuller Warren was born and buried in Blountstown, Calhoun County. When comparing the photo above with one taken about 30 years later, there can be no doubt that DeFuniak Springs can claim its second governor!
Burial: Nettle Ridge Cemetery, Blountstown
Update posted August 8, 2021:
According to E. W. Carswell, writing for The Pensacola Journal on September 26, 1973:
. . . Warren had attended Thomas Industrial Institute in DeFuniak Springs as a young man. Many of his classmates, along with the then institute Principal Thomas Bailey, later State Superintendent of Education, gathered at the graveside to pay their last respects. Warren had been proud of his Calhoun County heritage, but he often called DeFuniak Springs his second home. He began a speech in DeFuniak Springs a few years ago by quoting with feeling from the third chapter of Exodus, in which God called out to Moses from the burning bush: “Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
The photograph at the beginning of this post is clearly identified as Walton High’s School’s football team, but it could be that Thomas Institute students were allowed to participate in public school sports just as today many home schooled and private school students participate in public school athletic programs.
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