50th Anniversary of Championship Season and 1st integrated squad
It’s been 50 years since the first integrated Forest High School football team took the field en route to posting a perfect season and a conference championship.
A special ceremony to honor the 1970 team is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at L. O. Atkins Field during halftime of the Forest/Florence game. (The ceremony was previously set for August 21 but was rescheduled due to the delayed start of the high school football season caused by the coronavirus.)
Representatives of deceased team members are also encouraged to attend and be a part of the 50th Anniversary celebration. Cheerleaders for the 1970 team as well as members of the 1970-71 All-Superior FHS Band are also invited to attend and participate in the event.
In looking back over the historic season, what those coaches and players accomplished is more than amazing. Not only were they victorious with the school’s first integrated squad (full integration occurred during the 1970-71 school year) but they did so with a mostly new coaching staff and faced several other challenges throughout the season. The biggest challenge came at the final game of the season, with the program’s second-straight conference championship on the line. More about that will be found in a special commerative edition of The Scott County Times closer to the date of the event.
The 1970 Bearcats were led by first-year head coach Gary Risher, who took the helm at age 28. Risher was an assistant the previous two years for Ken Bramlett, who was serving his second tenure as the program’s leader. Bramlett’s 1968 squad went 8-3 and was followed by the 1969 ‘Cats who finished 10-0-1 and claimed the program’s first overall Little Dixie Conference Championship.
Editor’s Note: If you would like to be included in congratulating the 1970 squad call the paper at 601-469-2561.
