Editor’s note: The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter and a photographer throw a dart at a map and find a story where it lands. The week The Dart fell on St. Catherine Street.

NATCHEZ — William “Jeter” Earl, 57, claims he’s too old to get in the game nowadays, but he’s one of the biggest local high school sports fans on the sidelines.

Back in his heyday, he was all over the football field, Earl said.

As a member of the 1973 graduating class at North Natchez High School, Earl — the smallest person on the team — played for the offense, defense and special teams as wide receiver, defensive back, kick returner and on the offensive line on second and third downs.

“They listed me at 5-foot-7, but I wasn’t but about 5-foot-6,” Earl said.

While most people call him “Jeter” because he can’t be still, Earl earned another nickname in high school that some people still shout at him today.

“They called me Broadway,” Earl said.

When The Dart landed at Earl’s house on St. Catherine Street Thursday, Jeter was standing outside watching traffic go by — too restless to sit down inside his house.

Earl said he supposed some of his teammates thought he threw like Joe “Broadway” Namath, who was one of the biggest stars in the NFL at the time as the quarterback for the New York Jets.

Earl said he played with some of the schools best players in history — Leon Ridley, James Berry, Melvin Prater and more.

“All of us are good friends.”

Earl even confirmed with a noncommittal nod that Leon Ridley was better than his son, Stevan, who currently plays for the New England Patriots.

Earl said his coach, George Smith, was hard on him and his teammates.

“He was real strict,” Earl said. “He used to stay on me.”

But looking back, Earl said he appreciated the discipline.

And Earl said he didn’t get a break, because Smith coached basketball, too, which Earl also played in addition to football and track.

After a stint working in a shipyard after high school, Earl came back to Natchez and extended his basketball career past high school in the adult men’s league.

In 1979, his team, the Armstrong Trailblazers, won the semi-pro basketball championship.

And in 1991, he coached men nine years younger than himself in the league and stepped up to be the sixth man on the court.

“I didn’t have the jumping bit (down) or the quick moves, but I was wiser,” he said of his skills as a 36-year-old.

A trophy from his Trailblazers days still sits in his living room.

Now Earl can be spotted on the bleachers of any local home football game in town.

“I support my home teams,” he said.

For the last 10 years, Earl has rarely been home on a Friday night in the fall. He doesn’t have a favorite college team — he prefers to stay local, he said.

He attends games at Natchez High, Adams County Christian School, Trinity Episcopal Day School, Cathedral School, Vidalia High School and Ferriday High School.

Cross-town match-ups are his favorite, but the game that stands out most in his mind was when a high ranked Gulfport team came to Natchez High and defeated the Bulldogs in the playoffs.

Earl said he sometimes runs into people he knows, even his former coaches, at the games, but he always goes alone.

“Most of the time I like the underdog. I don’t bet on it though,” he laughed.

As for basketball, sometimes he goes to the youth center to watch young people play ball on the sandlot, Earl said.

While Earl said he misses the glory days when his jersey was wet with sweat, local team sports is still a big part of his life.

“I just like to see good games,” he said.