will find way to survive

By AL GRANING

The games go on. And the games do count. Even during the severe shortages and hardships of World War II, almost all colleges fielded football teams.

Many cancelled their 1943 and some the 1944 seasons, but the real reason was a lack of manpower. All able-bodied college students were in the armed services, and those with draft deferments were not football material.

In Knoxville, where I was reared, Tennessee fielded a team in 1942 and again in 1944 but it consisted mostly of 16- and 17-year-old kids. When the war ended and the veterans returned to college, most of those kids retreated to the sidelines and became spectators.

All but three or four high school football games scheduled in Mississippi last weekend were cancelled because of the hurricane. When those games are finally played, many of those high schools will field teams sprinkled with new faces.

Many of those poor folks evacuated from New Orleans or the Mississippi Gulf Coast will become permanent residents of the area to which they were evacuated because they have nothing to return to. It stands to reason that those youngsters who were displaced will enroll in school in their new location and become instantly eligible.

The Division I and I-AA colleges in Mississippi, with the exception of Southern Miss and Alcorn, played their scheduled games. Those who attended the Mississippi State-Murray State game Saturday were impressed with the somber attitude shown by all of the players and others surrounding the event.

The players from both squads met in the middle of the field after the game to pray for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Football games affected by hurricanes are nothing new. In my final season officiating football in the SEC in 1989, my scheduled first assignment was Alabama-Texas A&M at College Station, Texas.

A hurricane was threatening Houston and, therefore, College Station as the opening date approached; and Alabama head coach Bill Curry was worried his team might be unable to get out of College Station after the game, so he prevailed on the Aggies to reschedule the game to the last date in the season.

The originally scheduled crew officiated the game, known as the Hurricane Bowl.

On a personal note about Katrina, we spent the weekend before the storm hit with relatives in Rosemary Beach, Fla. It was our plan to leave Monday morning, drive over to the Mississippi Coast, eat our anniversary dinner at Mary Mahoney’s and maybe spend the night at the Beau Rivage.

As the storm drew nearer, we changed plans and drove home Sunday through Montgomery and Meridian. Had we waited until Monday or Tuesday, we could not have gotten through and might still be in Rosemary Beach looking for gasoline.

On second thought, how bad would that be?

My sympathy and prayers are with those who lost so much. All we lost was a dinner at Mary Mahoney’s, and now that fine place, along with most of the Coast, is gone.

And that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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