Saturday morning has arrived in Athens The Barnes family has attempted to enjoy a quiet early morn at home before today’s game against Middle Tennessee. Ray feels the excitement of his first college football game not many hours away. Ray attempts to remove himself from his bed, but his darling wife grabs his T-shirt. He pulls and pulls, finally getting away. He is anxious to get to McWhorter Hall for breakfast. Lea realizes she will not be close to him until after four o’clock in the afternoon! She attempts to grab kisses even as he goes out the door.
Coach Ledford is waiting for Ray at the main door. He’s very anxious to greet the halfback. They are having their breakfast as Mr. Coach appears at their table, asking Ray, “Are you ready, big boy? Looks like a good game for us!” After the Big Dawg passes, Coach Ledford says, “I have never been assigned to a player until you arrived.” Ray looks around seeing his teammates. The entire football crowd has been following Ray, wondering how long Mr. Coach will wait before he puts the new halfback in the game. There seems to be an aura over the breakfast hall as Ray and his escort head to locker room in the hall. Coach Ledford has a schedule, with every minute planned up to the coin toss.
Ray is dressed. The team awaits the buses to move the team to Sanford Stadium! The bus ride is fun for Ray as Kirby Moore sits by him, saying, “How is the farmer’s son? Is he ready to be hit?”
Kirby doesn’t know, but Ray tells him, “I was the middle linebacker for two years, and I pulled weeds out of crops for my dad. I am ready!”
Then Kirby tells everyone, “The farmer’s son is ready!”
The other team members come out with a chant, “The farmer’s son is ready.” They applaud as they begin to unload. The Tulane Stadium locker room is OK as Ray wanders around. Suddenly, the Big Dawg arrives and begins his address. Mr. Coach leaves no question in Ray’s mind that the Dawgs are going to bust their butts on the field today. He enjoys the atmosphere.
Ray and Coach Ledford trot side by side onto the beautiful grass of Sanford Stadium. Coach Ledford whispers in his ear, saying, “Gonna be close to sixty thousand in the stands today, young man.” The boy is shocked thinking he has only played before thousand people at one time. He knows he’s got to be ready—good for his farm friends, parents, and wife! Coach Ledford leads him to the backs’ bench. He is told to remain in this area until he is called. The coin toss is over. Georgia has elected to defer. They will receive the kickoff and the wind to their backs in the second half.
The football is placed by the kicker Mike Sutton. The whistle is blown. Sutton kicks deep to Scot McGuinty for the Hornets. The ball is carried by the player out to the twenty-yard line. Georgia on defense. They hold as the Hornets go three plays and a punt. Mike Cavan is deep for the Dawgs to return the kick. The ball is kicked low. Mike feels he has a chance for a good return. A big lineman comes toward the kick returner and blindsides him on his left side, knocking him out of bounds. The returner hangs on to ball, but he has been knocked cold. The doctor Joe Sam Robinson trots across the field to the player. He attends Cavan and calls for a stretcher. Mike is conscious now from the hard hit and begins running his mouth as usual. Dr. Joe Sam tells him to hush. Cavan is still as he is carried off field. Mr. Coach calls for Ray to enter the game to replace Cavan. Coach Ledford pops him on the butt as he follows his buddy Kirby Moore. The huddle is made. Kirby grabs Ray and pulls him up tight in the circled huddle. Kirby calls play-nineteen right. That is the clue for Ray. It is his play. Cook Holliday is the fullback as they line up in the I formation. The snap is made. Kirby fakes to Holliday going to the left and puts the ball in the belly of number 32. Streaking away from Moore, his eyes are wide open looking down the field. Suddenly, the farmer’s son sees a cornerback playing like a hawk coming into view. Ray lowers his left shoulder and plants the defensive back on the ground.
Ray crosses the ten-yard line into the end zone. Touchdown for the Dawgs…touchdown!” The stadium is alive. Every Dawg fan is yelling as Kirby Moore jumps in the arms of the big back. Mr. Coach has lost his headset as he runs down the Georgia side with the play. The coach can’t keep up. He is hollering for the farmer’s son. The fans are screaming. They know what the Dawgs have on their team—a running Dawg. The Barnes crowd is acting crazy. Ava says to Lea, “Honey, that is my son and your husband!” Ray is mobbed by his teammates and coaches. The big-time coach is hurrying back to his players, excited! Mr. Coach asks for the football, so Ray can start his trophy wall.
