All along I pick up an old letter that really grabs me. Just one of the bright spots of writing a column.

Just the other day I noticed a short (one page) old letter from Jack Foster. Listen to this &045; we’re talkin’ about 1946 Natchez High School football, a season I remember pretty well, although not everything.

I’m sure Coach A.I. Rexinger was head Rebel coach that year, which tells you I’m not really sure actually. Honest, though, I believe this I’m about to talk about happened under Coach Rex.

He wasn’t the greatest I guess one might surmise, but don’t ever say this sports writer-fan doubted Rex’s coaching savvy. I’ve seen him tested. At any rate, the ’46 Rebels were 8-1-1 on the season, and Rebel fans were agog most of the year. That’s not a bad record you know.

The players that season? The ends that ’46 season were Bill O’Malley and Claude Porter, the tackles were Jack and Calvin Clark (Remember Calvin?), James Neely and Billy Herold were the guards, Sheldon Kaiser was the center, and Henry Simonton, Ray Boyd, Buzz Ratcliffe and Bernard Callender were starting backs. George Montgomery was the team manager, and a good ‘un.

Four starters off that ball club played college football &045; Jack Foster, Bernard Callender, Henry Simonton and Claude Porter. Good athletes, all.

Jack Foster long ago helped me dig up this information, but he (in my opinion) forgot to mention that ole Jack himself was one of the top hands on the team.

Think it hasn’t been fun writing about young athletes like those mentioned above? Think again if your thought was negative. Hey, I know how real football fans feel. There’s nothing like a REAL football fan, and real football fans know it.

Yep, I’m a REAL football fan. And sports fan. I couldn’t deny it after all these years, could I? Never would I want to deny being a sports fan, of all things.

About manning the &8220;Manning Star.&8221;

It sort of looked like Archie Manning’s son Eli would be entering law school for awhile there on draft day. But it was just like both sides were sparring, &8220;waitin’ for a &8216;train,’&8221; as Jimmy Rogers used to yodel 60-75 years ago.

But both sides, including the Manning family that included ole dad Archie, were working overtime in the crazy world of sports money. First, Eli, the player and son of Archie and Olivia, contemplated throwing all that professional stuff aside to enter law school where the big money almost never ends.

OK, my law-practicing friends and readers, I know you have to work to make it in a world where lawyers enter the competitive world of practicing law. Eli, of course, was wanting to steer clear of such a thing for the time being &045; he wanted to make his pitch still on the football field.

I’m rattling on, and all of you know that during all this hullabaloo the ex-Ole Miss quarterback was traded by San Diego, the team that had his draft rights, to New York, one of the towns that wanted them.

Just another case of who’s gonna get the man? Honest, it looks like sometimes a really good player goes backward in ability while all this stuff goes on. Oh, well, it’s just money. Shut up, Glenvall!

Glenvall Estes is a longtime columnist for The Natchez Democrat.