Mike Cavan returns to the Georgia sideline to support his teammates. The Georgia team puts the Middle Tennessee Hornets to shame as Ray rushes for 220 yards for the game. The final score being 49–14. Ray is happy. Many young Georgia players receive playing time on the field. The fans pour from the stands to the field. Lee gets to Ray first. He hugs and kisses his son. Ray blushes, but Lee says, “I don’t give a damn if the world is watching. I am the farmer that has this great son!” All the Barnes clan surrounds him. Mr. Coach is trying to get to him. He sees Lea. She puts a big hug on the revered coach.
Ray notices his coach. He pushes to get to him, saying as he reaches his arms out, “Thank God and the coach for letting me play for the Dawgs!” Mr. Coach is beside himself as he shakes Ray’s hand. Ray catches Samuel and the farmer that started it all by sending his son to Georgia. It is so exciting.
Lee has filled his urine bag, and he tells Ava, “Help me, Ava, my bag is full!” She reaches for him and leads the farmer to the facilities. Ava and Lea are glad Lee is doing remarkably well with his situation!
Samuel is lobbying his dad and Mr. Lee to go with Ray and Lea. Ray hollers, “My water boy can go.” Lee, Samuel, and Ava travel to their apartment to spend the night. Samuel is sounding off as he sees the layout of their apartment and tells Lee, “I is happy to be here. I can sleep on the floor.” Lee grabs Samuel, scrubs his head, and wrestles him to the floor. Ray and Lea are dressing in their finest clothes for the evening. Lee is now in command as he packs all his family in Ava’s Impala. Samuel is in front with his hero.
The Frog Pond is hot on a Saturday night. The piano player is drinking shots left on his piano as he sings the songs of Ray Price and the Platters. Ray is charmed when his mom asks him to dance as the singer rings loudly in a large voice, “I saw the Harbor Lights…” She is so happy. Lee walks around the tables introducing himself as the father of the farmer’s son. Everyone has a glorious outing. The hour has come for the Barnes clan to head for sleep in Ray’s apartment. The move is on. Arrival to the appointed place comes as they kind of storm through the door. Ray places his mom and dad in the only bed, prepares the couch for him and his wife, and places his water boy in a reclining chair. The slumber comes. The first football game has been played to the highest level!
The year passes with nine more games with a record of 9–1. The great season has given many story lines to the all-news venues. Ray is on the front page of Sports Illustrated. Jim McKay, host of the television sports program Wild World of Sports, has made a thirty-minute documentary about the farmer and the son. Lee is enjoying all the attention surrounding him and his family including Nathaniel’s family.
The date is November 26, and the Athens Banner reads in large headlines, “Dawgs Accept Invitation to Play Bear Bryant in the Sugar Bowl.” The underlying lines only suggest that the Alabama Crimson Tide will play with Bear Paul Bryant, the legendary coach. Lee and Nathaniel get the heebie-jeebies about the game. The father and his foreman are biting their nails as the entire Barnes clan under the supervision of Nathaniel celebrates Thanksgiving at the big farm shelter as in Turpentine Days long ago! Ray and Lea are home in their house, Miss Ruby’s place. They don’t need an invitation to attend. They arrive. Samuel has asked Ray for his autograph a dozen times. Ray finally concludes he is selling them around town. He relates, “You rascal. You gotta give me a commission.” Everyone enjoys the day and night. The day ends as the preacher man announces blessings upon the Barnes clan, which is now close to forty people.
The sports programs nationally work every news line about the Georgia and Alabama Sugar Bowl event. It becomes a story of the farmer’s son versus the Bear, Bear Bryant. It seems the Bear and Ray are the only participants in the coveted bowl game in New Orleans. The date now is December 1, and the teams are nearly thirty days away from the event set for New Year’s Eve at eight o’clock (central standard time). Lea has given notice to Morrison Memorial Hospital on December 5. She now will nurse for Athens Memorial close to a half mile of their apartment. The Georgia coach releases the team on December 6 after putting them through various new plays for the Alabama bowl game. Ray and Lea are happy to be home. Ray does not listen to the sports program or read the newspapers. Lee can’t understand why his son doesn’t get in the mood as he and Nathaniel are. Lea ceases the chatter about her husband when they have visitors. Samuel gets mad when he visits. That is every day. Sometimes the couple doesn’t answer the door or phone. They are happy, very happy together.
Nathaniel has noticed all the traffic coming on the farm. He and Samuel place double gates at entrance of farm. They only issue four keys. They take Ray’s mailbox down so fans can’t find his residence. Everyone on the farm is closed mouth because Ava has put the hammer down on Lee, Nathaniel, and Samuel to hush about football. They comply because she writes the checks. Samuel tries to talk, but Dixie gets a limb on his butt because she is an avid protector of Lea and Ray. Ray does his daily exercises and runs ten or more forty-yard dashes daily and then a good two-mile sprint along the branch behind his house. Lea gives him three great meals, but she is kindly assisted by Ava and Dixie. Ray sits on the front porch of his house. He looks across the road to the big field now covered with irrigation pivots. He dreams of his granny Ruby sitting in the same place. He goes back into the talks with his granny about how his ancestors settled on this farm in the years after the civil war. He knows they came from lower Indiana, but that’s about all he can remember. He knows there are footprints across the fields marking how his people worked in the fields, built houses, dug shallow wells, and then in his lifetime, hammered deep wells. Lea is happy when Ray brings his guitar and music from his homeplace. She enjoys his singing and playing. Lea makes conversation, saying, “I remember the preacher’s widow overwhelmed with your singing, don’t you!”
Ray laughs in answering, “She tried her best to nail me. I was so glad you came along. I am glad you didn’t feel what I went through!” The night catches them on the porch. The outdoor lights shine around the shelters on the farm. Ray and Lea see peace sown all the way across the setting sunset edging the fields into the creek that flows through the farm, which is now the only viable constant that remains on the farm since it was settled many years ago by Norman Barnes. Ray can see the old pine trees of turpentine days as the sun races down to end the day. There are hundreds of pine saplings planted in areas where irrigation pivots can’t spray the man-made rain!
Christmas is drawing nigh. Ray and Lea travel to Augusta for their shopping for the season. In visiting Augusta, there is no one calling his name or asking him questions. Lea has kept his food as close to the actual menus at McWhorter Hall, the athletic dorm mess hall. She advises him right off the bat that he must avoid the divinity, fudge, peppermint, and chocolate-covered cherries. Ray realizes from the beginning, the way his stomach feels, he has athletic esurience all over his body!
Christmas Day festivities are held at two o’clock in the afternoon at the big house. Now, this is the real one. Now, Nathaniel and Samuel have held a blast at the main farm shelter the night before! The afternoon edges on as gifts are exchanged by the Barnes family. A quiet time follows as the four Barneses ease to recline and then off into bedlam, stretching out on the couches and reclining chairs. Ray understands he and Lea must leave out early the next morn for him to begin residing in McWhorter Hall with Mr. Coach until the Delta flight to the Sugar Bowl. Lee and Ava have made their plans to fly from Augusta. It is a known fact they have a seat for the wife of Ray Barnes, Lea, and all the farm folks on the family farm. Samuel will not be left behind. Ava is sure!
The day has past. After giving regards to Ray’s parents, the young couple rides the dirt roads on the farm on their way to home! The evening is quiet. Lea is strutting around the house in an open housecoat. She can’t keep him awake. She must take it upon herself to arouse the star football player and husband! She certainly gets his attention as she sweeps the bathrobe around Ray’s recliner. Ray becomes as a bull in a pasture as she runs from him. The night becomes still after some human noises. The departure time of seven o’clock is close as the alarm clock goes off on the hour of six! A rare adventure is ahead. Mr. Ray Barnes enjoys the opportunity to play in a bowl football game with Bear Bryant on the opposite sideline on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans!
The lady in a car follows a Georgia football star in a red Chevy pickup headed for Athens, Georgia. The ride isn’t pleasant for Lea. She will be physically separated from her husband. She will have the opportunity to make phone calls with him until they depart on December 30! Ray realizes the famed coach will have them ready for the game. It is a privilege when you play for a royal college in a season-ending football game. The small apartment comes into view on Butts Avenue. Ray opens the front door and goes straight to packing the items that the coach will allow in room and on the trip. He must carry his Red Dawg coat, gray trousers, tie, and black shoes! Soon, every item he is placed in his travel suitcase and placed at the door! He now gives good-byes to his wife. He does, kissing her so she will remember until she sees him after the game!
The famed coach and Coach Ledford are waiting for the farmer’s son at the entrance of McWhorter Hall. Their mission is to protect him until he can step on the Tulane Stadium for the Sugar Bowl game. They have decided he will not be touched by anyone. Their program for him is to talk the plays and run him on dashes and laps! Ray knows he is being protected. He knows fans expect him to be ready for the big game. Workouts stop. The departure day has finally arrived. The team has a chartered Delta Plane at Athens Airport. Engines fire as the plane slowly turns north and then west.